Cotton canvas trousers washing: an inception of a new horizon in apparel industry

Abstract Nowadays, fashionable trouser (denim) with washing effect is very popular, especially among the youth. The global fashion trend has led to the development of diverse washing processes that are predominantly applied to denim fabric. However, no known research has studied the application of the washing effect on canvas fabric. Therefore, this paper aims to make fashionable canvas fabric trousers by applying various washing effects. To do so, ready-to-dye canvas fabric trouser was constructed, then dyed with dischargeable reactive dye (Lava). Chemical washing processes such as whisker, enzyme, and PP spray were then applied on dyed canvas trousers. Finally, developed samples were being characterized by mechanical tests such as tensile strength, tear strength, stiffness, abrasion, pilling, colorfastness to wash, and colorfastness to rubbing. Besides, to evaluate fabric surface, various tests such as Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM), Reflectance% values have also been characterized. Tensile strength, tear strength, stiffness, reflectance% value, and wear index% changed significantly for every subsequent process. The tensile strength of finished trousers was 489.87 N at warp and 350.57 N at weft direction and the tear strength was 48.01 N and 35.56 N at warp and weft direction, respectively. The reflectance% value of 18.74 was observed at the PP sprayed area. Overall, the research revealed the possibility of using cotton canvas as a pair of fashionable trousers contributing to the development of the apparel industry.