Lightweight wool garment wrinkle performance

Abstract

A controlled wear experiment which examined the wrinkle performance of lightweight wool fabrics is described. Six lightweight wool and wool blend fabrics were tailored into trousers and worn by six wearers in controlled ambient environments of 20°C, 40 per cent rh, and 25°C, 75 per cent rh, for two‐hour sessions. Black and white photographs were taken of the wrinkled garments at specific recovery times. These were assessed for wrinkling by ten observers using a scale that was defined in relation to two reference photographs. Fabrics were shown to have different wrinkle performance at the end of the wear sessions. Wearers contribute a large proportion of the variation seen in the overall assessments of the fabrics. The largest source of variation was due to the different ambient wear conditions during the wear session, highlighting the importance of this factor when considering wrinkling in wear.