Biofunctional textile materials: Cosmetic textiles

Abstract

The latest trend in textile industry promotes products with added value that provide additional comfort to users and have a focus on health in terms of use. In that sense, biofunctional and intelligent textile products with different types of applications for improving the lifestyle of the modern consumer stand out. Cosmetic textile is a high-performance textile which represents a fusion of textile material with cosmetics. The main challenges in the manufacture of such products are the selection of products with a cosmetic effect for a particular purpose, storage of agents in the structure of the textile, the rate of release of the agent on the skin and the stability of the agent to the maintenance procedures of textiles and clothing. This paper provides an overview of cosmetic agents for application on textiles, methods of their storage and release and the techniques applicable on textile. Finally, a range of commercially available cosmetic textile products is presented.