Demand for comfortable garments keeps expanding, and with changing clothing and fashion trends, there is major growth today in the sportswear and active wear – the so-called “athleisure” segment. The data available from Suvin’s analysis show that the Indian athletic apparel market grew by a whopping CAGR of 19% between 2009 and 2017, while the footwear market, which includes sports footwear, grew at a CAGR of 24% during the same period. This market is estimated to grow further, to bring in $83 billion worth of sales by 2020. India will again be no exception to the growth in this sector.
Many athleisure products are knit goods of different sorts. The growth statistics of athleisure products are hence encouraging. Indian knit processors plan further expansion and diversification to cater to the needs of this segment. Huge investments are therefore being planned to tap the potential presented by this segment, especially when there is not much competition so far.
Garment properties like protection, insulation, vapour permeability, stretch, shape retention, optimum heat and moisture regulation, rapid drying, dimensional stability even when wet, easy care, light weight, soft touch, etc., are intrinsic to active wear garments. However, these properties are not readily achievable in 100% cotton, circular knitted fabrics. Hence the need for synthetic circular or warp knitted fabric production and processing for addressing the opportunities in the active wear segment.
The very first step in synthetic active wear processing or spandex wear processing is spun oil washing. Goller is a major international player in this segment. It is a pioneer and a global market leader in the open width textile processing ranges, including those for spun oil washing.
Goller, founded in Germany in 1948, became a member of the CHTC Fong’s Group in 2006. The integration of Goller into this group helped it to develop and spread at a tremendous rate its highly engineered textile wet finishing ranges for the textile industry. Goller has assembled 239 ranges for woven fabric and 174 ranges for knitted fabric in its Shenzhen factory since 2007.
Objectives of spun oil washing
Spun oil washing is a treatment of synthetic woven or knitted (circular/warp knit) fabrics with de-oiling chemicals to remove lubricating oils from the fabric structure. These lubricants needed in spinning remain on the fabric through the knitting process. The purpose of open width spun oil washing is to reduce oil on the fabric virtually to zero, and thus to ensure uniform dyeing and finishing results in subsequent finishing stages.
If a grey fabric with oils on it is heat set, there is an accumulation of these oils in the stenter. This creates chances of fire in the exhaust pipe lines and in the heat exchangers. Oil dripping further creates quality problems in subsequent processing. But after spun oil washing, if the cleaned fabric is pre-heat set, the stenter remains oil-free and safe, eliminating risks of fire and improving the fabric quality.
The benefits of the Goller spun oil washing range include avoidance of fire hazard in stenter while pre-setting and even dyeing results, besides being environment friendly.
Goller has successfully installed 88 spun oil washing ranges worldwide, including a modular unit that has been recently commissioned at a knit process house in Kolkata which is installed in front of a Monfongs stenter.
Investment in continuous open width processing requires a lot of planning. All the ranges are customised to meet specific customer needs. Goller, with a wide range of different modules and a team of skilled engineers, can meet every need of customers in the field of continuous open width processing.
Some say that worldwide experience of the traditional German machine manufacturer makes the difference; others refer to the long history of Goller since 1948 as the key success factor. Whatever the reason, GOLLER for sure is the best choice for continuous open width processing both for woven and knitted goods.
Technical and utility data of the washing range:
- Fabric type: warp knit/circular knit/woven
- Fabric quality: polyester/nylon with Lycra
- Machine speed: up to 40 m/min
- Chemicals: soda ash, washing agent, acetic acid (optional)
- Water consumption: approx. 4-8 l/kg
- Steam consumption: approx. 0.4-0.8 kg/kg