What are the types of fabric components in clothes? We often hear about various fabric components nowadays, such as polyester, nylon, ice silk, lycra, tencel, flannel, etc., which makes people dizzy and dizzy. In fact, the fabric components commonly used in our daily lives are actually very, very few. There are only 5 types of natural fibers, including cotton, linen, silk, wool, cashmere, and 8 types of chemical fibers, including polyester, nylon, acrylic, spandex, viscose, modal, lyocell, and acetate. These are the legitimate fabric components that I mentioned, and the others are the ones that businesses have given themselves new names based on the ingredients I just mentioned.

 Natural fiber 

Cotton fiber , cotton, is something that everyone is familiar with. It is the cotton bud that grows from a cotton tree. It is used to comb the cotton wrapped in a ball, spin it into yarn, and then weave it to make the clothes we wear. In fact, the most common type of cotton in our lives is called fine velvet cotton, which is usually about 28 millimeters in length, which is the length of half of our little thumb, 90% of the cotton in Xinjiang is fine velvet cotton, and the remaining 10% is the well-known long staple cotton, which is 8 millimeters longer than fine velvet cotton, so it is called long staple cotton. These two varieties are completely different. They are not longer on cotton, they are called long staple cotton. The difference between them is like the difference between deer and giraffes, they are two species. Why is long staple cotton planted so little? Because this long staple cotton is an imported product and its time in China is very short. It was only introduced from the Soviet Union after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, and long staple cotton is also known as island cotton, which was originally produced on Caribbean islands in the Americas, The United States is currently the country with the largest amount of long staple cotton cultivation. The United States has registered its own long staple cotton under the name Su Pi Ma, which is commonly known as Pi Ma cotton. It can be understood as American long staple cotton. The fine velvet cotton widely cultivated in China now has a short history. It was introduced 700 years ago during the Yuan Dynasty and expanded to Central Asia and Arabia, with its origin in Egypt. Therefore, fine velvet cotton is also known as Lusheng cotton. Usually, the Chinese characters and unrelated characters are around the twisted silk, and cotton is around the wooden characters. This is because the word "cotton" first refers to kapok, but the kapok fiber is too short, even without a half of the little thumb, It's too difficult to make clothes. By the way, although cotton is imported, it doesn't mean it won't grow well. We should take measures to adjust the length. The quality of Xinjiang cotton is among the best in the world, much stronger than that of India and Brazil cotton.
What is combed cotton? Cotton grows naturally, with an average length of 28 millimeters, but it doesn't necessarily mean that everything is. Some may be short, while others may be long. Therefore, there is a process of combing cotton, just like a girl combing her hair in the morning. If she combs her short hair away, the hair will be smooth. Combed cotton combs more short cotton twice, leaving longer and smoother cotton, making the clothes smoother and smoother, After all, there is no short hair left, so combed cotton is more expensive than regular cotton. What is mercerized cotton? It is the type of cotton cloth soaked in thick caustic soda, which can melt even pork thrown in. Although cotton cloth cannot melt, it will also undergo changes, such as severe water absorption and expansion. The normal cross-section of cotton is a C-shaped, and after expansion, it becomes circular. Silk is also in this shape, The circular shape definitely reflects more sunlight than the C-shape, so it looks like silk luster, so it is called mercerized cotton.

Colored cotton, which is easy to understand, is a genetic mutation that changes from white to color, referring to color. In fact, the common colors are brown and green, and colored cotton is usually shorter than ordinary cotton, resulting in average fabric quality. Although colored cotton is not dyed, it still needs to be dyed because there are impurities such as pectin, wax, and cottonseed shell during the growth process of cotton, which can cause discomfort on the body. It is necessary to go to the dyeing factory for desizing, The refined process makes it more soft, cotton is finished

Silk fiber, which we often refer to as mulberry silk, is actually the silk of the mother silkworm of mulberry trees, with a pure white color. In the traditional impression, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions where silkworms are raised are rarely seen now. They are all grown in southwestern provinces such as Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan. The best quality silk is now grown in Sichuan, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang no longer raise silkworms because raising silkworms does not earn money. The transformation into Luo Qi is not a silkworm raiser, and raising silkworms is really hard, Doing anything is easier than raising silkworms and making money. Another type of silk is called tussah, which is mainly produced in Liaoning and grew up eating oak trees. The silk produced by the tussah is yellow, so if you want to make clothes, it must be bleached before dyeing, which has a great impact on the texture of the silk. Therefore, clothes made from tussah silk are not advanced, but can be made into quilts. Yellow is yellow, anyway. It is placed in the quilt, and the fluffiness of the quilt made from tussah silk is higher than that of silk, and the price is cheaper than that of mulberry silk, Because the pupae of tussah have been pulled to Northeast China for barbecue, tussah silk is actually a by-product, so it is very cheap. Tussah silk quilts have a particularly high cost-effectiveness

What is double palace silk? It's because the silkworms are too crowded when growing, and they can't spin silk together. Building a nest is like changing from living alone to renting together. With two silkworms spinning silk together, it's like a headphone thread intertwined and cannot be untied. Therefore, double palace silk cannot be fully pulled out and cannot be made into good clothes, which is of poor quality. However, the silk does not need to be pulled out completely, but can be spread out directly. In addition, double palace silk sounds good, I have been deceived into being a high priced silk quilt now, and I have to admire the current marketing.

What is silk? The leftover material of silk, that is, the broken silk, is twisted into yarn like cotton cloth, and then made into cloth. The water in the silk is really too deep, and even if I buy it, I will tread on it.
There are quite a few types of hemp fibers, such as linen, Han hemp, and jute, which were the most common fabric components worn by ancient Chinese people. Silk was worn by nobles, and hemp was truly worn by the common people. However, hemp clothing is now very rare. When wandering around the mall, one rarely sees clothes made of pure hemp fibers, and some are also mixed with other fabric components because the texture is too rough and too harsh. Since the introduction of cotton during the Yuan Dynasty, Ma was gradually eliminated, and he rubbed the hemp rope to extract oil.

Wool and cashmere, wool and cashmere are not the same thing. Wool is made from sheep and is pushed like a haircut when collected. Cashmere is made from goats, which is like a nine tooth nail rake and combed with an iron comb. It is rare and expensive, and Australia is rich in sheep, providing 40% of the world's wool. The rest is abundant in Asia, and cashmere is made from goats. China contributes 80% of the world's cashmere, Mainly in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, Cashmere is a transliteration of cashmere in English, also called Kashmir, which is a place name because cashmere was introduced into Europe from this place in the past. Mohair is the transliteration of Türkiye Angora goat hair, and Mohair is the transliteration of English mohair. In Arabic, it means "cashmere like silk", which is the most common natural fiber

 Chemical fiber 
There are two types of chemical fibers, one is synthetic fibers, which are all synthesized from chemical raw materials, such as polyester, nylon, and spandex. Another type is regenerated cellulose fibers, which dissolve cotton, wood, and bamboo again with chemical reagents before spinning and weaving. Due to the involvement of chemical substances, they are also chemical fibers.

 Chemical fiber  - regenerated cellulose fiber

Viscose fiber, which was born in the 19th century, 100 years ago during the Qing Dynasty, was actually the bamboo fiber promoted by merchants. How was it produced? As mentioned earlier, combed cotton can transport a lot of short cotton, and these short cotton cannot be wasted. Then, a carbon disulfide chemical is used to dissolve it, and the dissolved bamboo fiber looks like a sticky lump, so it is called viscose, Then squeeze out this sticky thing like pressed Hele noodles, isn't it just fine silk? Then spin and weave the fabric normally. Although the raw material is cotton, it is dissolved again, like kneading a brick into sand. The composition is the same, but the structure is more loose, so the dilution is even 50% higher than cotton. However, the carbon disulfide pollution mentioned earlier is significant and is a very environmentally friendly fiber, so I find it difficult to understand that those businesses claim that bamboo fiber is naturally environmentally friendly.

One level higher than adhesive is called Modal fiber, which is squeezed into a liquid with a thick concentration of thin particles during the process of pressing and soldering. Then, it becomes more resilient than previous adhesive fibers. Ordinary adhesive fibers are prone to breaking when wet, but Modal does not, and it has some elasticity, making it particularly suitable for making close fitting underwear and underwear.

Even higher than Modal is Lyocell, which replaces the carbon disulfide solvent with NMMO. After using this product, it is particularly environmentally friendly because the solvent can be recycled with a recovery rate of 99.7%, making it the most environmentally friendly of all fibers. It is not only compared to chemical fibers, but also more environmentally friendly than cotton and silk. Lyocell's English name is Lyocell, Lyo means dissolution in Latin, and cel means cellulose, That is the main component of wood, which literally translates to dissolved wood. Nowadays, many people refer to Lyocell as Tencel, which is actually a myth. Tencel is a trademark registered by the Austrian Lanjing Textile Factory, which includes Modal and Lyocell. However, their Lyocell is too famous, so it is rumored to be Tencel. Therefore, the composition of clothing cannot be directly labeled as Tencel, and it should be written as Lyocel, So Tencel is not a fabric component, it's just a trademark. Every year at the International Fabric Exhibition, fabric merchants suffer from this loss, calling Lyocell Tencel, and then being invited to tea by Lanjing's legal representative.

Next is acetate fiber, which dissolves cotton or wood and adds another chemical reagent to make it less absorbent. Although it is made of cotton like ingredients, it has a plastic texture and a luster similar to silk. By the way, acetate fiber may sound unfamiliar, but everyone has definitely seen it. That's the filter tip of a cigarette, because it has a good ability to absorb tar and the clothes made from it also have a good hanging performance, This type is usually 2-acetic acid. If the production process is more fully reacted, it is triacetic acid fabric, which has a more advanced texture and is often used in high-end fashion, with a particularly high sense of drape

 Chemical fiber - synthetic fiber

Polyester is a type of polyester fiber and the most common type of polyester fiber. Its plasticity is very strong, and it can be made into many fabrics, such as summer blankets in summer, lamb wool, and flannel in winter. Polyester itself is not very hygroscopic, but this does not mean that it does not absorb moisture or sweat when worn, such as the quick drying clothes of sportswear. Instead, it is made of polyester because it can be used during the spinning process, Changing the cross-sectional area of the yarn from circular to various shapes and increasing its body surface area makes it easier for sweat to spread over a larger area, as it is very wrong to believe that synthetic fibers do not absorb moisture and sweat.

There is also a reason why polyester was formerly called Dacron. The polyester trademark produced by the American Invida Textile Factory was called Dacron, which was then transliterated into Dacron in Cantonese after being circulated from Hong Kong to China. Later, the British polyester trademark Terylene became even more popular, so it was transliterated to be called polyester. By the way, polyester and polyester fibers are not quite the same, and the two are related. Polyester also has two brothers, PTT and PBT, with slightly different chemical structures, For example, the commonly heard Sorona fabric is a blend of ordinary polyester PET and PTT. The polyester fibers shrink when heated, but the chemical structures of PET and PTT are different, which means that the heat shrinkage rate is different. Therefore, it becomes a spiral spring like structure, which can have a bit of long-lasting elasticity and is not easy to shape when used on the collar of a T-shirt. Cationic fabrics are also polyester fibers, but anionic structures are added during synthesis, allowing cationic dyes to absorb like magnets, saving processing energy. In fact, cationic fabrics carry anionic charges because their full name is cationic dyeable polyester. Some businesses see cationic fabrics with a positive character, and it is not correct to advertise that they can heat up like the sun in winter. And the polyester clothes we often wear are not made from plastic bottles, they are all directly synthesized through chemical synthesis. Plastic bottles produce very little polyester, less than 5%, and this type of clothing will be labeled with recycled polyester fiber.

Nylon, also known as polyamide fiber or nylon, is a transliteration of nylon in English. Why is it called nylon? Because the first chemical fiber factory in China to synthesize it was Liaoning Jinxi Chemical Fiber Factory, it was called nylon. The chemical industry in Northeast China used to be very strong. Nylon has excellent wear resistance, making it a great choice for sports jackets, down jackets, and sun protection suits. It is also three times more expensive than polyester, especially when wet, making it more durable. Therefore, fishing nets are made of nylon.

Acrylic fiber, which is synthesized from polyacrylonitrile and is nicknamed artificial wool, mainly only appears on winter clothing, with good warmth retention. DeRong is a trademark of acrylic produced by Bayer in Germany, MeiYaBi is a trademark of acrylic produced by Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan, and Salam is a trademark of acrylic produced by Toyo Corporation in Japan. Acrylic fiber does not generate heat, and many merchants promote that acrylic fiber can generate heat to deceive people. The heat is only caused by a blend of viscose fibers, which have excellent moisture absorption and can absorb heat.

Spandex is an elastic fiber that can stretch five or six times its length and is often mixed with various fabrics to increase elasticity. Adding a few percent more to a regular fabric will give it elasticity, and the more you add, the longer it lasts. Lycra is the spandex produced by DuPont. Clothes containing spandex should not be bleached with 84, otherwise the elasticity will immediately decrease and the clothes will become loose.

With the development of textile technology, the correlation between the composition of these fabrics and the final performance of clothes is becoming increasingly small, and there are many textile dyeing and finishing processes that change the performance of clothes. Clothes made of the same fabric composition can have completely different properties, just like glass and chips, but the raw materials are all sand.