NON=SHRINK WOOL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 June 1939, Page 6

NON=SHRINK WOOL

RESULTS FROM RESEARCH. A NEW DRY PROCESS. The successful development of a reliable unshrinkable process, in addition to those already available to the industry, is a matter for congratulation, says the last number of the “I.W.S News,” a journal of the International Wool Secretariat, which represents in Britain and on the Continent the interests of New Zeadand, Australian and South African wool growers. yhe so-called shrinkage of woollen fabric is often more a matter of felting of the fibres, due to the interlocking of the edgqs of lhe microscopic scales which surround the wool fibre than of true shrinkage. The "feltability” of wool is, of course, its great virtue for many purposes, but when felting is not desired it is anything but a virtue. The several processes all aim at the sealing in one way or another, of the projecting edges of the tiny scales. After years of patient experimentation in relation to tops, yarns and fabric, the unshrinkable process of the Wool Industries Research Association evolved at Torridon research laboratory is now being taken up by the industry, both in the West Riding and the Midlands. Several mills have alreadj- installed the necessary plant while others are proceeding with plans which will make large scale production possible. One virtue of the Torridon process is that satisfactory treatment’ is covered by the published Specification and a Certification Trade Mark of the Board of Trade identifies the article for the consumer.

The’ Wool. Industries Research Association wisely draws a distinction between control, of felting of the wool fibre and shrinkage due to changes in area or shape of a garment due to release of mechanical stresses acquired during manufacture or finishing, as for example, those caused by boarding out. The W.I.R.A. process, m common with any other will only prevent felting, and not shrinkage due to goods being marketed in a stretched condition. This distinction should be appreciated not only by manufacturers but by the public, if misunderstanding is not to arise.

The claim is made from Nottingham that a quite new process enables wool to be rendered- completely unshrinkable by a dry process, applicable at any stage of manufacture from raw wool. Cloths so treated, it is claimed, stand up to hard wear and washing and retain the new property given them, while losing nothing of the natural wool advantages of strength and of softness. Chlorine is not used in this process, and the final stage removes all chemicals and leaves the wool 100 per cent pure.