The effects of washing and drying on the dimensional stability of woven fabrics with and without spandex

There is increased interest in clothes dryers and garments made of spandex-blend woven fabrics; however, there is limited information available for the laundering and drying these clothes. This study investigates the effects of washing and drying on shrinkage, skewness, and wrinkle for woven fabrics with and without spandex. When spandex with good elastic recovery was blended, the deformed shape from washing and drying improved skewness and wrinkle by easily returning to its original shape. However, these properties had a negative effect on shrinkage in terms of length and area change. When the influence of clothes maintenance was classified, the drying process had the biggest influence of 58%, followed by spinning-rinsingwashing. Tumble drying, in which the fabric is exposed to mechanical force and heat for a long period, had more negative effects on the dimensional stability than line drying. The spandex blend had the effect of preventing skewness and wrinkle in garments, but it was also shown to accelerate shrinkage by garment maintenance cycles. It was important to control drying in order to reduce shrinkage during the maintenance process; consequently, this had the greatest influence on the dimensional stability of fabrics. Therefore, line drying was more advantageous for spandex-blend fabrics than tumble drying in terms of management for shrinkage, skewness, and wrinkle.