Stretchable composite fabric and clothing product therefrom

A stretchable composite fabric which is a woven or knitted fabric comprising at least three types of yarns (1), (2), and (3) different from each other,

• wherein
• the yarn (1) is a stretchable, high water-absorbent and high self-elongative yarn, comprising stretchable fibers having relatively high self-elongation upon absorbing water, and an elongation at break of 200% or more;
• the yarn (2) is a non-stretchable, low water-absorbent and low self-elongative yarn comprising substantially non-stretchable fibers having relatively low self-elongation upon absorbing water;
• the yarn (3) is a stretchable, low water-absorbent and low self-elongative yarn, comprising stretchable fibers having a relatively low self-elongation upon absorbing water, and an elongation at break of 30% or more;
• the yarn (1) has a self-elongation of 5% or more upon absorbing water and the yarn (2) and (3) have an self-elongation less than 5% upon absorbing water, determined in such a manner that each type of yarn selected from the yarns (1), (2) and (3) is wound around a hank frame having a frame girth of 1.125 m under a load of 0.88 mN/d tex, to provide a hank with a winding number of 10, the hank yarn is removed from the hank frame and left to stand in the air atmosphere having a temperature of 20° C. and a relative humidity of 65% for 24 hours to condition the hank yarn, the resultant dried hank yarn is subjected to a measurement of the dry length (Ld, mm) thereof under a load of 0.0080 mN/d tex, immersed in water at a water temperature of 20° C. for 5 minutes, and then taken up from water, the resultant water-wetted hank yarn is subjected to a measurement of the wet length (LW, mm) thereof under a load of 0.0088 mN/d tex, and the self-elongation of the yarn is calculated in accordance with the following equation:
• Self elongation (%) of yarn upon absorbing water=[(Lw−Ld)/(Ld)]×100;
• from the yarn (1) and the yarn (2), a stretchable, water-absorbent, and self-elongative composite yarn (A) is formed, and the yarn (3) is contained in a stretchable and non-water-absorbent and non-self-elongative yarn (B) having substantially no self elongation;
• and
• the woven or knitted fabric has a ratio L1/L2 of 0.9 or less, determined in such a manner that the woven or knitted fabric is subjected to dimension stabilization in the air atmosphere having a temperature of 20° C. and a relative humidity of 65%;
• then, from the dimension-stabilized woven or knitted fabric, a specimen of the composite yarn (A) having a length of 30 cm is picked up;
• and average lengthes L1 and L2 of the yarns (1) and (2) contained in the specimen of the composite yarn (A) are measured under a load of 0.0088 mN/d tex, then the ratio of L1 to L2 is calculated.