The objective assessment of cashmere handle

Citation

Stylios, G.K. (2006), "The objective assessment of cashmere handle", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 18 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijcst.2006.05818baa.001

The objective assessment of cashmere handle

For luxury fabrics such as cashmere and silk, the handle of the material and its tactile qualities are critical for designers, manufacturers, finishers, buyers and customers. The assessment of fabric handle involves two major classes of variables: fabrics and people. Fabrics can be considered as the stimuli, with specific physical and mechanical properties; while people are the sensors, with the physical and emotional intelligence to translate the stimuli's properties into handle qualities (Plate 1). A large body of work has been carried out on subjective and objective handle of fabrics from as early as Pierce's pioneering approach in 1930s to current times by many workers in the field. Kawabata's contribution has particularly been well received, resulting in academic as well as industrial implementation, facilitated through his series of instruments. Most of the achievements so far have, however, been focused mainly on woollen and worsted fabrics, and cashmere fabric, which sells by its handle, has not yet been fully investigated.

Plate 1.

Current research funded by the South of Scotland European Partnership (SOSEP) has recently addressed this gap and explored the objective assessment of knitted cashmere. The work had the support of Scottish cashmere companies and industrial experts who provided samples and participated in assessment sessions. The results of the project are very exciting says Project Manager Dr S Lam Po Tang. Subjective assessments have already been completed by a panel of five experts, each with 20-30 years of experience in the knitting cashmere industry. Objective characterisation of the samples was made by the Kawabata's Evaluation System for Fabrics (KESF), having redefined some tolerances in the magnitudes. The study, which will soon be published, included identifying the primary handle attributes for knitted cashmere, subjectively assessing samples, identifying the physical and mechanical components of handle that had clear relationships with the subjective assessment of experts, and ultimately developing an evaluation system for industrial use.

The results were surprising and extremely positive. Conventional handle attributes used for the woollen/worsted industry were not enough to describe cashmere handle, and new sensory attributes were identified by the experts. Loft and lushness, for example, were found to be important criteria, in addition to softness and fullness. Correlating the expert's assessment with the KESF data, it was found that 10 out of the 17 physical/mechanical properties contribute significantly in defining cashmere handle. Importantly, the work also resulted in accurate calculation of the total handle values based on the mechanical and physical properties of cashmere fabrics. The calculated total handle values were in excellent agreement with the experts' subjective assessment. In practical terms what this means is that it is now possible to calculate the handle of cashmere fabric, with the confidence that this calculated value matches that of a panel of experts and it is objective.

Meetings with industry indicate that it maybe possible to discriminate poor quality cheap made cashmere through this systematic framework and there are already discussions in how this can be used as a new product development tool but also as a marketing tool for promotion and sales.

For more information please contact Dr Lam Po Tang at S.Lam_po_tang@hw.ac.uk

G.K. StyliosEditor in Chief