Research into the effects of pigment printing parameters on sensorial comfort to guide garment designers in the apparel industry

Abstract

The printing process, which is an aesthetically significant process subprocess in garment design, has the potential to affect the physical properties and sensory comfort of the fabric. Due to its low cost and very fast process period and the fact that it is environmentally conscious, pigment printing is widely used in the textile industry. This study it’s aimed to guide the designers in the selection of printing type for piece printing according to the fabric type by considering the print area and print pattern in the apparel industry. For this purpose, the effects of commonly used pigment printing pastes on the physical properties and sensorial comfort in knit fabrics of different constructions were studied. To that end, two different patterns were applied to three knit fabrics with different constructions by using three different pigment printing methods to assess several features of the fabrics, namely, print quality, air permeability, roughness, compressibility and bending. As a result of this study, it was observed that the printing application method and print pattern design have a significant impact on the handle properties of the fabric. Consequently, it was revealed that it is necessary to take into account the printing application method and print pattern design in the process of printed clothing design. Among the print types evaluated in this study, the best print type was determined in terms of sensorial comfort and physical properties. In addition, suggestions were made on the issues to be considered during the print design of print types with worse comfort and physical properties.