Clothing Fabrics: Facts for Consumer Education

1957

National Agricultural Library

Home Economics Research Report Number 1

Quality in a fabric depends on many things. The kind and grade of fiber used, the processes by which the fibers were made into yarns, the construction of the material, the fastness of the dye, and the types of finishes applied all affect the quality of a fabric and the satisfaction it will give in use. Though many fabric properties can be determined accurately only by laboratory analyses, some general knowledge of fibers and fabrics can serve as a guide in selecting clothing materials. Facts on present-day fibers and fabric construction and finishes are brought together here to provide a background to help the average purchaser in judging a fabric for its general wearing- quality and its suitability for specific purposes.

Many different fibers are used in fabrics for clothing, and each one has particular qualities that make it desirable for certain purposes. A fabric may be made entirely of one fiber, or two or more fibers may be combined to give a desired quality, as wrinkle resistance, to produce an unusual texture or to make a fabric in a popular price range.

The natural fibers, which come from plants or animals, and man made fibers, produced by the action of chemicals on natural products or from chemicals alone, are all used extensively in present-day clothing fabrics.