O o d h e a d p u b L i s h I n g L i m I t e d

Key words: thermal and subjective comfort, moisture buffering, sweat
wicking, Sportwool, intelligent textiles.
11.1
Introduction
Wool was once commonly used in a wide variety of sports apparel. It was the
product of choice for participants in soccer, rugby, cricket, cycling, sailing
and outdoor pursuits and until the 1950s it was even commonly used for
swimming costumes. Since the advent of mass-produced synthetic fibres in
the 1940s, wool’s position in this apparel sector has been steadily eroded, to
the point where today all that remains is a very tenuous share of niche
markets such as outdoor apparel and thermal underwear.
The reasons for wool’s demise are complex. Although synthetic fibre
manufacturers initially strove to copy the properties of natural fibres, in the
early 1980s they began to move in new directions, developing and expanding
the attributes of their own products. Growing competition from low-cost
countries in commodity fibre markets further encouraged this. Producers in
Europe, Japan and the United States moved into high value-added fibres
with engineered aesthetic or mechanical properties.
Active sportswear was a natural outlet for many of these developments.
The availability of textile materials with technological origins provided the
catalyst for a rapid evolution in fabric and garment design and led to the
emergence of specialist active sportswear manufacturers. This group exploited
the technical attributes of fabrics in garment design to differentiate their
products in a highly competitive market and establish for themselves credibility
as market leaders in their sports. Differentiation was linked to identifiable
end-product requirements, now commonly known as functional attributes
and supported by substantial investment in marketing.
© 2009 Woodhead Publishing Limited

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Advances in wool technology
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Objective measurement of clothing ‘thermophysiological’ properties by
specialised laboratories such as the Hohenstein Institute (Hohenstein, 2008)
became popular as manufacturers sought to establish unique advantages for
their products related to their target markets. The increasing technical awareness
of consumers was exploited through the introduction of advertising based on
product differentiation and the inclusion of swing tags in garments to draw
attention to the technical basis of product benefits.
Over the same period there was an enormous increase in the level of