Investigating the effects of wicking and antibacterial finishing treatments on some comfort characteristics of Meryl skinlife for seamless activewear/sportswear

Antibacterial efficacy and wearing comfort have recently become particular concerns in the activewear and sportswear market for consumers. Meryl skinlife, which is an antibacterial polyamide fiber due to the silver particles in its content, has been increasingly used in the textile industry, and it is mostly preferred for seamless garments that are especially used for activewear and sportswear. From this point of view, in this study fabrics made of Meryl skinlife fibers were investigated in terms of some water-related comfort properties by comparing their performance with that of their counterparts made of conventional polyamide fibers. Also, the effects of Lycra incorporation into the fabric structure and fiber type as well as antibacterial finishing treatments were examined on the wicking ability and comfort performance of the fabric samples. The vertical wicking capacity, transfer wicking, drying rate, and water vapor permeability tests were conducted on the fabric samples and the results of these tests were statistically analyzed using the Minitab and SPSS statistical package programs. The results showed that Lycra incorporation into the fabric structure was found to be the dominant factor for all of the investigated water-related comfort tests except for transfer wicking, while application of the finishing treatments was found to be the dominant factor for all of the investigated comfort-related tests. However, the fiber type was found influential on none of the comfort-related tests conducted in this study. Finally, the hybrid analytic hierarchy process-TOPSIS method was used to determine the best fabric alternative for activewear and sportswear, and it was found that SLN fabrics were the best choice.