A new approach to sports clothing production by polypropylene fiber

Polypropylene (PP) which belongs to polyolefin fiber family has been used in carpet and packing industry and characterized with its well-known resilience, shape retention tendency, low density, low price, high tenacity and easy process ability. The previous studies showed that PP also had superior wicking ability, high air permeability and soft handle, which are important needs for sports clothing. Therefore, a comprehensive study would allow evaluating PP as fiber alternative to cotton or polyester (PET) in sports clothing industry.This thesis is built on a content which basically consists to evaluate the thermal and mechanical properties of PP knitted fabrics with that of cotton and PET fabrics to find out whether PP would be an alternative for sports clothing. This study covered the usage of different denier of PP continuous filament yarns with low density, different knitting patterns and mixture of PP with cotton and PET in the various samples. The measurements on thermal and mechanical comfort-related properties were statistically analyzed and advantages of PP fiber over cotton or PET were monitored. 100% PP sports clothing samples were produced and wear trials were performed by the volunteers under determined conditions.