Personal Care 101: FABRICS - Types, Constituents, Advantages & Disadvantages

a) FABRIC	b) MADE OF	c) ADVANTAGES	d) DISADVANTAGES
ANIMAL FABRICS -
Wool	Hair of domestic goats or sheep.	Less combustible than cotton or synthetics, easily returns to original shape, keeps you warm, is breathable, resistant to tearing.	Pills easily, dull fiber, stronger dry than wet, can itch, can mildew/mold, will deteriorate through sunlight exposure.
Cashmere	Hair of the Indian cashmere goat.	Soft, lightweight and silky.	Can be expensive.
Mohair	Hair of the North African Angora goat.	Soft and easier to dye, light, absorbent, non-flammable, absorbs moisture, resistant to creases.
Silk	Animal textile made from the fibers of the cocoon of the Chinese silkworm.	Most hypoallergenic of all fabrics, soft and beautiful shine, highly absorbent and lets your skin breathe, durable, light.	Expensive, yellows with age, needs special care and dry cleaning, leaves water spots.
PLANT FABRICS -
Cotton	A soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium.	Hypoallergenic and dust mite resistant, durable, environmentally friendly, soft, breathes well.	Creases, easily soiled, burns easily, weakens with exposure to light.
Modal	A cellulose fiber made by spinning reconstituted cellulose, often from beech trees.	50% more water-absorbent than cotton, can be dyed like cotton and is colorfast, resistant to shrinkage and fading, lightweight, has an appearance of silk, soft and smooth.	Prone to stretching and pilling.
SYNTHETIC FABRICS -
Polyester	Polyesters include naturally occurring chemicals, such as in the cutin of plant cuticles, as well as synthetics. Used in all types of clothing, either alone or blended with fibers such as cotton.	Easily dyed, strong, lightweight, and resistant to shrinking, stretching, mildew and creasing. Sun resistant.	Main disadvantage is that Polyester does not breathe. Fabric shine can be unattractive. Stains are difficult to remove. Not environmentally friendly.
Acrylic	A fiber used to imitate wools, including cashmere.	Wooly feel, durable, soft, colorfast, easy to clean.	Not as warm as wool can irritate the skin.
Viscose or Rayon	Viscose is a viscous organic liquid used to make rayon and cellophane. Viscose is becoming synonymous with rayon, a soft material commonly used in shirts, shorts, coats, jackets, and other outerwear.	Viscose rayon has a silky appearance and feels, breathable similar to cotton, inexpensive.	Not environmentally friendly, creases easily.
Nylon	A tough, lightweight, elastic synthetic polymer with a protein like chemical structure. Used to imitate silk.	Very resilient, easy to care, resistant to insects, fungi, and mildew.	Not absorbent can have an unpleasant sheen, environmentally unfriendly, prone to static electricity.
Spandex or Lycra	A polyurethane product that can be made tight-fitting without impeding movement. It is used to make activewear, bras, and swimsuits.	Very elastic, good resistance to lotions oils and perspiration, lightweight, strong and durable, soft, smooth, easy to care for.	Does not breath very well, slippery on surfaces, sensitive to heat, will show every blub on your body!
COMBINATIONS -
Velvet	A closely woven fabric of silk, cotton, or nylon that has a thick short pile on one side.	Depends on the fabric it's made of.
Satin	A smooth, glossy fabric, typically of silk but also nylon or polyester, produced by a weave in which the threads of the warp are caught and looped by the weft only.	Luxurious, smooth, silky, drapes nicely.	Prone to water spots.
Organza	A thin, stiff, transparent fabric made of silk or a synthetic yarn.	Lightweight, fine, crisp and sheer.

TYPES OF SILK you will see in the Market:

1.) True silk -
Common features are high moisture absorption rate (5% ~ 10%), good air permeability, smooth and soft, elastic, has silk natural luster, bright, downy, it ignites but the burning rate is slow, have singeing hair smell.

2.) High-quality polyester emulation silk -
Most senior emulation is soft and not weak, silk color is very soft, printing effect is good, has no waxy or plastic feeling, has a leavening and heavy feeling.

3.) Dacron emulation silk -
Compared with the pure silk, it is hygroscopic, has poor permeability and trailer.




Additional Popular Textiles -

1.  Linen -  It is made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is laborious to manufacture, but the fiber is very absorbent and garments made of linen are valued for their exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather. Textiles in a linen weave texture, even when made of cotton, hemp, and other non-flax fibers, are also loosely referred to as "linen". Such fabrics generally also have their own specific names.
2. Corduroy - This textile composed of twisted fibers that, when woven, lie parallel (similar to twill) to one another to form the cloth's distinct pattern, a "cord." Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel (bare to the base fabric) between the tufts. Corduroy is, in essence, a ridged form of velvet.
3. Denim - A sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. The most common denim is indigo denim, in which the warp thread is dyed, while the weft thread is left white. As a result of the warp-faced twill weaving, one side of the textile is dominated by the blue warp threads and the other side is dominated by the white weft threads.

References -

https://en.wikipedia.org/
https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=4654.0
http://40plusstyle.com/what-is-polyester-advantages-disadvantages/