The measurement of drape for nonwoven and conventional textile fabrics

The importance of the drape properties of fabrics on final garment appearance and fit has been long understood and a great deal of research has been carried out in this area. More recently, nonwoven fabrics have begun to create interest among the apparel and fashion design community. In this study, the conventional method of measuring fabric drape was compared with garment drape measurement using an alternative drape measurement system based on an image analysis technique. Garment drape was investigated using dresses suspended on a mannequin. A garment chosen was a shift dress because of its relatively uncomplicated style and shape. Hydroentangled nonwovens were selected as they show good performance and similarity to conventional fabrics in terms of physical and mechanical properties. A graphical user interface was developed to carry out the image analysis and to calculate drape values identifying and determining 23 drape parameters. A range of fabrics including conventional (knitted, woven) and nonwoven fabrics were compared in terms of FAST properties, drape coefficient and drape values. Some nonwoven fabrics were found to give similar performance to some conventional fabrics and better than others. Subjective assessment of the fabric range was carried out in terms of drape amount and preference. Low agreement was found between individuals with regard to preferred drape amount and high agreement with respect to actual drape amount. Nonwovens were found to be better preferred over some conventional fabrics. Most of the drape values of fabric and garment were found to have poor correlations.