{"id":49098,"date":"2023-04-19T12:21:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T16:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/?p=49098"},"modified":"2023-04-19T12:21:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T16:21:05","slug":"tpacc-researchers-test-for-activewear-cooling-efficiency-accepted-as-industry-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/tpacc-researchers-test-for-activewear-cooling-efficiency-accepted-as-industry-standard\/","title":{"rendered":"TPACC Researchers\u2019 Test for Activewear Cooling Efficiency Accepted as Industry Standard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Sean Cudahy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve all experienced it, whether on a hot summer day, or during and after a workout. While outside in the heat or while exercising, clothes get sweaty and uncomfortable. Then, as the air conditioning blasts on the car ride home, your damp shirt suddenly becomes quite cold as it clings to your skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a plight at the center of a novel test developed at the Textile Protection and Comfort Center<\/a> (TPACC) of NC State University\u2019s Wilson College of Textiles<\/a>. Designed to measure a fabric\u2019s evaporative cooling efficiency, the TPACC research team\u2019s work recently received a significant form of validation. ASTM International<\/a>, the globally recognized consensus standards organization, adopted the new TPACC method as a standardized test<\/a> for the development of clothing materials. The test could, someday soon, be a go-to option for the activewear industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The breakthrough could prove useful to companies in evaluating the true effectiveness of their products, particularly as it relates to keeping athletes and other users cool and comfortable, whether they\u2019re running, lifting weights, competing, or otherwise out in the heat. Ultimately, it should be also a \u201cwin\u201d for consumers deciding what product to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe get a lot of companies wanting to make claims about, \u2018This fabric can regulate temperatures,\u2019 or \u2018keeps you cool,\u2019 or does some other miraculous thing,\u201d TPACC Operations Director Shawn Deaton<\/a> says. \u201cIf you have a standard method behind any of your claims, it gives your claims a lot more strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the past, TPACC researchers say, companies have developed athletic-centered clothing while relying on tests that measure just one factor contributing to a product\u2019s cooling capacity, such as its breathability or effectiveness at wicking sweat away from the skin \u2014 components of comfort, to be sure, but far from the only factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As such, there\u2019s been a \u201ccritical gap,\u201d notes Deaton and Barker\u2019s September 2022 journal article<\/a> in \u201cMedical and Science Technology\u201d <\/em>explaining their findings. It\u2019s a gap, they believe, their new test method fills.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFilling an activewear industry gap<\/h3>\n\n\n\n