Things to pay attention to when choosing clothing zippers

When choosing zippers for clothing, we should not only pay attention to the difference between the color of the zipper tape and the fabric, which is commonly known as color difference, but also pay attention to the color fastness of the zipper tape. For manufacturers, whether the color fastness of the zipper reaches the standard level and whether there is color migration between the zipper and the clothing will directly affect the quality of the final product.

Color fastness mainly includes the product's resistance to washing and friction, and generally refers to the degree of fading of dyed fabrics under external factors (extrusion, friction, soap washing, rain, exposure, etc.) during use or processing. As a manufacturer, when choosing a zipper supplier, you should pay attention to the three color fastness of the zipper: sunlight fastness, soap washing fastness and color transfer, so as to avoid these problems and improve the quality of clothing.

Light fastness

Generally speaking, perspiration stains occur with sunlight. Therefore, the sunlight fastness mentioned here is not a single one, it includes dual fastness to sunlight and perspiration stains. Different degrees of sunlight exposure will lead to a series of photochemical reactions that cause the structure of the dye itself to be destroyed, resulting in discoloration and fading. At the same time, the presence of sweat will make the pH value weakly acidic or weakly alkaline, which will also significantly reduce the sunlight fastness of some disperse dyes. Therefore, this composite effect is very different from the simple sunlight fastness or sweat fastness. However, through some preventive measures, this composite sunlight fastness can be enhanced, so that the color of the zipper can remain bright for a long time. Therefore, when choosing some zipper products, you should choose those that have been treated with UV resistance or directly choose zippers with high sunlight fastness.

Soap fastness

The fastness to soap washing of zipper tape is also an important indicator. General zipper tape is woven with 100% polyester and dyed with disperse dyes at high temperature. The fastness to soap washing of disperse dyes refers to the degree of staining of the dyed material on single fiber or multi-fiber cloth under certain washing conditions. Theoretically, since disperse dyes are dispersed inside polyester, and the dispersion concentration of dyes gradually decreases from the fiber surface to the inner layer, more dye molecules are gathered on the surface. Therefore, the fastness to soap washing depends on two aspects: one is the magnitude of the interaction force between the dye itself and the fiber molecules. If the force is large, the dye molecules are difficult to be soaped out of the fiber surface, and vice versa. The second is the residual amount of dye molecules on the fiber surface in the finishing process after dyeing. If the post-processing is thorough, the residual amount of dye on the surface will be negligible, and it is difficult for the zipper tape to fade by soap washing.

However, there are many standards for soap washing, such as the soap washing temperature of 40℃, 60℃ and even higher 95℃; there are many types of detergents, generally divided into phosphorus-free and phosphorus-containing; the washing time is also long or short. Therefore, under different washing standards, the fastness of the zipper tape obtained is not comparable. Moreover, high soap washing intensity will cause the fastness of the tape to decrease. Therefore, in addition to telling consumers that in the normal clothing washing process, high-temperature water and excessive or strong detergents should not be used for zipper tapes, the general temperature should not exceed 40℃, neutral and weakly alkaline detergents are preferred, and the time should not exceed 30 minutes, etc., the most important thing is to choose some zipper products with higher soap washing fastness as much as possible when choosing zipper products.

Color transfer problem

Many clothing manufacturers often use materials with special properties, such as PVC, PE fabrics and various functional coating fabrics. The processing technology of these fabrics is relatively complicated, and usually some chemical additives such as plasticizers and solvents remain. It is precisely because of the existence of these additives that when they come into contact with the fiber tape for a long time, these additives will penetrate into the fiber and make it easier for dye molecules to diffuse from the fiber to the surface. If the fabric is white or light-colored, the fabric will be easily stained.

The best way to solve the problem of zipper tape color shifting caused by diffusion is to see whether the dye used in the zipper can better combine with polyester fibers when selecting the zipper.

Zippers are important accessories for clothing, and the quality of their various indicators directly affects the final quality of the finished clothing. Therefore, when choosing a zipper supplier, you must also understand the indicators of its products in various aspects.