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| Issue date:01/06/2008 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - Jun 2008 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
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Home textiles have emerged as one of the most dynamic and promising segments in the global textile industry, where function and performance are the buzzwords, observes Sanjay Gupta
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Performance apparel technologies such as moisture management technology, previously used in the active wear segment, are increasingly integrated into the production of bed sheets and other home textile products. Functional fabrics with stretchable, thermally adaptive, stain protective and fragrance encapsulating properties have gained a thumb-up from end consumers, in addition to those resist dust, mite, and bacteria.
The trend is strong in hospitality and contract textile field.
The hospitality market continues to boom globally. A fast growing contract market is witnessed in the hotel and health services sector in UAE. Other growth markets include the USA and Eastern Europe.
In China, the hospitality sector is also expanding, partly due to the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games in August. The hospitality sector in India also looks optimistic with the current tourism boom and the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in 2010.
The World Tourism Association expects an annual growth rate of 4% in international travel over the next years until 2020. Consumers increasingly desire for better services and facilities in hotels and resorts, as well as in other entertainment and dining facilities such as restaurants, casinos, spas and sport arenas. The upward trend in the global tourism was felt at the recent Heimtextil fair.
Stylish furnishings were showcased at the "Contract Vision" of Heimtextil Frankfurt this January
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During the Heimtextil in the German city of Frankfurt am Main this January, the trade fair organizers gathered some 350 exhibitors for a wide range of interior furnishing offerings. A special event "Cruises" was also organized to meet the growing demand in this niche segment.
An array of performance requirements ranging from properties of abrasion resistance, light fastness and wash fastness, stain resistance, ease of maintenance and cleaning, flame retardancy to durability are provided. More new features are found in the new home and interior fabrics, including heat regulation, odor control, light and sound absorption, anti-microbial (or bioactive) function, and moisture management.
Cutting energy costs with thermal draperies
Thermal draperies keep a home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter by regulating heat, saving energy costs of users. Tightly woven, these uncoated fabrics provide a reasonable level of light and heat insulation due to the fabric structure without blocking completely the natural light from the outside. A comfortable shade can be enjoyed within the inferior setting. Plus, newly designed thermal draperies are often offered with fashionable color and style to better fit a modern home.
Coated fabrics usually have an opaque rubber backing applied to the rear of an uncoated fabric for improved light absorption. Liquefied rubber polymer is typically applied in a single coat and subsequently fused dry by means of a heated roller.
Such fabrics are also referred as dim-out as they absorb approximately 50%-70% of direct light ray falling on them.
Direct light can be entirely blocked from an interior setting with block-out fabrics. With repeated coating up to three coats, these fabrics offer improved light absorption.
Maximum light absorption and heat insulation in a curtain is achieved through the combination of an uncoated fabric at the front for hand feel and appareance, and a coated fabric at the rear for insulative qualities. Serving as functional window coverings, this coated fabric is also known as a lining as it often does not attach a particular color or pattern.
New furnishings for commercial settings
Quietness is desired by contract applications in offices and conference rooms, and other settings like theater auditoriums, airport lounges and hotel rooms.
Sound is transferred through the motion of air molecules or other media. With porous materials including drapes, carpets, glass fibers and acoustic tiles, acoustic energy is converted into heat as vibrating air molecules interact with a tiny network of interlocking pores in the absorber. An air-space parcel behind the material is generally an effective means of increasing a porous material’s low-frequency absorption, as in the case of a curtain or drape. An optimum listening condition in a room is thus created.
Upholstery materials consisting artificial fur, plush fabrics with different relief designs, plush fabrics with different thickness and jacquard fabrics give better sound absorption, researchers found.
The effectiveness of sound absorption via carpeting depends on the use of backing material, pile structure, yarn weight, pile thickness and underlay. A cut pile provides greater sound absorption than a loop pile.
The sound absorption of drapes depends on the airflow resistance through drapery material and the drapes' distance from the wall or window. Other approaches can be adopted to improve sound absorption, including increasing the level of needle punching, using a finer diameter or lower modulus fibers, and applying various coatings or sizing on nonwoven cellulosic composites. The use of nonwoven fabrics with more layers usually also yields a higher noise absorption value.
Such soundproofing fabrics can be found at a German producer, Drapilux. The Drapilux akustik fabrics feature a woven structure with pores that turns part of the kinetic energy of air molecules into heat energy, reducing sound intensity and shortening the traveling distance of the sound. An environment of pleasant spatial acoustics is therefore provided. Drapilux offers a wide range of well-designed configurations in the form of curtains, space dividers, sliding partitions, and wall or ceiling coverings.
Keeping an interior setting pleasant and hygienic
Cigarette odors at home or in a hotel, as well as kitchen smells are no longer a problem with the next-generation fabrics, which are finished with special properties to get rid of unpleasant odors.
Formalmaldehyde-based odor can be found across living and working environments in wooden furniture, glues, insulation materials, laminate flooring and carpets.
American Textile Company's protective bedding |
Formaldehyde is considered to be harmful at 0.05 ppm, and can cause headaches, sickness, eye irritations, and even provoke respiratory diseases. The main culprit in case of kitchen fumes, pet smells and cigarette smoke is ammonia. Special finishes use a catalytic process to transform pollutants including nicotine, formaldehyde and other odors into harmless, natural substances. Equipped with the "triple fresh" catalyst, Drapilux’s intelligent fabrics break down pollutants and significantly reduce nasty odors in a way similar to a catalytic converter in a car.
Another company, American Textile Company has recently introduced Aller-Ease, a protective bedding line of mattress and pillow protectors with DuPont Hybrid Membrane Technology (HMT), offering protection from pollen, dust mites, mold and fungal spores, dog and cat dander. The fabrics maintain comfortable, soft and breathable for use by allergy and asthma sufferers.
Mattress and pillow protectors, being certified allergen barriers, should be able to block out allergens at the 10-micron level.
Aller-Ease fabric filters 95% of all common household allergens at the one-micron level with a fabric pore size that is approximately 1/50 the width of a human hair. It also gives a good level of hand feel and comfort. Made of a combination of a 100% cotton twill top, a filtration middle layer, and a protective back fabric, this fabric effectively fends off allergen particles, while the top layer gives breathability and comfort of cotton at the one-micron level.
Temperature-regulated beddings give extra comfort
Further functionality is found in the home textile market with the new phase change materials to control body climate through mattresses and beddings.
Smartfiber's Smartcel Clima is a functional, biodegradable fiber made from cellulose using a modified Alceru production process developed by the Thuringian Institute for Textile and Plastics Research (TITK) in Rudolstadt, Germany.
Electron microscope image of Smartcel Clima by Smartfiber |
Paraffin is embedded in the crystalline and tear-resistant functional fiber of Smartcel Clima through spinning. The fiber absorbs excess body heat (up to 60 joules per gram of fiber) and, when required, dispenses the heat to provide temperature regulation in a micro-climatic condition. The temperature of heat absorption (or dissipation) is adjusted through the choice of paraffin.
In all, functionality has become a new force of competition in the home textile market as a wide range of value-added properties can be achieved through spinning and finishing processes.
Home textile market in US might still grow this year
According to the High Point Market Authority, home sales and housing were forecast to remain flat until 2009 in the US market, as consumer debt rises in the country. More homeowners were expected to face foreclosure this year if they could not pay their mortgages in due time.
On the bright side, however, the home textile market in the US could remain stable, considering that the national unemployment rate stood at below 5%, close to full employment. Economists still predicted that the economic expansion would continue this year, although probably at a slower pace.
The US authorities projected an economic growth of about 2.7%, while the expectation of other economists ranged from 2.1% to 2.4%.
After a slight belt-tightening early this year, the High Point Market Authority expected the US consumers would resume their purchases more actively in the second half of the year. As interest rates might be further cut down to forestall a recession, personal consumption expenditures were projected to grow slightly by 1% to 2% over 2007. Home textile market was estimated to benefit as private consumption expenditures increased.
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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