Purpose Production and consumption of textile garments contribute significantly to environment problems. The purpose of this paper is to perform the evaluation of textile waste generated at Lithuanian clothing enterprises based on statistical data analysis and business cases studies. Design/methodology/approach For the evaluation of real situation of waste generation in companies, an original methodology was developed and used during investigation. In order to get an overall view, statistical data of waste generation and management in Lithuania were also analysed. Waste accounting covered data such as wastes from unprocessed textile fibres and wastes from processed textile fibres and textiles (not otherwise specified). Findings The investigation showed that the amount of cutting waste reaches 20-25 per cent of the total quantity of materials used for production. It was found that the waste is not sorted in Lithuanian clothing enterprises and is disposed in landfills in most cases, notwithstanding the positive tendencies of recycling of waste that were observed during past year. However, a practical recycling strategy and broader perception of developing products with greater added value from waste are missing in Lithuania. Originality/value In this research, a simple methodology was developed for determining the quantity of the textile waste generated by enterprises, the introduction of which would allow us to expect better results in waste accounting and management. The results of investigation are useful to gain in-depth understanding of waste generation in various countries.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the influence made by complex finishing of denim fabrics, i.e. laser treatment and industrial washing, on the change in tension properties of fabric. Design/methodology/approach Test specimens were treated by a laser JG-10050. Lasers main technological parameters: maximum laser beam power is 65 W, laser types are hermetic and detached CO2, laser tube wavelength is 10.62 µm. The test specimens processed by different laser energy density have been exposed to industrial washing and their tensile characteristics have been investigated. Findings The results of the research have demonstrated that complex finishing reduces the breaking force; however, material extensibility remains almost unchanged. Mechanical behaviour and composition characteristics of fabric are determined both by laser motion direction in respect of warp or weft and laser energy density. Originality/value The carried-out analysis of scientific literature has shown that the effect of laser on the fabric surface is relevant both in scientific and practical terms: the scientific literature contains studies on absorptive properties of laser treated materials; however, the behaviour of materials after complex finishing has not been widely investigated thus far.

The constantly encouraged worldwide production and consumption of textile products is leading to an increase in wastes, which causes environmental problems. This research is aimed at identifying the present state of textile waste generation and treatment in Lithuania and compare the trends obtained with other EU countries. The investigation is based on statistical data of textile waste generation and management from 2009 to 2014 in Lithuania. Municipal textile wastes and those from the leather, fur and textile industries as well as other fields of this kind of waste generation were taken for analysis. On average, 6500 tonnes per year of total textile waste was generated during the period analysed. According to these data, Lithuania is in a middle position in comparison with other EU countries. A significant growth in the collection of municipal wastes is observed. From 2012, pre-consumer textile waste amounts to on average 32 percent of the total textile waste collected. The dominant practice of treatment was disposal in landfills, but an increasing tendency to recycle textile waste was observed. Nevertheless a great deal more effort should be made to promote the prevention of waste production and to achieve the average EU waste management indicators.

The woven fabrics structural mobility has some influence on the garment design and pattern construction. Deformation peculiarities during six textile fabrics extension were analysed in this work. Four of the tested fabrics had the elastane filaments in their structure. The method of parallelepiped shaped specimen uniaxial extension till fixed strain was used. The experiment was carrying out using a "Tinius Olsen HT10" tension machine. The specimens' deformation exceeds 14 %. The parallelepiped shape of specimen's was received by cut of its top and bottom edges with pitch of 16 degrees. The woven fabrics structure mobility was analyzed using strain-stress curves, numerical and graphical results. The results of this research work have shown that deformation peculiarities of the woven fabrics depend on their structural characteristics: density, thickness, wave and presence of elastane filaments. Taking into account the more considerable extensibility of elastane fibre the shearing phenomenon was not occurred finally during specimens' deformations. The results indicated that for the tested fabrics deformation till stated degree the force from 0.6 N till 9.4 N is necessary.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.17.4.779

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In this research, eight different 3D weft-knitted fabrics were developed and evaluated. 3D fabrics have been knitted on circular weft-knitting machines with two different gauges: 20E gauge and 28E gauge. Three different raw materials were used for the fabric’s production: high molecular mass polyethylene (HPPE) yarn and 0.05 mm diameter steel wire in the outer layers (for the front and reverse) and polyamide yarn in the binding layer. The experiments were conducted on the developed 3D knitted fabrics to determine the fabric’s resistance to mechanical risks such as circular blade cut, puncture, abrasion, and also to evaluate the comfort parameter, such as air permeability. It was defined that 3D weft-knitted fabrics best results on tests: circular blade cut, puncture and abrasion resistant were achieved using HPPE yarn twisted with steel wire, higher mass per unit area with more significant amount of steel wire. According to the standard EN 388:2003, three samples of developed 3D weft-knitted fabrics had the highest 5th blade cut and the highest (4th) abrasion resistance level. All of them had the highest (4th) level of puncture resistance. 3D fabrics knitted on a circular weft-knitting machine of gauge 28E ensured 1.3–2.1 times greater blade cut and 4.9–12.1 times greater abrasion resistance result, than fabrics knitted on gauge 20E, due to a higher stitch density, higher mass per unit area, density and fabric’s thickness. But on the other hand, these parameters lowered air permeability by 20.2–43.0%.

This study investigates the resistance of three-dimensional (3D) weft-knitted fabrics to mechanical risks in order to determine the impact of the percentage content of raw materials in the knits on mechanical loads. For this purpose, 3D weft-knitted fabrics, consisting of a front side, binding, and back side layers, were designed and produced on an E20 circular weft-knitting machine using organic multifilament yarns (high molecular weight polyethylene, HMWPE) and inorganic multifilament (basalt, BS) yarns for the front and back side layers and conventional polyamide yarns for the binding layer. The cut, puncture, abrasion, and tear resistance tests were performed to assess the resistance of 3D weft-knitted fabrics to mechanical risks. According to the testing results, basalt in the structure of 3D weft-knitted fabrics significantly increases the cut resistance, even in cases of a small basalt content in the knit. The puncture, abrasion, and tear resistance testing results showed that the highest HMWPE percentage content in the knitted structure provided the highest resistance to these risks, while increasing the basalt content in the knit did not improve the resistance testing results. Based on the testing results and the assessment of the protection levels provided by the knitted fabrics, the conclusion can be made that the use of HMWPE multifilament yarns and basalt multifilament yarns in the structure of 3D weft-knitted fabrics contributes to the achievement of the highest levels of performance. All the designed 3D weft-knitted fabrics provide complex protection against different mechanical risks (cut, puncture, abrasion, tear). The tests performed may be useful for further development of knitted fabrics designed to provide protection against mechanical risks.

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