Analysis of functional and serviceability performance in sustainable yarns and socks by using multi-response optimization technique

Socks are among the fundamental items of clothing widely used in sports and outdoor activities. The wide scale usage demands socks with enhanced comfort and functional properties. Research is now focused on the development of sustainable textiles using alternative fibers with multifunctionality and balanced comfort addressing the consumer demand. This study aims at the development of multifunctional socks using three different bast fibers i.e. banana, flax & hemp blended with cotton fibers in three different blend percentages of 10:90, 20:80 and 30:70. 100% cotton fiber sample was used as control. Physical, mechanical, comfort, antibacterial and ultraviolet protection properties of the samples were evaluated to investigate the effect of fiber type and blend percentage on the final performance. There is significant effect of the type of fiber on the properties of developed socks, for example, flax fibers blended socks exhibited better strength than all other samples beside higher air permeability. Banana fibers blended socks exhibited better moisture management and ultraviolet protection. Hemp fibers blended socks exhibited better abrasion resistance. Regarding the effect of blend percentage, it was found that 10% & 20% blend of bast fibers demonstrated better properties as a whole increasing their percentage shows some intricate results. Antibacterial performance was qualitatively evaluated using parallel streak method. Blended samples demonstrated better properties as compared to the control samples which advocate the use of alternative fibers to enhance the properties. Results were statistically analyzed to evaluate the reliability and significance of results using ANOVA analysis and multi-response optimization was done using Taguchi grey relational analysis and then the samples were ranked accordingly. The sample with 10% banana fibers was ranked as 1st, following the sample with 10% flax fibers as second and then 20% banana fibers as the third.