The recent dramatic growth in outdoor sports and activities has seen a blossoming in the outdoor clothes and textiles markets covering everything from high-performance clothing to high-fashion and from technical textiles to tents.

The drive to create new and enhanced materials and features has placed a high demand on the speed and accuracy of testing – especially the all-important breathability, or vapour permeability, of fabrics. 

Traditional and convenient

The current ISO standard 15496 to measure the breathability (vapour permeability) for textiles is based on the traditional gravimetric technique, which, according to testing equipment specialist Versaperm, usually takes several weeks to produce a single reading, and this is not compatible with the needs of this fast moving market.

As an alternative, Versaperm, a specialist and a technology leader in the area, has two separate instruments that can produce this measurement, a gravimetric instrument to meet the exacting requirements of the standards and a faster instrumental technique, which can produce results in as little as 30 minutes for some fabrics.

Quick and efficient

The instrumental technique is said to be ideal for both rapid product development and the quality control of textiles and garments. The gravimetric system guarantees results meet the ISO standard where this is important for legal or marketing reasons. 

Weatherproof fabrics are typically plain weaves with yarns coated with a durable, water repellent finish.  Many also have a microporous or monolithic film, coating or bicomponent combination.  These materials are produced in massive quantities worldwide. 

However, for companies where their throughput is not high enough to warrant a dedicated instrument, Versaperm offers a fast turnaround laboratory measurement and consultancy service.

www.versaperm.com