Serviceability
Serviceability is a relative term which is serviceable of performing useful service.A garment is considered to be serviceable when it is fit for its particular end use. After being used for a certain length of time the garment ceases to be serviceable when it can no longer fill its intended purpose in the way that it did when it was new. The particular factors that reduce the service life of a garment are heavily dependent on its end use. For instance overalls worn to protect clothing at work would be required to withstand a good deal of hard usage during their lifetime but their appearance would not be considered important. However, garments worn purely for their fashionable appearance are not required to be hard wearing but would be speedily discarded if their appearance changed noticeably. An exception to this generalisation is found in the case of denim where a worn appearance is deliberately strived for.
Serviceability is a relative term which is serviceable of performing useful service.A garment is considered to be serviceable when it is fit for its particular end use. After being used for a certain length of time the garment ceases to be serviceable when it can no longer fill its intended purpose in the way that it did when it was new. The particular factors that reduce the service life of a garment are heavily dependent on its end use. For instance overalls worn to protect clothing at work would be required to withstand a good deal of hard usage during their lifetime but their appearance would not be considered important. However, garments worn purely for their fashionable appearance are not required to be hard wearing but would be speedily discarded if their appearance changed noticeably. An exception to this generalisation is found in the case of denim where a worn appearance is deliberately strived for.
Factors of Serviceability:
If asked, many people would equate the ability of a fabric to ‘wear well’ with its abrasion resistance, but ‘wear’, that is the reduction in serviceable life, is a complex phenomenon and can be brought about by any of the following factors:
1. Changes in fashion which mean that the garment is no longer worn whatever its physical state.
2. Shrinkage or other dimensional changes of such a magnitude that the garment will no longer fit.
3. Changes in the surface appearance of the fabric which include: the formation of shiny areas by rubbing, the formation of pills or surface fuzz, the pulling out of threads in the form of snags.
4. Fading of the colour of the garment through washing or exposure to light. The bleeding of the colour from one area to another.
5. Failure of the seams of the garment by breaking of the sewing thread or by seam slippage.
6. Wearing of the fabric into holes or wearing away of the surface finish or pile to leave the fabric threadbare. Wearing of the edges of cuffs, collars and other folded edges to give a frayed appearance.
7. Tearing of the fabric through being snagged by a sharp object.
Posts
0 comments: