Creating sustainable fashion Designs treated with soil release finishing via used household textiles

I. Introduction:

Fashion is socially, economically, and environmentally significant. As a material form of expression, fashion apparel is important to our personal and social relationships, linked to how we live and see ourselves within society.[1] “Fast fashion” characterizes the speed of today’s clothing production and consumption: clothing is designed to be cheap, easy, and rapid to produce, and is created to be distributed, sold, and consumed in ever-increasing quantities.[2]

With the increasing attention on sustainability within consumer culture, fast production movements are criticized for undermining sustainability, and therefore the slow trend has emerged in various areas such as slow food and slow life.[3,4] In this vein, slow fashion emerged as the antithesis of the current fast fashion system, which expedites manufacturing speed and shortens the lifespan of clothing items. Against the unsustainable consequences of the fast-moving fashion cycle, slow fashion emphasizes quality and calls for increased consciousness from producers and consumers while slowing down the production and consumption cycle.[5,6] Current thinking on recycling and sustainability, however, encourages the use of one material or fiber for a whole garment and so perhaps these early investigations into moldable fashion have come of age.[7,8,9]

 Recycle - best out of waste: Re-cut and sew vintage clothing, or use unusual materials to create truly different fashions, recycled clothing is the greenest option. Re-Construction - second life: For achieving the psychological and functional utility of a fashion product, the design process was modified to design two life cycles for one fashion product. Also, the transformation of one life to the other was planned in the design process itself. A thorough research about long term fashion trends is important in designing the extended life cycle of the product. A designer can incorporate simple and convenient methods to transform a product from its first life to its second life.[10,11,12]

Upcycled garments can have that independent appeal. No matter who the designer is or what styling options designers choose, these upcycled fashion garments and accessories are by nature one-of-a kind So, if one can add value – economic, intellectual, emotional, material – to a product through the process of reuse, it can be called ‘upcycled”. The forward to the book, upcycle, speaks of upcycling in general terms: ‘‘The goal of the upcycle is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy, and just world with clean air, water, soil, and power - economically, equitable, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed”.[13,14,15]

Textile finishing involves treating a textile material in such a way that the product has the desired aesthetic and functional properties required for its intended use.[16,17] All Finishing processes serve the following purposes:

 • To enhance the appearance of the fabric.

• To improve the texture or weight.

• To increase flexibility, durability, or ease of care.[18]

Soil-release finishes on textiles facilitate the removal of soils during laundering under common household conditions. Fabrics treated with soil-release finishes are particularly suited to active wear and leisure wear.[19, 20] All fibers get soiled but most of them can be washed clean because of soap, water or the detergent penetrates the fiber; but this is not so with polyester or polyester blended cotton, they are hydrophobic and often oleophilic or oil attracting.[18,21) Soils can be defined as unwanted substances at the wrong place. The textile industry is searching for innovative production techniques to improve the product quality, as well as society requires new finishing techniques working in environmental respect.[22,18,]  Softener as a soil release agent:  Textiles can achieve an agreeable, soft hand some smoothness, more flexibility and better drape and pliability. Other properties improved by softeners include the feeling of added fullness, antistatic properties and sew ability. Softeners provide their main effects on the surface of the fibers.[18,21,23]

The distinctive physicochemical properties of silicone polymers and the ability to tailor their architecture and functionality can bring a variety of consumer relevant benefits when correctly formulated. Softness improvements, ease of ironing, water absorbency and to a lesser extent, antiwrinkle characteristics, have been demonstrated and commercially implemented. Silicone softeners are widely used in the textile industry because of their great performance in fabric softness, smoothness, etc. They not only impact fabric surface properties, but also mechanical and physical properties, providing fabrics with the desired hand feel.[24] For instance, due to the ability to form specific interactions at the fibers silicone interface, the fabrics treated with the amino modified silicones have excellent softening.[24,25,26,27,28]

Garment materials art recreation is related to one design of garment materials. It is to promote aesthetic artistic effect of clothing and used fabric. It combines with the characters of clothing style and utilizes new design thought and craft to further change available fabric appearance style and improve existing fabric quality and artistic effect, which would make the potential aesthetic perception which fabric has obtain the best development.[29,30,31]

The aim of this paper is about upcycling to add value and uniqueness resulting one-of-a-kind design available for women to purchase in any retail store .Creating six designs utilizing waste used households treated via soil release finishing as a source of sustainable fashionable seaside designs.

II. EXPERIMENTAL WORK

2.1. Materials:

Different used Household 100% cotton, cotton blends, and decorative thread.

2.2. Chemicals:

 STRUKTOL VP 5417 a concentrated (micro emulsion) of quaternary siloxane compound   kindly provided by Dahab Trade, New Maadi, Cairo distrusted from Schill + Seilacher "Struktol" GmbH, Hamburg, Germany.

2.2.1 Dyes:

  C.I Reactive 19 dyes and C.I disperse 7 dye were kindly supplied from dystar company, Egypt

 2.3. Methods:

2.3.1 Soil release treatment

 The fabric was weighted and padded through two dips and two nips in the solution containing STRUKTOL VP 5417 factors studied were (3-6 % o.w.f) at pH (5-8) and pick up/ (100 %), then drying at 80°C Cured at (100-130°C) for (1- 4) min. The fabrics then washed with 2 g/l nonionic detergent at 60°C for 15 min. rinsed with hot then with tape water and air dried.

2.3.2 Dyeing of cotton and cotton / polyester fabrics with reactive and disperse dyes:

 Both untreated and treated cotton and cotton blend fabrics were dyed with reactive and disperse dyes by exhaustion method.

 2.4. Soil release evaluation:   

For soiling release testing the fabric were tested according to AATCC 130.[32]

2.5. Antibacterial Evaluation

The antibacterial activities of the samples were determined according to the AATCC test method 100, 2004.[33]

2.6 Physico-mechanical measurements

2.6.1. Breathability:  

Water vapor transmission rate, “WVTR”, is often based on the wet cup method described by ASTM E-96.[34]

2.6.2 The crease recovery angles (^o)

The crease recovery angles (CRA) in the warp and weft direction were measured according to AATCC 66-2000 test method.[35]

2.6.3. The evaluation of wettability 

Wettability of fabrics before and after treatment was measured according to ISO 4920-1981.[36]

2.6.4 Durability test

The durability of the treated fabric against repeated laundering was evaluated according to AATCC 124-1992 test method subjected to 10-30 washing cycle in the presence of the nonionic detergent (Ariel washing detergents).[37]

2.7. Color strength (K/S) 

Color strength (K/S) of the dyed samples was measured on Mini Scan XE spectrophotometer using Hunter lab universal software, which based on Kubelka – Munk equation.[38]

2.8 Color fastness properties

2.8.1. Light fastness   The light fastness of dyed fabrics was determined according to ISO 105-BO2-2014 test method Colour fastness to artificial light Xenon arc fading lamp test. [39]  

2.8.2. Wash fastness   The wash fastness of dyed fabrics was determined according to ISO 105-C0 6 test method. [40]

2.9. Application in the clothing field:

Sustainable clothes with added value:

The main idea is to develop more sustainable and responsible designs.

Six designs were created using household treated by soil release finishing agent as a source for sustainable fashionable designs and fashion design for women as summer sea side clothes.

2.9.1 Technique:

All designs were applied using draping technique.

The following are samples of the used household fabrics before alteration: towels and bed linens.

Fig. (1) Used Towel and bed Linens.

III. Results and discussions:

3.1. Soil release treatment results:

3.1.1. Effect of STRUKTOL VP 5417   Concentration:

Table (1): Effect of STRUKTOL VP 5417   Concentration.

Treatment condition:

Treatment condition: STRUKTOL VP 5417   concentration (3-6%), pH 6, Wet pick up 100%, then dried for 2 min at80^OC, and cured at 130 for 3 min. Washing condition: 2% nonionic detergent (Ariel washing detergent) at 60⁰C for 15min.

From the table (1) it concluded that the 100 % cotton tea stain are completely removed at concentration 6 % while the Oil and the Roselle stain shows completely removal and recorded grade 5 with all the different concentration and a small amount of the STRUKTOL VP 5417 are able to remove the stains.  Cotton/polyester blend also shows improvement of the stains removal at concentration 5 with oil stain and Roselle completely removed at concentration 5% and 6 %while the tea stain need further studying of the STRUKTOL VP 5417 other factors. The smallest amount of concentration showed very good performance.

STRUKTOL VP 5417 leaves many hydrophilic (OH) groups on the fabric surface, making the fabric more hydrophilic. Based on the fundamental laundry principles, a hydrophilic fabric surface promotes fabric wetting, and promotes accessibility of the detergent between stains and the fabric surface, resulting in better stain removal.[41,42]

3.1.2. Effect of  pH on soil release :

Table (2): Effect of  pH on soil release.

Treatment condition:

Treatment condition: STRUKTOL VP 5417  concentration (5%), pH (5-8), Wet pick up 100%, then dried for 2 min at80 ^OC, and cured at 130^o C for 3 min.Washing condition: 2% nonionic detergent (Ariel washing detergent) at 60⁰C for 15min.

The table (2) shows that 100 % cotton fabrics with tea stain are completely removed at pH 7 and pH 8 while the oil and Roselle are removed at pH 6, 7 and pH 8. Cotton / polyester stains shows tea stains removed at pH 8 while oil and Roselle removed at pH 6, 7 and pH 8.

STRUKTOL VP 5417 shows a very high substantivety when applied in aqueous solutions. The stain removal performance is related to the hydrophilic lipophilic balance (HLB) of modified silicones. The higher the hydrophilic lipophilic balance (HLB), the better the stain removal performance, making fabrics more hydrophilic leading to useful tool for fabric cleaning performance.[43,44]

3.1.3.  Effect of curing temperature and time on soil release:

Table (3):  Effect of curing temperature on soil release.

Treatment condition:

Treatment condition: STRUKTOL VP 5417   concentration 5%, pH 8, Wet pick up 100%, then dried for 2 min at80 ^OC, and cured at (110-130 ^o C) for 3 min.Washing condition: 2% nonionic detergent (Ariel washing detergent) at 60⁰C for 15min

        Shown in table (3) 100 % cotton fabric treated with STRUKTOL VP 5417 shows completely removal of all the stains at curing temperature 110, 120 and 130 ^o c while with the cotton / polyester blend with the tea and the Roselle shows grade 5 only with curing temperature 130 ^o c and the oil stains removal at 120 and 130 ^o c   .The STRUKTOL VP 5417 orients itself on the surface of the fabric and wicks water. It also provides for the resistance to oily soil. this due to the withstand of modified silicone to high temp. Which ease the combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts to reduce the surface tension of the stains.[45,46,47]

Table (4):  Effect of curing time on soil release.

Treatment condition: STRUKTOL VP 5417  concentration 5%, pH 8, Wet pick up 100%, then dried for 2 min at80 ^OC, and cured at 1 30 ^o C for (1-3 min.).Washing condition:  2% nonionic detergent (Ariel washing detergent) at 60⁰C for 15min.

Shown in table (4) 100 % cotton fabric treated with STRUKTOL VP 5417 shows completely removal of the tea stain at curing time 3 and 4 min. while oil and Roselle changing curing time has no effect on the stain removal as it recorded grade 5 with all the curing time. Cotton / polyester blend treated with STRUKTOL VP 5417 recorded grade 5 with all the stains at3 and 4 min. curing time. Hydrophilic modified silicone. Improves softness and can be used to improve soil-release properties, antistatic properties and water-absorbency. From the previous tables we conclude that the concentration plays Avery important role in the removing of the stains also it depends on the stains type, oil base, water base, dry base, and composite base.  PH of the treatment also should be carefully handled STRUKTOL VP 5417 works in mild base medium. A higher HLB (hydrophilic lipophilic balance) leads to a shorter wetting time, indicating that the fabric is more hydrophilic.^.Generally, silicone finishes often aggregate and form a thin layer on the interfaces between fabric and stain, which will influence the interactions with both fabrics and stains.[48,49]

3.2. Antibacterial effect of STRUKTOL VP 5417 on cotton and Cotton/ polyester

        The growth reduction % of gram negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) bacteria was shown in the table (5).

Table  (5):  Antibacterial effect of STRUKTOL VP 5417 on cotton and Cotton/ polyester.

Treatment condition: STRUKTOL VP 5417   concentration 5%, pH 8, Wet pick up 100%, then dried for 2 min at80 ^OC, and cured at 130 ^o C for 3 min. Washing condition: 2% nonionic detergent (Ariel washing detergent) at 60⁰C for 15min.

It was observed in table (5) treatment has a positive effect on the bacteria growth, Cotton and cotton/ polyester fabrics treated via STRUKTOL VP 5417shows a good reduction % growth of both grams positive and gram-negative bacteria. This may be due to STRUKTOL VP 5417contains Quaternary ammonium compounds belong to the class of cationic disinfectants and have been widely used for half a century. The method of biocidal activity involves an electrostatic interaction with constituents of the cell wall, followed by destabilization of the cytoplasmic membrane via the lipophilic moiety present in the Quaternary ammonium compounds. Because of the very high osmotic pressure, this destabilization leads to a loss of cytoplasmic constituents, resulting in subsequent cell death. [48, 50,51,52]

3.3. Physico mechanical properties of treated cotton and cotton/ polyester fabrics:

Table (6): Physico mechanical properties of treated cotton and cotton/ polyester fabrics.

Treatment condition: STRUKTOL VP 5417  ‎concentration 5%, pH 8, Wet pick up 100%, then dried for 2 min at80 ^OC, and cured at 130 ^o C for 3 min. Washing condition: 2% nonionic detergent (Ariel washing detergent) at 60⁰C for 15min.

Shown in table (6) the fabric treated with STRUKTOL VP 5417 showed enhancement of the breathability from 5% to 9% with 100% Cotton fabric and from 2.6%to 3.2% with‎65-35%‎Cotton ‎‎/polyester‎this may be due to the STRUKTOL VP 5417content which increase the hydrophilic lipophilic balance (HLB). Silicones are based on a chemically bonded backbone of siloxane bonds (Si-O-Si). Silicones have a higher intermolecular binding energy compared to typical organic resins, which are composed of C-C-C bonds, which gives silicones their excellent weather and heat resistance.[41,45,52,53]

Treatment of the 100% cotton and 65-35‎%Cotton ‎‎/polyester fabric with STRUKTOL VP 5417 increases the fabric absorbency in a dramatic way as the fabric readily absorb the water in no time this is due to the increasing of the hydrophilicity, STRUKTOL VP 5417make the fabric more negative and leaves many hydrophilic OH group on the fabric surface rendering the fabric more hydrophilic and more wettable.[44,53]

          Both treated fabric with STRUKTOL VP 5417‎showed improvement in crease recovery angle in all direction. Modified Silicone softener acts as lubricating agent between the yarns of the fabric imparting softness to the material, silicone capability comes from the flexibility and freedom of rotation along the Si-o bonds this freedom rotation leads to unique flexibility of the siloxane molecules. [43,44,49]

3.4. Evaluation of Durability:

Table (7): Evaluation of Durability.

Treatment condition: STRUKTOL VP 5417   concentration 5%, pH 8, Wet pick up 100%, then dried for 2 min at80 ^OC, and cured at 130 ^o C for 3 min. Washing condition: 2% nonionic detergent (Ariel washing detergent) at 60⁰C for 15min.

In the table (7) treatment of ‎100%cotton ‎ and ‎65- 35% Cotton / polyester ‎ fabric with the STRUKTOL VP 5417   quaternary siloxane shows effective treatment up to 30 wash cycle as it recorded grade 5 after 30 with all the stains . This may be due to the increasing of wettability of the treated fabric and hence increasing the soil release property .Silicones form a flexible Coating on fiber surfaces, thereby improving the fabric’s durability against washing and dry cleaning. The durability increases due to replacement of some methyl groups by other functional groups which increase attraction to the fabrics. this may be attributed to the type of silicone present in STRUKTOL VP 5417 which is extremely stable under conditions required to washing.[42, 53,54]

3.5. Effect of STRUKTOL VP 5417   ‎treatment of ‎100%cotton and 65%-35% Cotton / polyester fabric on color strength (K/S):

Table (8): Effect of STRUKTOL VP 5417   ‎treatment of ‎100%cotton and 65%-35% Cotton / polyester fabric on color strength (K/S).

Treatment condition: STRUKTOL VP 5417   concentration 5%, pH 8, Wet pick up 100%, then dried for 2 min at80 ^OC, and cured at 130 ^o C for 3 min. Dyeing condition: M: L 1: 50 and dye shade (3% o.w.f.) C.I. Reactive Blue 19 dye: 50g/l Nacl_, 13-15g/l Na₂CO₃. (o.w.f) and M: L 1: 50 and dye shade (3% o.w.f.) C.I. disperse red 7 dye: 2g/l carrier, pH 4.5_, Washing conditions:2% nonionic detergent (Ariel washing detergent) at 60⁰C for 15min.

Treatment of ‎100% Cotton fabric with STRUKTOL VP 5417    showed in table (8) an ‎improvement in color strength values (K/S) from 1.795to 4.848‎and 1.618 and it’s recommended to treat the fabric and then dye it  . Silicone softeners contain reactive sites ‎which contribute to the hydrophilicity and increase the color ‎intensities. It's clear that there is a significant increase in the color strength values (K/S) of ‎65%-35% Cotton / polyester‎ finished with STRUKTOL VP 5417 from ‎5.03 ‎to 6.060and 8.449and so it is recommended to treatment then dyed the fabric. Silicones form a transparent coating on fiber surfaces, for enhanced deep coloring and Fastness.[46,54,56,57]

3.6. Fastness properties:

Table (9):  Fastness properties.