COMPARISON OF MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF SHIRTING MATERIALS MEASURED ONTHE KES-F AND FAST INSTRUMENTS

This study compares the test results of the FAST system (fabric assura nce by simple testing) with those of the KES-F (Kawabata evaluation sy stem for fabrics) for two series of twenty-two shirting materials in t erms of their low-stress fabric mechanical properties of bending, shea r, and tensile deformation. The first series of eighteen shirting fabr ics, ranging in weight from 96 to 170 g/m(2), was sampled from a leadi ng Hong Kong shirt. manufacturer. The second series of four denim shir ting fabrics, ranging in weight from 199 to 217 g/m(2), was later incl uded to test the validity of extrapolating the relationships observed for the first series of eighteen shirting materials. Despite some cons iderable differences in the measurement principles of the two testing systems, there are highly significant correlations between the paramet ers obtained from the test results of the two systems.