TMD professor helps design standardized clothing tests

02/27/09 - Students might not think closely about the clothes that they toss into the laundry machines, besides separating lights and darks. However, University of Rhode Island Textile, Fashion Merchandising and Design professor Martin Bide has worked to help maintain the quality of consumer's clothing. Bide is the former president of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), a grouping of approximately 5,000 individuals, working to standardize fabric testing.

"The organization shares knowledge about color and textile chemistry," Bide said. "It also develops standard tests so people can test fabrics and see if the color will remain when people wash their clothes or hang them near a window."

The AATCC has developed more than 200 methods of testing textile coloring, to ensure that the garment's quality remains intact.

These testing procedures vary, but many include exposing dyed clothing to variables, such as perspiration, sea water, chlorine and laundry bleach to test for colorfastness. Alterations in color after applying the hazardous material are then observed, to make certain that fabrics are resistant to change.

As president, Bide focused on the globalization aspect of the textile industry. The organization has members in more than 60 countries, and sister organizations in Europe, Bide explained.

"We also organized a big symposium in China, since clothes are now made in China [more frequently]," he said. Bide has also traveled to India, to meet with textile factories to implement testing procedures.

Companies around the world now use AATCC methods to test fabrics.

"If people are making clothes in China and are sending them to stores in the United States, they have to meet the standards of U.S. customers," Bide said. "So, they use the AATC methods. They use the American test methods so Americans can be happy with the clothes that they buy."

This globalization benefits the consumer, since the clothing in stores that are produced in China is more inexpensive. However, this means that the communication among the stores receiving the garment and the textile mills has to be streamlined.

By having a standardized set of tests and standards, the AATCC helps to create a synergized relationship between the store and the textile factories, to produce clothing that lives up to American consumer's standards.

However, like most industries in the struggling economy, textile production has been affected. With consumers purchasing new clothes less often, and retailers reporting low holiday profits, the companies that produce these clothes have felt the impact.

"Textile mills around the world are hurting like anyone else. We're sharing the tough time everyone is having, but no better or worse than anyone else," Bide said.

Through the economic struggle, the AATCC will continue to implement high standards to make sure consumers can still rely on purchasing high quality garments, he said.

Bide's focus on the internationalization of the industry has also become an integral part of the TMD courses at URI.

"We incorporate [globalization] into our teaching, including a course in global textile markets, and encourage our students to do a semester abroad in Italy or France," Bide said.

"They get a full taste of the global supply chain, both in class and in real life.