ABSTRACT
Industrial breakthroughs for the clothing sector connect the consumers' desires and needs to solutions related to fashion and technology aspects, and the comfort of the fabrics. In order to contribute to the development of innovation processes through design, this study examines the effectiveness of two hydrophobic products from Rio Grande do Sul companies: the product 1495, from Claritex, and the product 1003 from Corium. These products were applied to the fabrics Dress and Sublime, both with 90% polyester, and 10% elastane, and printed by sublimation, from the textile company Santaconstancia. The objective is to evaluate if the fabrics lose their hydrophobic properties after multiple washings, and if they maintain their permeability to water steam, which contributes to thermal comfort. It was analyzed assays with resistance to domestic laundering, the water steam permeability and the contact angle from the drop of water. The results showed that both hydrophobic products analyzed are effective, but the product 1003 had the highest average of contact angle from the drop of water after 20 washes. Another result is that the fabrics analyzed haven't suffered significant changes in the permeability to the water steam values when they compared to fabrics without application of print and the hydrophobic product.
Keywords:
Applied Technology to Design; Textile; Hydrophobic; Design Research; Thermal comfort
