Currently, elastic fabrics are divided into 3 main types when considering their composition: cotton spandex (natural spandex), PE spandex (artificial spandex) and blended spandex. The properties, advantages and disadvantages, and the cost of each type have many differences, so how can you accurately distinguish your T-shirt from which type of elastic fabric? You are wearing a beautiful uniform T-shirt and are very satisfied with the quality of the product, but have you ever wondered what material the T-shirt you are wearing is made of? Is it the most suitable material?
After many years of operation in the field of manufacturing and trading all kinds of t-shirts, we realize that almost every customer is not able to identify the fabric of a t-shirt even though their knowledge of spandex fabrics are very simple and how to recognize them is not difficult. Once you have mastered these basic knowledge, you can completely test yourself to have a more realistic view. Finally, please note that being able to identify the types of t-shirts can be very beneficial when you are shopping for t-shirts or ordering t-shirts, when you can completely avoid them. unnecessary misunderstandings.
Currently, T-shirt is the most popular type of shirt, it can be sewn by many different fabrics in many different ways. Today, the uniform company GLU would like to mention only the most popular product commonly used to produce T-shirts. These are also the fabrics that we regularly use to make uniform t-shirts, advertising t-shirts on orders in large quantities. If using the method of dividing fabrics by composition, there are currently 4 commonly used fabrics with decreasing cotton composition: 100% cotton spandex fabric -> 65/35 spandex fabric -> 35/65 spandex fabric -> PE spandex fabric.
Cotton fabric is a natural fabric, so it has the ability to absorb sweat very well, creating a cool feeling for the skin when wearing, especially you will never have to worry about skin irritation like with fabric. PE. In addition, 100% cotton spandex is always a soft and light fabric, so it is especially suitable for the skin of children and the elderly, its price is always higher than mixed fabrics. PE fabric is not as comfortable to wear as cotton fabric, but it also has many advantages that cotton fabric does not have, such as durability, dust resistance, anti-wrinkle, colorful, beautiful and easy printing. cleaning, especially sports t-shirts sewn mainly with PE material.
Today Fashion-Off would like to introduce to you 4 simple but very useful methods to help you distinguish the types of elastic fabric easily. In addition, we also share some useful t-shirt knowledge so that you can choose the most suitable fabric for your t-shirt.
4 new methods to distinguish spandex fabrics
1. Visually look
This is the first and most popular method for people in the profession, for those who have experience in sewing in general and making T-shirts in particular, just directly on the fabric is able to distinguish the elastic fabric. cotton and PE spandex. For those who have worked for a long time, just a glance is enough to tell exactly what kind of elastic fabric it is, the price and the quality. This is relatively difficult for customers who are not knowledgeable about fabrics and apparel but in general we have the following basic rules that can help distinguish spandex at first sight.
– Cotton spandex: The surface of the fabric has no shine, the color of the fabric is not bright, it is rough and has a slight ruffle if you look closely to see it.
– PE spandex fabric: Completely opposite to cotton fabric, when looking at PE spandex fabric we can see the gloss of the fabric surface, the fabric is smooth, the fabric color is bright, the fabrics with high uniformity seem to be lined up parallel to each other. , the fabric is not ruffled.
2. Manual test method
This is also a very popular method, which can make it easier to distinguish the fabric material than the visual method. For those who have no experience with spandex, this is the most effective method, which can be easily applied without requiring much experience. The rules applied in the method of touching fabrics for classification are very simple as follows.
– Cotton spandex fabric: When touching the fabric with your hand, it has a very characteristic cool feeling, the fabric is soft and wrinkled when crumpled. If one could pull a piece of fabric and pull it off, the break would not be neat. When we use force to pull the fabric, the fabric has high elasticity.
– PE spandex fabric: In contrast to cotton fabric, we do not feel cool when touching the fabric. When lightly crumpled, there is almost no creasing, and when crumpled strongly, the fabric also creases very little. Using force to pull the fabric, it shows that the elasticity is poor.
3. Burning method
Also known as the thermodynamic method, this test is rarely used because it is usually possible to distinguish the fabric easily by the two methods above. This is a method for customers who cannot distinguish clearly by look and fabric. It is also the most accurate method for testing in difficult-to-identify situations. The most general rule is that the higher the cotton content of the fabric, the stronger the fire, the finer and more easily soluble the fabric ash. In contrast, fabrics with high PE content are weakly flammable, the fabric is difficult to burn, when burned, there is no ash but clumps like when burning plastic, in addition, we can smell the burning smell of burning plastic when burning PE fabric. .
– 100% cotton spandex fabric: The fabric catches fire very sweetly, burns very quickly when burning, like burning paper because it smells like burning paper, the fabric ash is gray, melts easily and does not clump.
– 65/35 spandex fabric: The fabric catches fire well, burns quickly, has a little smell of plastic when burned, ash melts quickly, less clumping.
– 35/65 spandex fabric: It catches fire quite poorly, burns slowly, has a relatively clear plastic smell when burning. After burning, the cloth is clumped into small lumps that do not dissolve completely when squeezed, but still see a little ash.
– PE spandex fabric: It catches fire the worst, burns slowly, does not burn immediately, but twists into a lump and has a burning smell of rubber like when burning plastic, the undulating flame is easy to extinguish. When the cloth is burned, there is no ash, but it forms a large lump, very hard, and does not melt.
4. Fabric wetting method
This is also a simple method that can be done by non-specialists but is also rarely applied in practice. To be able to identify a fabric with a high or low cotton content, wetting the fabric with water to see how water-loving the fabric is is a very scientific way to do it because the composition of cotton fabric is the main natural cotton fiber. Cotton fiber is very hydrophilic, so cotton fabric often absorbs water very quickly, when we put water on the fabric, the wet area quickly spreads around. In contrast to the fabric with high PE content, which is an artificial fiber derived from petroleum and coal, the fabric will not absorb water, so when we wet the fabric with water, the fabric will absorb water slowly, the wet surface will not be absorbed. Spread. The following is a detailed description of each type of fabric when tested by the fabric wetting method.
– 100% cotton spandex fabric: The fabric will absorb water very quickly, the area of water spreading is large.
– 65/35 spandex fabric: Fast absorbing fabric but not 100% cotton fabric.
– 35/65 spandex fabric: Slow water absorption fabric, poor water absorption feeling.
– PE spandex fabric: The fabric absorbs water very slowly, feels like waterproof fabric, wet area does not spread.