Stay Cool and Comfy: How Ice Silk Revolutionizes Sports Clothing
Along with the hot trends of gym wear and fitness wear, fabrics innovation keeps in a swing with the market. Recently, Arabella senses that our clients are commonly seeking a kind of fabric that provide sleek, silky and cool feelings for consumers to provide a better experience while in gym, especially they all are marked out and become the main key selling points of sports bra, leggings, tanks and tops, etc. And the top choice will be ice silk fabric. However, do you know where the “ice” touchness comes from?
Secrets of “Ice Silk”
In fact, there is no”ice silk”fabric in textile’s world. The name is come up by textile or clothing manufacturers to catch consumers’ eyes and promote the cooling properties of the fabric. It does not refer to a particular fabric material and is unrelated to real silk. Many fabrics that feel cool to the touch are referred to as “ice silk” fabrics.
The fabrics themselves are unable to generate a cooling effect. The sensation of coolness when it touches our skin is due to the transfer of heat from the skin to the lower temperature fabric, which creating a temperature difference. It is similar to holding an ice cube in your hand, where you feel the initial coolness when you first touch it. Similarly, touching fabrics with a cool sensation provides an instant feeling of refreshment.
There is an index exists in fabric industry called”Q-max”to represent the cooling sensation of the fabric. The higher the Q-max value, the cooler the fabrics feels upon the initial touch. In the testing of cooling sensation for textiles, a heated plate (with a temperature higher than the test sample) is placed on the fabric’s surface (simulating fabric contacting human skin). The peak value of heat transfer is then measured and recorded as the Q-max value. Normally, the ice silk fabrics is verified only when its Q-max reaches up to 0.14.
Even though, ice silk fabric is still the most popular choices in interior fabrics and sportswear.
“Ice Silk”Application in Sportswear & Its Defects
Common ice silk fabrics can be sorted into three types:
First of all, the smoother and more streamlined the fabric, the cooler it feels to the touch. This is because a smoother fabric surface provides a larger contact area, resulting in faster heat transfer.
Secondly, fabrics made from fibers with high thermal conductivity, such as nylon, polyester, and recycled cellulose fibers, show a more obvious cooling sensation upon initial contact. This is due to their higher thermal conductivity, allowing for rapid heat transfer when in contact with the human body. Nylon and polyester are commonly used in leggings and sports bra, exists in various well-known sports brands such as Lululemon, Gymshark, Cream yoga, Buffbunny., etc.
Thirdly, “cooling catalyst” that enhance the thermal conductivity of textiles, such as xylitol microcapsules and cooling silicone oil, are added to increase the instant cooling sensation by improving heat transfer speed during touch. For example, the popular ICE-X Cool Series by 2XU in summer is achieved by adding jade cooling particles into PWX ICE-X fabric to create a cooling effect.
Yet, the techniques we used in the cooling fabrics still exist defects such as the coolness is unable to maintain longer, or the limitations of its ventilation, and the durability of cooling catalyst is insufficient and its coolness will decrease after many times of washing.
Tip To Choose Ice Silk Fabric
Even though the ice silk is born with defects, there is no way to stop consumers’ euthusiasm to the cooling feels. After-all, offering a comfortable gym wear still is our goal to them. Therefore, we still here can offer you a tip of choosing ice silk fabric, such as the fabrics with The OEKO-TEX® label.
OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 is currently one of the most widely used eco-labels for textiles. It sets limits for harmful substance content in yarns, fibers, and various textile products based on the latest scientific knowledge. This label is not only for ice silk fabrics but most of them.
Arabella is always here to offer more tips to you.
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