Cool rules
With summers seemingly becoming hotter all the time, fabric manufacturers in China have been turning their attention to cooling fabrics.
On show at Intertextile Shanghai in late August, Fynex Textiles displayed cooling fabrics for baselayer garments and other applications, explaining that it had applied technology from HeiQ to materials that were 90% nylon and 10% elastane to endow them with a cooling effect.
A near neighbour at the exhibition, XYX Materials, had its own range called Cool Feeling on show. These too had a composition of 90% nylon and 10% elastane, but general manager, Jimmy Zhou, explained that the Fuzhou-based company had added small amounts of a special ingredient, jade.
The resulting fabrics feel cool to touch, but Mr Zhou said the effect goes beyond that, with in-house testing showing a reduction in temperature for the wearer of almost one-quarter of a degree Celsius.
“This is enough to make a difference,” he said. “These fabrics are now in use in baselayers, T-shirts, running vests and intimate apparel and wearers are able to feel a distinctive improvement in comfort.”
