Investigating the Wear Comfort Properties of Knitted Fabrics Made with a Novel Biodegradable Polyester Yarn

Joining the great performance and sustainability is the clothing dilemma of the twenty-first century. Efforts have been made to invent new functional fibers without harming the environment, during the manufacturing process, or even after the product use. COCONA((R)) is a polyester yarn widely employed in sportswear for athletes, given its capacity to maintain the core temperature at an optimal range. The sustainable program launched by this yarn producer depicted adding a biodegradable character to their products while preserving the original functionalities. Our study aims to compare the wear comfort properties namely the air permeability, the water vapor permeability and the drying behavior of the two yarns (regular and biodegradable). In this study, six knitted fabrics were produced: where three using the regular COCONA((R)) yarn and three using the biodegradable COCONA((R)) yarn with the same pattern and machine settings. Results showed that using the biodegradable COCONA((R)) yarn increases the breathability and improves the drying capacity of loose knitted fabrics and it has no significant effect on tightly knitted structures.