Quantitative and sensory evaluation of odor retention on polyester/wool blends

The odor sorption and emission characteristics of fabrics affect their functional performance, particularly for sportswear. This study systematically evaluated the impact of wool in polyester/wool blends on body odor retention properties. The odor sorption and emission of polyester/wool blend fabrics were quantitatively evaluated by an infrared-based spectrometer and by sensory testing. It was found that wool had the highest odor sorption capacity among all the test fabrics. Both odor sorption and emission are greatly affected by the presence of wool in the blends. Fabrics containing 20% wool had substantially reduced odor intensity compared to 100% polyester. The body odor retention properties of the 20/80 wool/polyester blend and the 100% polyester fabrics were also compared by wear trial, which further confirmed that the wool/polyester blend effectively reduced body odor intensity compared to 100% polyester. At low levels of body odor, fabric blends with at least 20% wool were shown to perform well, as they may not have reached their sorption capacity. Under higher and more extreme levels of body odor, where sorption plays a more important role, 100% wool showed higher sorption capacity than the blends. The data and methods presented in this paper provide a basis for optimizing the fiber composition of active wear garments with respect to odor.