Active Sports Wear for Basketball Players

DEVELOPMENT OF ACTIVE SPORTS WEAR FOR BASKET BALL PLAYERS

Dr.P.Senthilkumar

 Assistant Professor (Sr.Gr), Department of Textile Technology, PSG College of Technology

Coimbatore- 641 004, Tamilnadu, India

E-mail: senthiltxt11@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

In active sports, because of metabolism the body temperature rises. The pre-requisites of sportswear are rapid transport of perspiration away from the body and then its rapid evaporation to keep the fabric dry. This can be achieved through bi-layer fabric construction in which the inner layer is made of polypropylene yarn which is hydrophobic and having good wicking rate. The outer layer is made up of nature fiber such as cotton which has more absorption character and rapid evaporation. The purpose of this sportswear is to help the sports person in his/her effort and not to give additional physical and heat stress. In this study, designing and developing bi –layer knitted fabric for active sportswear for basket ball players with polypropylene and cotton yarns has been carried out. 40’s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene, 20’s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene and 20’s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene fabrics were developed and the comfort  properties have been evaluated objectively by testing the properties of wetting, wicking, water absorbency, dryness, moisture vapour transfer, thermal conductivity and air permeability. Also subjective evaluation has been analysed for the sportswear for basket ball players.  Results of the study showed that 20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene sportswear shows better performance in both subjective and objective evaluation and it is recommended for basket ball players.

Key words: wetting, wicking, water absorbency, dryness, moisture vapour transfer, thermal

conductivity, air permeability, wear study

INTRODUCTION

Over the past fifteen years there has been an increase in participation in active sportswear all over the world. More healthy life styles are leading to greater sports participation. This has been accompanied by the development of appropriate performance sportswear which can meet the requirements of various sports. The human body strives to keep its core temperature at 37⁰C. During physical activity, extra body heat is produced causing the nervous system to react by sweating. Sweat glands pump perspiration through pores, body heat is transferred to the sweat, causing it to evaporate and cool the body. If a garment cannot ‘breathe’, i.e. transport moisture from the skin to the surrounding area, perspiration, in the form of water vapour, and excess heat from the body cannot escape. The wearer will experience clamminess as water vapour condenses on the inside of the fabric and body heat may be lost as wet fabric clings to the skin. This may cause discomfort and, in cold weather, chilling. Using fabrics with better moisture transport means less energy is wasted trying to cool the body and the heart rate remains lower. This leaves more energy available for increased performance and endurance. This is an important consideration for all layers of clothing.

The 1980s was a period of highly fruitful innovation in sportswear garments. Some reasonably simple microfibers and coated fabrics were developed; variants of which have met the needs of many sports garments. The innovation of new materials and garments was so successful that in many sports the fundamental performance requirements have been identified and largely satisfied. Nowadays, from very simple microfibers to much more complex fabrics are effectively used in active sportswear. The latest textile materials are much more functioning specific for fulfilling specific needs in different sports activities. Fibers and fabrics are used presently for satisfying different functional properties such as sweat absorption and fast drying properties. The comfort perfections of clothing are influenced by the wetness or dryness of the fabric and thermal feeling resulting from the inter action of fabric moisture and heat transfer related properties.

MATERIALS & METHODS

The process flow to produce active sportswear is shown in Figure 1.

Yarn Sourcing

Knitting by using Interlock Jacquard

Dyeing

Compacting

Fabric Testing

Garment Making

Figure 1 Process flowchart

Materials Used

20^s  -100% Cotton Combed Yarn

40^s  – 100% Cotton Combed Yarn

Polypropylene  Yarn 120/2 (D) Finer

Polypropylene  Yarn 120/1 (D) – Coarser

Fabric sample preparation

Sample 1 – 20s Cotton with 120/1 denier polypropylene

Sample 2 – 20s Cotton with 120/2 denier polypropylene

Sample 3 – 40s Cotton with 120/1 denier polypropylene

With the necessary settings to produce the bi-layer structure, the above combination of fabrics was knitted accordingly. The combinations consist of coarser and finer counts in cotton and deniers in polypropylene. Cotton was the outer layer and was fed in cylinder needles where as the polypropylene was fed in dial needles which was inner layer that suits the concept of bi-layer.

Fabric wet processing

Dyeing is an important wet processing treatment in this work. The fabric was scoured and dyed by using Winch dyeing machine.

Grey fabric

Pre treatment

Hot wash

Dyeing

Compacting

Figure 2 Wet processing flowchart

Testing

The following test methods were used to test the comfort properties such as wetting, wicking, water absorbency, dryness, moisture vapour transfer, thermal conductivity, and fastness properties such as light fastness, rubbing fastness and perspiration fastness and dimensional stability of the bi-layer fabric.

Table 1 Test methods and standards

Apparel Making

       Apparel construction sequence

Fabrication

Design Analysis

Pattern Making

Single Lay Cutting

Garment Constructions

Subjective Evaluation

Figure 3 Apparel construction flowchart

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

 Fabric Particulars

             The fabric samples were analyzed after knitting. The fabric details measured were: Course and Wale count, fabric weight per unit area and fabric thickness. Wales and Course densities were measured according to the ASTM D3775 standard, using the counting glass. Fabric weight per unit area was determined according to ASTM D-3776 standard using electronic weighing balance. The thickness of the fabrics was measured according to ASTM D1777 standard with the MAG thickness gauge at a pressure of 100 Pa. Standard atmospheric conditions have been maintained for all experiments. The fabric geometrical parameters have been mentioned in the Table 2.

Table 2 Geometrical parameters

The wettablity of the fabric is calculated by sinking method. In this test, the property was evaluated by measuring the time required for a piece of fabric to sink completely from the surface layer of water. The results are given in Table 3.

Table 3 Wetting (in seconds)

The results show that the 20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene fabric shows quick wetting time than the other two samples.

Wickability

Height reached by water, with respect time to which the water transported along the strip of fabric is measured. Higher wicking value show greater liquid water transport. Wickability of the fabric mainly depends upon the fabric construction, yarn regularity and the type of fabric and its characteristics. The results are given in Table 4

                    Table 4 Wicking (in mm)

The result shows that the wickability of polypropylene layer is higher than the cotton layer. It is understood that man- made fiber have good wickability than natural fiber. 20s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene has higher wickability than the other two samples. This is because of the differences in the construction and combination of yarns in the fabrics.

Water Absorbency

Water absorbency is measured by allowing one drop of water on the fabric and time taken to absorb the water has been tabulated below. Water absorbency mainly depends upon the porosity of fabric and the type of fiber and yarn. The results of water absorbency are given in Table 4.

Table 4 Water Absorbency (in seconds)

The results show that the time taken to absorb water for cotton face is higher than the polypropylene, because of the presence of protruding fibers on the surface of the fabric, as cotton is a natural fiber. Therefore it indicates that the polypropylene layer has quicker absorbency and perspiration removal from the body will be fast and will keep dry skin status between the garment. 20s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene has quicker absorbency than the other two samples.

Dryness

The result found that the dryness percentage for 20s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene        fabric   is higher than the other two samples. This is because of the lower water retention in cotton fabric. The results are given in Table 5.

Table 5 Dryness %

Moisture Vapour Transfer

The moisture vapour transfer of the fabric is calculated using cup method. The result obtained from moisture vapour transfer of 20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene is higher than the other two samples. The finer combinations have the high moisture vapour transfer due to its high porous nature. The results of moisture vapour transfer of fabrics are given in Table 6.

Table 6 Moisture Vapour Transfer (in g/m²/day)

Thermal Conductivity

The thermal conductivity of the fabric is calculated using Lee’s Dis method. This test calculates the amount of heat the fabric can conduct and the cooling effect it can provide. The results of thermal conductivity are given in Table 7.

Table 7 Thermal Conductivity (in w/m/k)

It is found that the thermal conductivity of   40s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene fabric is higher than the other two samples. This is because of the differences in the construction and combination of yarns in the fabrics.

Air Permeability

This test shows the amount of air that can be the fabric and the breathability of it. The following table gives the comparison of the test results for the three different samples. The results of air permeability are given in Table 8.

Table 8 Air Permeability (%)

The result shows that 20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene has the highest permeability     followed by 20s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene and 40s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene. The finer combinations have higher permeability due to more porous nature of the fabric structure.

Color Fastness to Washing, Perspiration, Rubbing and Light (Gray Scale Ratio)

The color fastness to washing was found to be excellent for all the fabrics. The color fastness to perspiration was found to be excellent for all the fabrics. The change in color was fair in 40’s cotton with 120/1 pp. The staining on cotton with the fabrics was found to be fair. The results of color fastness to washing, perspiration, rubbing and light are given in Tables 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Table 9 Color Fastnesses to Washing

PP – Polypropylene

Sample A – 20s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene

Sample B – 20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene

Sample C – 40s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene

Table 10 Color Fastness to Perspiration

Table 11 Color Fastness to Rubbing

Table 12 Color Fastness to Light

The color fastness to rubbing was found to be excellent during dry state for both fabrics than the 20’s cotton with 120/1 pp. During wet state the color fastness to rubbing was fair for both fabrics and excellent for 40’s cotton with 120/1 pp. Color fastness due to light was found to be excellent in all the fabrics.

WEAR STUDY

Subjective Evaluation

The purpose of subjective evaluation is to know the suitability of sports activity with respect to the product design. The sports wears were given to basket ball players. The wear study was conducted at normal temperature. Properties such as absorbency, air permeability, heat transfer, dryness and feel have been chosen to study the subjective evaluation. The subjective evaluation is purely based on the psychological feeling of sports person which is rated within five scale rating. The sportswear was given to five sports persons and average results of the wear study are tabulated in table 13.

Table 13 Wear Trial (40s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene)

Table 14 Wear trial (20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene)

Table 15 Wear trial (20s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene)

The subjective evaluation study reported that 20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene sportswear shows best performance among all sports wears.

CONCLUSION

40’s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene, 20’s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene and 20’s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene fabric was successfully  developed and the comfort  properties have been evaluated objectively by testing the properties such as  wetting, wicking, water absorbency, dryness, moisture vapour transfer, thermal conductivity and air permeability. Also subjective evaluation has been analysed for the sportswear for basket ball players.

Objective evaluation

20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene bi-layer fabric has quick wetting time than the other two samples. Polypropylene material sinks quickly than the cotton due to its tubular structure.

Moisture transmission tests are important because the transmission properties determined how fast the sweat produced on the body can be eliminated. Faster the moisture transmission properties, better the ability of the fabric to enhance comfort. In order to assess moisture transmission behaviour, wicking height, water absorbency, moisture vapour transfer, drying rate are tested. Better wicking is found in 20’s cotton 120/2 polypropylene has the higher than the other two samples. Since it is well known that polypropylene has a better wicking property than cotton. 20s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene fabric samples have quick absorbency due to its bi layer structure. The fabric sample of 20s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene tend to high dryness percentage, because the fabric sample has greater proportion of polypropylene. Maximum moisture vapour transfer is seen in the sample of 20s cotton with 120/2 polypropylene. The fabric of 20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene have the highest air permeability because the final combinations have higher permeability due to its porous nature. The 40s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene sample have the highest thermal conductivity than the other samples.

Subjective evaluation

Drape and flexibility are important parameters to improve the comfort of the basket ball players as they influence positively the clothing fitness and the freedom to move within the match. The wearer of 20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene bi layer fabric felt that the clothing offers light weight, no clinginess, no prickliness and good aesthetic look from the wearer perspective.

Based on the work it is concluded that 20s cotton with 120/1 polypropylene sportswear shows better performance in both subjective and objective evaluation and it is recommended for basket ball players.

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