Performance Characteristics of a Suitable Fabric for Ghanaian Public Basic School Uniforms

Abstract

Experimental procedures were employed to evaluate three fabric brands (A, B and C) currently used for Ghanaian-Public-Basic-School Uniforms and to select one that met standard specifications by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) for school uniforms. The study was in two phases. Phase one evaluated the fabric brands by using standards test methods recommended by GSA from the International Organisation of Standardisation (ISO) for breaking strength, fibre and weave types, weight, colourfastness and shrinkage to washing characteristics. Based on the Phase one results, fabric B was selected and used for Phase two which involved seam performance evaluation. A 2×3×3 factorial experiment (two brands of sewing threads, three ranges of stitch densities and three cycles of washing) was used to assess the strength, elongation and efficiency of plain seam in the selected fabric. The total number of specimens used for Phase one was 366 and for Phase two, 240. The instruments employed for the investigations were the Standard Launder-Ometer (Gyrowash 315) for washing of specimens, tensile testing machine (Mark-10 Force Gauge Model M5-500) for testing breaking strength and elongation of specimens, sample cutter (James H. Heal, 230/002595) for cutting specimens for weight and weighing balance (Adams equipment, B215846278) for weighing the specimens. The data for the study was analysed by the use of the Predictive Analytic Software (SPSS). Means and standard deviations of the fabrics performance characteristics such as yarn count, weight, strength, elongation and yarn linear density were calculated. Inferential statistics (Analysis of Variance and Independent samples t-test at 0.05 alpha levels) were employed in testing the hypotheses. The findings revealed that all the uniform fabrics studied contained varied proportions of cotton and polyester fibres except one that was a blend of polyester and viscose rayon. Fabrics B and C were blends of cotton and polyester (21% cotton/79% polyester; 1% cotton/99% polyester respectively) while fabric A was 35% Viscose/65% polyester. In all the parameters evaluated fabric brand B met the standard specifications for strength (warp= 401, weft= 372), weight (138g/m2), shrinkage (2% for both warp and weft), and colour fastness (5)significant differences were found among the strengths, weights, elongations and yarn counts of the investigated fabrics. The different brands of sewing threads (A′ and B′) were 100% polyester with brand B′ performing better in terms of seam strength (warp=206N, weft=262N), elongation (warp=40%, weft=26%) and efficiency (warp=60%, weft=61%). Those of A′ were warp 179N and weft 193N for strength, elongation 36% and 20% for warp and weft respectively and efficiency 51% and 45% for warp and weft respectively. With regard to the stitch densities, 14 stitches per 2.5cm (1 inch) performed best in terms of seam strength (warp=225N, weft=276N), elongation (warp=45%, weft=29%) and efficiency (warp=63%, weft=65%). The findings have established the suitability of a fabric used to produce Ghanaian-public-basic-school uniforms and showed that to achieve good quality school uniforms, appropriate selection of fabrics and sewing parameters are important. It is recommended that a copy of the thesis is given to stakeholders in the garment industry in Ghana to organize outreach programmes, seminars, workshops and conferences to educate garment makers on the need to select suitable fabrics, sewing threads and stitch densities for good quality school uniforms production.