There are
so many materials out there on the market today and it is almost impossible to
consider all of them. Also, all material specifications sound very good and
many times often very alike. But it is important to dig deeper than those
specifics.
Product development
The
material choices are considered throughout the whole product development
process. Especially when you, as we at KORI, work with products that both need
to adapt to usage requirements; product aim, product function, product
usability etc. and adapt to the users requirements; body climate, body movements
and also body skin sensibility.
Above this
we need to consider the strength of the materials, which together with other
steps in the production process will reflect the quality of the outcome. To
find the best suitable material for our products we dig deeper than the
material specifics. Below is a short summary of three of the largest textile
material categories:
Natural textiles
First there
are natural textile materials such as wool, merino and silk that is has its
origin to adapt to a body climate. Though, the big though these fibres are not composed
to last long. The wool on sheep (or other wool producing animals) is constantly
exchanged for new growing fur. And the delicate silk is just as delicate when
it comes to handling the material; it is sensitive to for example washing and
sunlight.
Synthetic textiles
Then we
have the synthetic textile materials, that is polymer textiles. Synthetic
textiles are first of all very strong and durable and as plastics can “go into
any shape” this category is receptive to new technologies and innovations,
which makes this category the largest and widest category with most
possibilities. In this category we have materials as Coolmax, Nylon, Lycra,
Cordura, Kevlar, Tactel, Spandex etc.
Semi-natural textiles
At last (in
this summary) we have the semi-natural textile materials, that is textiles which,
in a quite complicated way, is extracted from natural materials such as wood. These
semi-natural materials is just as it says, something in between the other two
categories, but it does not really reach either one of them. It is not as good
as the naturals and can not compete with them, and neither as good as the
synthetics and can not compete with them, yet… at least not for the qualities
we search for in our products. It is a growing category and it is very
interesting, I hope that we can await many promising production-technologies
and of course great end results textile materials in this category. Today we
can find textiles as Lyocell, Modal and Tencel..
One textile
material that I do not even mention in this summary is cotton, which is a
natural fibre with the main qualities of being cheep and not that good in any
of its characteristics, apart from “commonly used” and soft. The environmental
debate about cotton is also important to consider...
Product-next-to-body
material choices
When we chose
the materials to the back protector the aim was to make a safe and durable
product, but as it is used and mounted on the human body we needed to pay
attention to what is happening in the meetings where product meets body. The
back protector backpack, which is not directly a product-next-to-body but very
close, usually only a t-shist in between. We chose a polyester mesh where the
protector is close to the body. Polyester, a synthetic fiber which is very
strong and durable and also is extremely good at transporting moisture. The
mesh also gives an extra ventilation to keep humid air away from the back. This
was a material decision to keep the back dry and ventilated and the product
long lasting. The challenge for the user (to be able to take advantage of this
material) is to use a suitable material in between. If the material inbetween
does not transport moisture, the risk of the dirty-sweaty-feeling is still very
high…
So, the material choices for the products that is directly next to the skin is very important. And
now, at KORI, we are up for this new challenge, because we are developing product-next-to-skin products (hint of what is to come)… very exciting!
