Wicking fabric and garment made therefrom
AssigneeLenzing Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsThomas Richard Burrow, Heinrich Firgo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A moisture wicking fabric has one side comprised substantially entirely of inherently hydrophobic fibers such as polyester or polypropylene and the other side comprised of a mixture of hydrophobic fibers such as polyester or polypropylene and hydrophilic fibers, particularly cellulosic fibers such as cotton, lyocell and viscose rayon. A garment can be formed from such a moisture wicking fabric, for example by the whole garment knitting method, the side comprised of the mixture of fibers being the external side of the garment.
Claims19
A moisture wicking fabric for a garment comprising two layers, the fabric having one layer consisting essentially of inherently hydrophobic fibres and the other layer comprised of a mixture of hydrophobic fibres and hydrophilic fibres, wherein said other layer forms an external side of the garment, wherein one side of the fabric is formed by a process selected from knitting and weaving and the other side of the fabric is formed by a process selected from knitting and weaving, wherein said hydrophobic fibres of said one layer and said other layer being weakly hygroscopic having water retention of less than 25% or non-hygroscopic, and wherein said hydrophilic fibres of said other layer form 10 to 50% by weight of said mixture.
A moisture wicking fabric for a garment, consisting of:
- a first layer consisting essentially of inherently hydrophobic polyester fibres being weakly hygroscopic having water retention of less than 25%, and
- a second layer including a mixture of hydrophobic polyester fibres and hydrophilic lyocell fibres, said hydrophilic lyocell fibres forming 20 to 40% by weight of said mixture and being strongly hygroscopic;
- said first and second layers being in intimate contact;
- and
- one side of the fabric being formed by a process selected from knitting and weaving and an opposite side of the fabric being formed by a process selected from knitting and weaving.
A garment, consisting of:
- a comfortable sportswear shirt made of a flexible technical fabric consisting of a two layer structure;
- an inner layer of said two layer structure consisting of fibres of an inherently hydrophobic synthetic or plastics material being weakly hygroscopic having water retention of less than 25%, said inner layer forming an inner side of the garment which, when worn, contacts a wearer's skin;
- an outer layer of said two layer structure being a mixture of fibres of an inherently hydrophobic synthetic or plastics material and hydrophilic fibres, said hydrophobic fibers being weakly hygroscopic having water retention of less than 25% or being non-hygroscopic and said hydrophilic fibres being strongly hygroscopic, forming 20 to 40% by weight of said mixture and being lyocell, said mixture promoting moisture to spread sideways through said outer layer across an outer surface of the outside of the garment thereby maximizing a cooling effect due to evaporation;
- and
- said inner and outer layers being in intimate contact.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.