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The relationship between fabric properties and thermal conductivity of various jute/cotton blended knitted fabrics has been studied. The experimental result shows that lower thermal conductivity noticed at higher jute blend proportions. The thermal conductivity reduces with increasing fabric thickness. It also reveals that fabric air permeability and tightness factor values influences the thermal conductivity of jute/cotton blended knitted fabrics. The thermal insulation values are noticed higher with higher fabric tightness factor and lower air permeability. Regression correlation coefficients between various fabric properties and thermal conductivity have been discussed.

The thermal comfort properties of different knitted fabric structures made from modal, polypropylene and micro denier polyester were studied for volleyball sportswear. Eleven knitted fabrics were produced, in which three samples were single jersey, two plated and six bi-layer knitted structures. The air permeability, water vapour permeability, thermal conductivity, wicking and drying ability of bi-layer knitted fabric made up of polypropylene as the inner layer and modal as the outer layer with one tuck point of repeat were found to be higher as compared to other bi-layer, plated and single jersey structures. Both theobjective and subjective results show that bi-layer knitted fabric with polypropylene as the inner layer and modal as the outer layer with one tuck point of repeat is mostly suitablefor sportswear. The results are discussed together with multivariate ANOVA test results ata 95% significance level.

The search for sustainable renewable source of fibre is the need of the hour for the textile industry. In this aspect, milkweed fibres are considered to be one of the potential fibre crops. Plated knit fabrics are designed and engineered with correct selection of fibre and yarn constituents in the distinct bottom and top layer (next to sin) can serve well for next-to-skin applications. In this research work, the potential application of milkweed/polyester plated knitted fabrics for next-to-skin end uses were analysed by changing the inner and outer layers of plated fabrics and with different polyester/milkweed blend proportion. From the results of various moisture management indices of plated knitted fabrics, it is observed that except polyester/polyester and polyester/60% milkweed samples, which are exhibited as water penetration fabric, all other samples are showed as moisture management fabric. The hydrophobic fibre (polyester) in the top layer and hydrophilic fibres (milkweed) in the bottom layer exhibits higher bottom absorption rate, bottom spreading speed and one-way liquid transport leading to higher overall moisture management index. By considering the moisture management indices and grades of various samples, it could be observed that the plated fabric made from 40% milkweed/polyester could be an efficient moisture management fabric when used in either-way compared with other fabrics. One-way analysis of variance carried out at 95% confidence level showed that the results are statistically significant. The pair wise strength and association between various moisture management indices was analysed using Pearson correlation coefficient and observed that one-way transport capacity and overall moisture management capacity was found to be positively and linearly related to each other.

Purpose Clothing must also assist the body’s thermal control function under changing physical loads in such a way that the body’s thermal and moisture management is balanced, and a microclimate is created next to the skin. One of the factors which affect moisture transport in a fabric is a fibre type. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to blend the natural hollow and low density fibre, milkweed, with cotton fibre at different proportions and to analyse and compare the influence of milkweed blend proportion on moisture management properties of rotor yarn fabrics with 100 per cent cotton fabric. Design/methodology/approach In the present study, cotton/milkweed blended rotor yarns were produced by using S-4 cotton variety and milkweed fibres in three different blend proportions such as cotton/milkweed 80/20, 60/40 and 40/60 along with 100 per cent cotton yarn with yarn count of 20 Ne. The single jersey knitted fabrics were produced with similar constructional parameters and then the fabrics were then scoured, bleached and neutralised as per the standard procedure. The fabrics have been analysed for its various moisture management properties using moisture management tester (MMT) and are statistically analysed. Findings The results indicate that, all the C/M blended fabrics have been classified as “moisture management fabric” and 100 per cent cotton fabric has been classified as “Fast absorbing and Quick Drying Fabric”. The overall moisture management capacity of C/M 40/60 fabric is excellent and could be used for summer, active and summer wear applications. One-way ANOVA analysis carried out at 95 per cent confidence level showed that the results are statistically significant. The pair-wise strength and association between various moisture management indices was analysed using Pearson correlation coefficient and observed that OWTC and OMMC was found to be positively and linearly related to each other. Originality/value The authors are confident that the cotton/milkweed blended yarns can be used as an inner wear and sportswear applications owing to the higher moisture regain and hollowness of milkweed fibre combined with the low packing density of C/M blended yarns which leads to overall improvement in moisture management properties of fabrics.