AIC-NIFTTEA Incubation Centre for Textiles and Apparels in partnership with a Vietnam-based company will conduct research on bringing up woollen-blended garments in sportswear and defense-wear sectors.
“Normally, wool was considered as winter application material. But, it could be utilised in fine fabric products too. Since it was animal fibre, it has many inherent qualities like bacterial resistance and resilience, apart from wicking and moisture transmission qualities,†technical head of the incubation centre CB Senthil Kumar said.
“Wool’s utility in sports and active wears as well as defense sector is high. Bilayer and trilayer fabric would be applied in those sectors and wool will take the prior place there,†he said.
The Woolmark company was providing support to the incubation center for more than a year to conduct basic research on the producing blended woollen fabrics. “With a fine tuning of circular knitting machines, such fabrics could be made, for which 18.5 to 19.5 micron wool should be used. The fabric would be lighter ranging from 150 sq cm to 300 sq cm GSM,†said Senthil.