WOOL v. ARTIFICIAL SILK

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 53, 26 November 1928, Page 17

WOOL v. ARTIFICIAL SILK

4 ANXIETY IN YORKSHIRE The Yorkshire wool districts are troubled by the competition of artificial silk. The lightness and lustre of artificial silk have lureo many women away from wool, and for some time experiments have been in progress in the hope of restoring “natural clothing” to its old position. Speaking at Leicester, Dr. S. G. Barker, director of research for the wollen and. worsted industries, set out the nature of the problem and (he possibilities of its solution. As ho said, wool is unique among textile materials in the conjunction of its qualities. The requirements in a good wearing material are durability, elasticity, heat-retaining power, moisture, absorption, heat-creation next the skin, and ultra-violet transmissive power. In all these respects wool can claim supremacy. From the feminine point of view, one of its chief faults is that it lasts too long. This may be partially due to the fact that Yorkshire woollen and worsted manufacturers have, in the past, determined to maintain at all costs that reputation for durability which English fabrics have always had. Dr. Barker said: “It is possible that in the near future we may be able to produce a fabric in which lightness and lustre compare very favourably with anything else produced. There is no reason why heavy fabrics should result when wool is used. We are experimenting on the production of lighter cloths.”

Dr. Barker described wool as the only natural clothing.” Attempts have been made to use fibres of vegetable origin to supplant wool, but wool has held its own. In artificial silk, however, from the creation of the raw material to the production of the finished fabrics, there is only one object in view —the finished fabric itself. The fibre is made of the correct thickness, the correct constitution, and the correct contour. Wool-users, however, have never reached that standard of manufacturing perfection. Wool is produced on the farms of the Dominions by expert agriculturists who have little or no knowledge of the precise use to which their fleeces are to bo put in the manufacturing industry. The requirements of the manufacturer are not catered for specifically. The only effective method of remedying this is for grower and manufacturer to be associated in fleece and fibre analysis, so that the attributes of the fibre contributing most to the fulfilment of specific requirements in the ' trade will be known, and capable of measurement at both ends of the industry. If this co-ordination between woolgrower and wool-manufacturer can be brought about Dr. Barker has. no fear of the competition of artificial silk. Wool is perfectly elastic. Though when wet it will stretch to 70 per cent, beyond its original length, on release of the load it will return to its original size. Methods of rendering wool unshrinkable are now under test in the industrial laboratories, and a- new system has recently been evolved which promises to be fully successful. Durability of colour, laundering, and other influences are being investigated, always with the needs of the wearer of the finished article in view. Those who catch cold through wearing non-ab-sorbent undergarments or those who suffer from “tickling" when wearing wool garments are the individuals who determine the success or non-success of the textile industry, and their requirements must continually be studied.