Wondering the difference between stain resistance and stain repellent? Wash and Wear and Washable? A Performance Fabric and Smart Fabric? You’ve heard the terms, but do you know what they mean? With all the options available to today’s uniform customer, it can be difficult to keep the terminology straight.
To help you navigate these murky waters and to assist in the purchasing process, NAUMD University has put together an industry glossary of the most commonly used terms in the business. What follows is a brief primer on basic terminology. Members can access the complete glossary of garment and fabric terminology by logging on to TheUniformNetwork,com.
If you are a nonmember and would like access, consider joining the association.
Basic Terminology:
Absorbency – The ability of a fabric to take in moisture. Absorbency is a very important property, which affects many other characteristics such as skin comfort, static build-up, shrinkage, stain removal, water repellency, and wrinkle recovery.
Anti-Bacterial (Anti-Microbial) – A fabric that has been chemically treated or a fiber that is created by incorporating the anti-bacterial chemical agent into the fiber formula, making the finished fiber or fabric resistant to, or inhibiting the growth of microorganisms.
Anti-Static – Can be either a fiber or fabric that does not allow the build-up of static electricity to occur when the fiber or fabric experiences friction.
Breathability – The movement of water or water vapor from one side of the fabric to the other, caused by wicking, chemical, or electrostatic action. Also known as moisture transport.
Colorfastness – A term used to describe a dyed fabric’s ability to resist fading due to washing, exposure to sunlight, and other environmental conditions.
Comfort Stretch – The term given to the freedom of movement experienced in the wearing of a garment that contains spandex, or has stretch engineered into a yarn through mechanical stretch construction
Elasticity – The ability of a fiber or fabric to return to its original length, shape, or size immediately after the removal of stress.
Lycra – A man-made elastane fiber that can be mixed with natural or other man-made fibers. Never used alone, but always blended with other fibers, it has unique stretch and recovery properties. Lycra adds comfort, fit, shape retention, durability and freedom of movement. This is achieved due to the unique properties of the fiber, which can be stretched up to seven times its initial length before springing back to the original position once tension is released.
Flame Resistant – Fabrics treated with special chemical agents or finishes to make them resistant to burning. Today many fabrics achieve this property by using fibers that have this property built directly into the polymer. A fabric is considered flame resistant if it passes federal specifications for specific end-uses.
Flame Retardant – A chemical applied to a fabric, or incorporated into the fiber at the time of production, which significantly reduces a fabric’s flammability.
Hand – The way the fabric feels when it is touched. Terms like softness, crispness, dryness, silkiness are all terms that describe the hand of the fabric.
High Visibility Fabrics – Fabrics that contain fluorescent materials in order to make the wearer visible in dim and dark lights. These fabrics have the ability to reflect on-coming lights, which cause them to glow in the dark.
Performance Fabrics – Fabrics made for a variety of end-use applications, which provide functional qualities, such as moisture management, UV protection, anti-microbial, thermo-regulation, and wind/water resistance
Repellency – The ability of a fabric to resist such things as wetting and staining by water, stains, soil, etc.
Resiliency – The ability of a fabric to spring back to its original shape after being twisted, crushed, wrinkled, or distorted in any way.
Resin – The name commonly applied to synthetic chemical compounds polymerized on the fabric or yarn to give wash-and-wear and durable press properties, crush resistance and hand to fabrics.
Resin-Treated – A finishing process associated with the application of synthetic chemical compounds to the fabric to provide wrinkle-resistance, wash-and-wear characteristics, or an improved hand.
Smart Textiles – Textiles that can sense and react to changes in the environment, such as changes from mechanical, thermal, chemical, magnetic and other sources.
Soil Release – A finish that has the purpose of increasing the absorbency of a fabric on durable press blends. The finish allows the stain to leave the fabric faster, increases the wicking action for improved comfort, and therefore imparts greater ease in cleaning. Some soil release finishes also provide resistance to soiling as well as ease of soil removal.
Stain Repellent – The ability of a fabric to resist wetting and staining by water.
Stain Resistance – A fiber or fabric property of resisting spots and stains
Water Repellent – A term applied to fabrics that have been treated with a finish which causes them to shed water, but are still air-permeable.
Water Resistant – A degree by which water is able to penetrate a fabric. Not to be confused with water-repellent. However, the terms are often used interchangeably.
Wickability – The ability of a fiber or a fabric to disperse moisture and allow it to pass through to the surface of the fabric, so that evaporation can take place.
Wicking – Dispersing or spreading of moisture or liquid through a given area by capillary action in a material.
Washable – Materials that will not fade or shrink during washing or laundering. Labels should be read by the consumer to assure proper results. Do not confuse with “wash-and-wear”.
Wash-and-Wear – Ability of a garment to be washed by hand or in a washing machine and require little or no ironing.