Seamless Sportswear Design and Fabrication Jin Yun Zhou,Jimmy Lam and YI LI Institute of Texitile and Clothing,The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,Hung Hom,Hong kong 15/08/2008

Seamless Sportswear Design and Fabrication 1. Introduction of seamless Knitting technology 2. Design in terms of color 3. Design in terms of functions 4. Stitch design 5. Application and examples of seamless sportswear 6. Future directions of seamless sportswear technology

1.Introduction of seamless Knitting technology Double needle bar warp knitting Front needle bar and needle bar knit the front and back panels respectively, the middle jacquard bar connects them to form the seamless garment. Computerized flat knitting The yarn knits on front and back needle beds in turn to form tubular fabric. The complete garment was formed by stitch move. Body size circular knitting The cylinder needles knit the tubular fabric. It could be formed garment by simple cut and sew.

RDPJ 6/2 Double needle bar raschel machine with piezo-jacquard system for the production of jacquard seamless garment

The complete garment knitted on computerized flat knitting machine At the start the elements sleeve/body/sleeve are knitted next to each other. A separate yarn carrier is required for each element. After the body and sleeve elements are joined together, knitting is continued with only one yarn carrier

Seamless garment by body size circular knitting technique

Santoni SM8-top2s Special features of SM8-top2 Electronic needle and yarn finger selection Digital control of yarn input tension Digital stitch length control through graphic design Cylinder: 14 inch, machine gauge 28G

Procedure of seamless sportswear design and fabrication

Function Line Function block Stitch colors

Procedure of seamless sportswear design and fabrication

2.Design in terms of color Horizontal striper Horizontal striper effect can be achieved by changing yarn carries in sequence. Jacquard The same course is knitted by different yarns through needle selection. The floating yarn on back side is shorted by tuck to form an even surface. Mock intarsia The same course is also knitted by different yarns and the floating yarns on back side were cut by round knife

Design in terms of color Horizontal striper effect can be achieved by changing yarn carries in sequence

Design in terms of color The same course is knitted by different yarns through needle selection. The floating yarn on back side is shorted by tuck to form an even surface.

Design in terms of color The same course is also knitted by different yarns and the floating yarns on back side were cut by round knife.

3. Design in terms of functions Function design for seamless sportswear knitted on body size circular knitting machine 1. Moisture Management (sweat control) 2. Thermal management (heat dissipation) 3. Pressure management (muscle power)

Design in terms of functions 1. Moisture Management (sweat control) Moisture Management Fabric improves the sweat expelling effect. It can be designed and fabricated by the application of: a. Functional yarn (combination and distribution of hydrophilic or hydrophobic fibers in fabric, capillary attraction benefited from special cross section) (coolmax, pp, tactel) b. Fabric structure (plating for single jersey, sandwich structure for double jersey)

Design in terms of functions 2. Thermal management (heat dissipation) Dynamic heat control by power net: a. Elastic yarn or fiber (Lycra, XLA, PTT) b. Mesh structure (mesh size and distribution)

Design in terms of functions 3. Pressure management (muscle power) Fabric stretch properties design a. Yarn (yarn elasticity) b. Stitch structure (miss stitch distribution and density) c. Knitting parameter (loop length, elastic yarn pre-elongation)

4. Stitch design on single jersey seamless machine Knit Tuck miss mesh

Stitch combination on SM8-top2s 1.Plain stitch + mesh2. Plain stitch + tuck 3.Plain +mesh with two colors plating 4.Plain +tuck with two colors plating 5.Plain +miss +tuck 6.Sharp Pattern

5.Application and examples of seamless sportswear Color design (Logo) Function design (moisture, thermal and pressure)

Rowing wear Function block colors Stitch rowing wear

6.Future directions of seamless sportswear technology New material application and finishing. (staple yarn for warp knitting, functional fiber…) Novel knitting technique. (more flexible combinations of function design and color design, application of flat knitting technique in seamless sportswear design and fabrication) Equipment (Fine gauge for double jersey machine to expend the extent of function and color design compare to single jersey machine)

Thanks!