Quality Standard: The New National Standard For Multi-Functional Knitting Products Was Officially Implemented On May 1 To Reinvigorate Clothing Innovation

The implementation of the new national standard has prompted enterprises to focus on the difficulties and pain points of consumer demand, constantly increase technological innovation, broaden the choice space of consumers, and also drive the whole industry to move towards better quality, better service and higher level.

In recent years, with the emergence of new fabrics, new processes, and new technologies, consumers' demand for clothing and knitwear continues to be subdivided, and the use scenarios continue to expand. Products that integrate multiple functions, such as warmth and cold insulation, antibacterial and deodorization, moisture absorption and quick drying, UV protection, anti-static, oil repellent and antifouling, have emerged.

On May 1, the national standard GB/T 41788-2022 Multifunctional Knitting Products jointly issued by the State Market Supervision Administration and the National Standardization Administration Commission was officially implemented. What problems does the standard focus on? What impact will the implementation of the new national standard bring to the market? How should enterprises and consumers understand the new national standard?

　　 Focus on supply and demand to fill gaps

With the progress of technology, new types of fibers emerge one after another, and a variety of new fiber textile products are produced with them as raw materials. These new fibers often combine multiple functions, and the clothes made of them naturally have multi-functional characteristics, which greatly improves the wearing experience of consumers.

Walking into a Uniqlo store located in the South Third Ring Road of Beijing, we were dazzled by all kinds of clothes with different functional characteristics: AIRism cool portable sunscreen, DRY-EX moisture wicking POLO shirt, air feeling light fast drying trousers... Now it is summer, and many consumers come to buy sunscreen products. Wu Pinhui, chief marketing officer of Uniqlo Greater China, said that the categories of sunscreen clothing in the market are constantly being subdivided and upgraded. Consumers' functional needs for sunscreen clothing not only focus on UV protection, but also pursue cool feeling, quick drying, breathability, lightness, etc. At the same time, they have higher requirements for color, hoping to adapt to multiple shapes and match different life scenes.

The reporter learned that the clothes with two or more functions on the market are popular with consumers. The White Paper on Spring/Summer Trends of Tmall Clothing 2023 shows that with the increase of travel scenes this spring/summer, consumers' functional needs for clothing are mainly embodied in portability and sunscreen. The person in charge of Tmall clothing products and search operations told the reporter that while the performance of sun protection clothing, windproof clothing and other categories was upgraded, the color and style design were also iterated, and the sales volume soared, with the growth rate of fashionable sun protection clothing exceeding 1700%, and the growth rate of seashell sun protection hats exceeding 860%.

"The introduction of the new national standard conforms to the actual needs of the current market on both sides of supply and demand, and fills the gap in the field of multi-functional knitting product standards in China." Zhao Juanzhi, senior engineer of the Knitwear Branch of the National Textile Standardization Technical Committee and director of the Standards Innovation Center of Tianfangbao Testing and Certification Co., Ltd., as the main drafting unit of the new national standard, introduced, GB/T 41788-2022 Multifunctional Knitted Products classifies the functions applicable to knitwear into 20 categories according to the current situation of functional knitwear and the established functional textile standards, such as warmth preservation, antibacterial and deodorization, water resistance, radiation protection, ultraviolet protection, flame retardancy, moisture absorption and quick drying, and instant cool feeling, and defines the performance requirements of these functions The evaluation of technical indicators and the test methods have provided a clear path for the manufacturing of multi-functional knitwear, and solved the problem of no standard for multi-functional knitwear for many years.

It is worth noting that clothing textiles should not only meet the functional requirements of the new national standard, but also meet other indicators, such as color fastness, pilling, strength, washing size change rate, etc. Zhao Juanzhi stressed that the new national standard introduced "relevant knitting product standards", and multi-layer standards were used together to form a complete assessment system for products.

　　 Industry innovation is just in time

In actual production, the innovation of garment dyeing and finishing technology and auxiliaries has also made the finishing process of textiles more refined and diversified, making it possible to produce multi-functional textile products, which also forces the standard system to continue to upgrade.

In the laboratory of Shandong Kangkang New Material Technology Co., Ltd., some seemingly ordinary fabrics actually have unexpected "skills". A "thermometer" that can be worn on the baby, Flexible fibers capable of collecting physiological signals... General Manager Liu Chunmei introduced: "This silver ion antibacterial temperature change fabric can sense the baby's body temperature. Once it goes beyond the normal range, the pattern of the clothes will disappear, realizing the early warning function; this intelligent conductive fiber can seamlessly fit the body parts, accurately detect external stimuli, and help achieve the health management of intelligent wearable textiles on the human body." With eight invention patents With the accumulation of 50 utility model patents, these new smart fibers are constantly moving from materials to products, creating greater imagination for the clothing industry.

"Functional standards are an important support for the research, development and application of new fibers, and help to promote breakthroughs in key preparation technologies of high-performance fibers and processing technologies of high-performance textile products." Zhao Juanzhi said that at present, most of the multi-functional new fibers developed in China have not yet developed identification standards, which brings great difficulties to the promotion and application of new fibers, The versatility of the fiber can not be effectively exerted. At the same time, the same fabric is affected by different additives, and each function restricts each other, which directly affects the quality of finished products. Most of the existing functional knitting product standards are single function assessment indicators, which is not conducive to the deep processing of products and restricts the diversified development of the industry.

The implementation of the new national standard points out the direction for the smooth and healthy entry of new fibers into the market, helps enterprises to simplify the complexity, and directly starts from the multi-functional features to carry out testing and evaluation, which greatly improves the practicality of the standard. Liu Chunmei said that standards are the "wind vane" for the development of enterprises. Under the guidance of the new national standard, enterprises can not stay on the simple superposition of the past functions, but should adjust and optimize from various aspects such as product positioning, fabric selection, pattern design, cutting and sewing, dyeing and ironing, which will become an important opportunity for enterprises to build commercial barriers and improve product competitive advantages.

In Zhao Juanzhi's opinion, the implementation of GB/T 41788-2022 Multi functional Knitting Products has prompted enterprises to focus on the difficulties, pain points and blind spots of consumer demand, constantly increase technological innovation, boldly improve processes, and actively eliminate the old and create the new, which not only enriches market supply, broadens consumer choice space, but also drives the whole industry to move towards better quality, better service Higher level.

　　 Green environment is favored

For a long time, the consumption and harm of the clothing and textile industry to the environment have been widely concerned. Due to the direct contact between textiles and skin, clothes that are less dependent on chemical dyes and pay attention to environmental protection throughout the design and manufacturing cycle are undoubtedly more popular. Zhao Juanzhi said that in this regard, the new national standard not only makes requirements for functionality, but also makes clear specifications for chemicals used in the production process and product safety.

Liu Chunmei, who has nearly 30 years of experience in the fiber industry, has deep feelings about the changes in the consumer market. She told reporters that in the past, most customers ignored functional products and thought that the cost performance ratio was not high. In recent years, with the implementation of the "dual carbon" strategy and the improvement of consumers' health awareness, the market's acceptance of functional products has generally improved. Green sustainable development and differentiated innovation have become the consensus of the industry.

What Liu Chunmei said is true. In order to adapt to the changes in the consumer market, enterprises have accelerated to improve the supply capacity of green products, and a large number of new green equipment, new materials, new technologies and new processes have made breakthroughs. According to the 2022/2023 Knitting Product Fashion Trend released by China Knitting Industry Association, among the 351 samples declared by 77 companies, the number of enterprises declaring green sustainable fabric samples accounted for more than 80%, and the number of green sustainable products accounted for up to 66%.

The consumer market also has strong demand for green and environmental protection. The White Paper on China's New Generation Fashion Consumption shows that 80.4% of respondents prefer to choose brands with environmental protection concepts. According to the 2022 China Consumer Insight report released by Accenture, 43% of respondents are willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products or packaging. Liu Yuntian from Shenzhen is a securities analyst. He is engaged in the financial industry with strict requirements and often needs to wear formal clothes. Liu Yuntian said that he attaches great importance to fabrics and prefers to choose products with natural materials and environmental protection.

"Wearing this underwear made of seaweed fiber is like applying a 'mask' to the skin." Liu Chunmei told reporters that in order to comply with the low-carbon consumption trend, the company has developed a seaweed fiber. This fiber uses natural kelp and seaweed as raw materials, and its moisture absorption rate can reach 5 times that of pure cotton after sedimentation and extraction, so as to alleviate the problem of skin roughness and aging in autumn and winter. Talking about the advantages of seaweed fiber, Liu Chunmei said: "Now the industry attaches great importance to reducing the consumption of natural resources in the development of fabrics. We cultivate 30000 mu of seaweed, which is like planting trees in the ocean. It has a large amount of fiber, high water content, and environmental protection and degradation, which is of great significance to water conservation and efficiency increase, carbon reduction and carbon fixation." (Reporter Kang Qiongyan)

(Source: Economic Daily)