Knitted fabric construction for an industrially launderable knitted garment

摘要

Fabric suitable for the manufacture of rental shirts that are capable of being industrially laundered are made by air jet spinning an intimate blend of about 50-50 polyester/cotton (having wrapper fibers holding the yarn bundle together), vat dyeing the cotton component of the yarn (and disperse dyeing the polyester component), and then knitting the dyed yarn to produce a fabric with tightly formed stitches. The yarn is also preferably scoured and finished prior to knitting. The knit fabric is preferably made into a rental shirt or like garment, the fabric having a maximum shrinkage of about 8% both in length and width unrestored after five wash and tumble dry sequences per AATCC Test Method 135, a colorfast rating of 4.0 or higher when subjected to AATCC Test Method 61-IIA, has a rating of 4.0 or higher when tested for pilling, and a life expectancy of at least 50 industrial laundering wash-dry-wear cycles.