Canan Saricam

Electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of woven fabrics containing cotton/metal-wrapped hybrid yarns

This paper involves a comprehensive evaluation of electromagnetic shielding characteristics of woven fabrics. The conductive fabrics produced by using cotton/copper-wrapped and cotton/stainless steel-wrapped hybrid yarns in plain and twill weaves were tested in single and double layer structures to determine the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMSE), absorption and reflection values over an incident frequency of 0–3000 MHz. In addition, the shielding effectiveness (EMSE) of these conductive fabric layers was tested under pure cotton fabric. The results indicated that fabrics including copper-wrapped hybrid yarns exhibited EMSE values that increase with increasing incident frequency then decline after a peak value is reached. On the other hand, fabrics including stainless steel-wrapped hybrid yarns showed no sharp peak values, instead; slight peaks were observed. The differences between the EMSE values of plain and twill weave fabric samples were found to be statistically insignificant. The use of fabrics including stainless steel-wrapped hybrid yarns in the layered structures resulted in better shielding effectiveness in a wider incident frequency range when compared to the fabrics including copper-wrapped hybrid yarns. Finally, it was found that the use of conductive fabrics under pure cotton fabric did not interrupt the shielding effectiveness of the conductive fabrics, which can lead to consider the use of layered structures for garments requiring special protective capabilities.

Wicking and drying properties of conventional ring- and vortex-spun cotton yarns and fabrics

This study investigated the vertical wicking, water absorption and drying properties of vortex- and ring-spun combed cotton yarns and knitted fabrics comparatively. The yarns were produced in three different counts as 30 Ne, 40 Ne and 50 Ne. The experimental results revealed that vortex-spun yarns had lower yarn and fabric wicking and water absorption values than ring-spun yarns. In addition, it was observed that yarn type did not have a significant impact on the drying time of the fabrics.

Acceptance of apparel private sale sites by consumers: application of original and extended technology acceptance model

In this study, the private sale sites, a new way of online retailing of especially fashion type of apparel products, are investigated in order to determine and understand the acceptance of them by the consumers. The factors that determine the attitude and intention of consumers toward private sale sites are analyzed using two models: the original technology acceptance model (TAM) and proposed TAM which is extended with addition of distinctive features of these sites. These features are specified as quality dimensions in three groups, namely, system flexibility, service reputation, and service attractiveness. Both TAM and proposed TAM models are validated using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling on the data obtained from a sample of 344 people living in Turkey. In the end, it is suggested that the apparel retailers to focus on the service attractiveness and service reputation in order to influence the attitude of the consumers and motivate them to use the private sale sites.

Fabric hand of a dry finished wool fabric

The appearance and hand of end-use fabrics has become more and more important when purchasing textile fabrics. The finishing parameters have complex influences on the large number of changes that occur in fabric properties during finishing processes. This study focused on the influences of different finishing parameters on mechanical and surface properties in order to discover the most appropriate finishing process according to the requirements of fabric handle and appearance. The KES-F system was used to evaluate fabric hand objectively, as well as the mechanical and surface properties of a woven wool fabric. Four finishing processes were selected, which differed in relation to the temperature when drying (T1=160 °C, T2=180 °C) and processing conditions during autoclave decatizing (T1=95 °C, p1=0.4 bar, T2=110 °C, p2=1 bar). The effect of the influential parameters inside four different finishing processes on the mechanical properties and hand of a selected woven fabric was evaluated using the analysis of variance. The results show that tensile properties are much more influenced by the belt pressing process while bending and shear properties are influenced by continuous decatizing process, which is the process that mostly improves fabric stability at the beginning of the dry finishing cycle. When the primary and total hand values were observed, it could be seen that applying chemicals during belt pressing had some consequences, the impacts of which could be observed directly in the resulting hand values.

The Impact of Knowledge on Consumer Behaviour Towards Sustainable Apparel Consumption

The concept of sustainability in apparel involves designing, manufacturing and consuming of products with the consideration of environmental and social impacts specifically. Today, apparel retailers do not only compete to offer a variety of goods to the consumers, but also compete to implement sustainability into their business models. From the consumers’ perspective, the ever increasing launch of environmentally friendly products/brands manufactured with an understanding of corporate social responsibility is encouraging them to take a more active role in sustainability via their apparel purchasing. As a result of the increased awareness, consumers are more likely to purchase sustainable products; however, knowledge is the key issue triggering the consumers towards sustainability in apparel purchasing. That is to say; if consumers know more about sustainability, then they are more likely to purchase sustainable apparel products. This chapter deals with the empirically testing of a model developed for the investigation of consumers’ behaviour towards sustainable apparel consumption including the constructs of knowledge of environmental issues, knowledge of social issues, motivation for environmental responsibility, attitude toward green brand and purchasing intention. A survey was conducted among 796 participants in Turkey. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the validity of the items of each construct, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to estimate the relationships between the constructs. The results revealed that motivation for environmental responsibility is strongly correlated with the consumers’ attitude toward green brand. Moreover, knowledge of consumers about environmental issues was found to have a significant impact on purchasing intention. On the other hand, knowledge of social issues was found to have an insignificant effect on consumers’ sustainable apparel purchasing intention.

Analysing the Consumer Behavior Regarding Sustainable Fashion Using Theory of Planned Behavior

Sustainable fashion, which is a term used for describing the clothing that is designed for longer lifetime uses, produced in ethical production systems using materials and processes that are not harmful to environment and the workers and which incorporates the fair trade principles with sweatshop-free labor conditions and makes use of eco-labelled or recycled materials, gained favor by the fashion industry specialists and the consumption market. Although the aspects of sustainable fashion regarding the selection of material, manufacturing process and supply chain were discussed by the researchers, the analyses examining the approach of the consumers towards sustainable fashion are quiet limited in number. Extended from Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) with an additional dimension corresponding to a volitional control, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was confirmed to be an effective model to predict the consumer intentions analyzing the three independent determinants of intention, which are “attitude towards the behavior”, “subjective norm”, and “perceived behavioral control” respectively. TPB was used to explain the consumers’ approach towards either sustainability concept in general or sustainable products and processes in specific fields such as organic food consumption, green lodging, visiting green restaurants, purchasing luxury fashion produced in sweatshops, buying organic cotton apparel, using environmentally friendly transportation. Within the analysis, TPB model was used in original form or extended form with additional constructs self-construal, beliefs, ethical concerns or past experiences. In this study, the approach of the consumers’ intention toward sustainable fashion purchasing was investigated using TPB where TPB model was applied in original form and extended form including the behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs and control beliefs affecting the determinants of the intention construct. After conducting an online survey among 339 participants in Turkey, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to analyse the models. The findings showed that both models were validated and can be used to explain the approach of the consumers towards sustainable fashion products. According to both models, among the three constructs determining the intention was found to be attitude construct primarily, which shows the degree of favourable or unfavourable evaluation of the behaviour in question. The perceived behavioral control corresponding to the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior was found to be less influential on the customer intention whereas the subjective norms defined as the perceived social pressure to perform or not perform the behavior was found to be influential more on the original TPB model. In the extended TPB model, whereas the attitudes were found to be influenced by behavioural beliefs, no relation was found between control beliefs and perceived behavioural control. Finally, the subjective norms and mormative beliefs acted as a single construct to be influential on the purchase intention.

Evaluation of Regenerated Bamboo, Polyester and Cotton Knitted Fabrics for Summer Clothing

Apparel products worn next to the skin used as summer clothing should satisfy good thermal and moisture management properties. In this paper, fabrics which are produced from three different types of fibres – regenerated bamboo, polyester, cotton and blends of these fibres, were compared with each other in terms of mechanical, thermal comfort and moisture management properties to explain the influence of the fibre type. Moreover the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was adopted to allow to make a selection among these fabrics of the best option to be used in summer wear. It was found that fibre type had a significant effect on the properties measured. Fabrics made with polyester fibre showed the required performance in terms of mechanical and moisture management properties, whereas regarding the thermal comfort properties, all fibre types had some special distinguishing performances. AHP assessment results revealed that 100% cotton fabrics should be preferred for use in summer clothing with regard to mechanical and thermos-physiological comfort related properties.

Investigating the effect of some fabric parameters on the thermal comfort properties of flat knitted acrylic fabrics for winter wear

In this paper, the thermal comfort properties of flat knitted acrylic fabrics differing in terms of knit structure, tightness, thickness and porosity were investigated within the perspective of its usage in winter wear products. Measured and calculated using the data from Permetest and Alambeta devices, the thermal comfort properties were handled in three aspects, namely thermoregulation characteristics, breathability and thermo-physiological characteristics, and their relationship with fabric structural parameters were investigated statistically. The results indicated that rib 2 × 2 structures provide the optimum condition in terms of thermoregulation, breathability and thermo-physiological comfort, whose thickness and porosity values should be adjusted accordingly, since the thickness improves thermal insulation and porosity improves breathability.

Determination of Priorities in Apparel Purchasing from Private Sale Websites

Abstract In the fast-changing internet era, private sale websites attracted an enormous interest from the consumers in especially online marketing of apparel goods. The retailers may garner more benefit if the prior issues for the consumers when they are purchasing apparel products online is known. Reviewing the literature, this study presents the factors in three groups in a hierarchical manner considering the multidimensional aspect of online purchasing of apparel products from private sale websites and then determines the prior issues for the consumers by making pairwise comparisons among these factors using analytical hierarchy process on a sample group of 100 Turkish respondents. The findings revealed that “privacy/security” in terms of online shopping criteria, “product information” in terms of apparel products criteria, and “discount ratio” in terms of private shopping criteria took highest scores of importance when the aspects were analyzed individually. Nonetheless, the parameters regarding the online shopping criteria were found to be more important than the criteria regarding the apparel products and private shopping criteria. In the end, it was also observed that these items that were found to have highest importance were actually corresponding to the risks of the situation.

Modeling and Analysis of the Motivations of Fast Fashion Consumers in Relation to Innovativeness

Abstract In this study, fast fashion concept is investigated in order to understand the motivations of the consumers that make them adopt these products because of their willingness for the innovativeness. The relationship between the motivational factors which were named as “Social or status image” and “Uniqueness” as expressions of individuality, “Conformity” and the willingness for “Innovativeness” is analyzed using a conceptual model. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze and validate the model. The data used for the study was obtained from 244 people living in Turkey. The findings showed that the motivational factors “Social or status image” and “Uniqueness” as expressions of individuality are influential on the consumers’ willingness for “Innovativeness”.