All About Looks

All About Looks is a fabric and upholstery store in Lubbock, TX, it is the only one of it's kinda in the west Texas area. When visiting here you will find a variety in their materials from bedding to draperies. They not only sell but they offer design services as well.All About Looks is a family owned company, these ladies have experience and talent in their design work. When visiting any one who works there will help you out and tell you anything you may need to know.

All About Looks stays on top of all the current trends and if you have a question about it you can take a look at some of the design magazines they have in their store. When visiting this store the trends you will see are natural fibers, brightly colored home decor and material, variety of wallpapers, and reupholstering furniture. You may also notice that polyester and polyester blends have taken the place of materials such as silk. These blends work well in heat and sun, great for the West Texas weather! Another hot item being seen is recycled materials, such as truck tarp. Companies are also beginning to used digital printing as a means to make prints on a fabric. This is a system that uses a Pantone software (Pantone.com) which allows consistency in color and it is  more economical. Wallpaper is another hot trend, we usually think of wallpaper as being ugly and old looking, but now their are so many options, some can even be painted on. One thing that has lost it's popularity is mini blinds or roman shades, basically anything with a chord. These are bad for the safety of children, so the world is moving to more stationary treatments now.

As a designer or just someone who is remodeling their own home, some things must be known, such as material codes, especially for commercial use. The durability of a fabric is also important especially when reupholstering a piece of furniture. Generally the tighter a material is woven the more durable it will be. There is alot to know when beginning a project, but if you ever need help All About Looks has design services to help with any need. They offer on-site upholstery, designer collaboration, custom bedding and drapery, free fabric samples, hardware installation, and many more services.

Overall, All About Looks is the best in the area and an excellent resource for most of your design needs.

Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute Field Trip #2

Before cotton goes through the yarning process it must be tested. The cotton will go through many tedious tests to find out the quality, strength and color of the fiber.  Cotton is classified by two things, staple and grade. Staple is the determination of fiber length and grade is the classification of trash and color content. This machines discussed are what the cotton is tested on to find out it classification. Once the fiber has been classified it can be turned into a material, once there is a sample of this material it must go into more tests to find out the quality and usability.

 Fibers have to be tested in the High Volume Instrument machine, this takes samples of the cotton from the bale and can measure length, strength, color, and trash count. This machine is also called the Uster HVI. It can get the measurements of 700 - 800 samples in one 8 hour shift. The color of the fiber is determined by being smashed into a tray underneath a camera, after being smashed it flashes and takes a picture of the fiber. If the color is known this helps determine the price of the cotton and what it could be used for. Another machine the fibers are

tested on is the Statimat DS which will determine the strength of the fiber. To find the strength of one single fiber the Robot 2 machine can test that. Asmall machine called the Uster 3

Evenness Converter uses vibration to classify the thickness and hairiness of a fiber. To get an advanced trash reading and determine the short fiber content of cotton, the Advanced Fiber  Information System is used. All of these machines are used before fiber can be made into yarn, once that is complete they must go through the next set of tests.

            

The next process of tests is once there is a sample of the fabric made from the yarn. The Martindale Abrasion Tester determines the abrasion resistance of textile fabrics and wear ability of a fabric. Each fabric placed in the tester is rubbed and each one also has different weights on

the rubber to test abrasion options, once abrasion is complete and has been rubbed the required amount of times this machine will shut off. The next machine determines the growth or shrinkage of a fabric. It must first be measured by a computer program which scans the fabric and takes its measurements. Once this is complete it is taken to the Quickwash, this is a machine used to simulate home washing and drying. It is then taken back to the scanner to get the new measurements. Breaking force and elongation of textile fabrics is determined using a raveled or cut strip sample and placed in the clamps of the machine then force is applied until the material reaches its breaking point, this is called the grab test. This is what every cotton material must go

through, shirts, jeans, etc.

          

The thought of our everyday materials going through all of the tests described may be quite surprising. The tests are very important to the quality of our fabrics, and they help determine the use for which they are needed.

Sustainably "Green" Fibers

The world has grown become fascinated with the idea of being "green", and to make the earth a more sustainable place. A way to start being green is through fibers. Information about sustainable fibers needs to be spread. People need to be informed about what materials are good and bad for their environment, is there an alternative? There are two types of fibers, natural and man-made, which both have subcategories containing reusable and recyclable fibers.

A natural fiber is protein or cellulosic, animal or plant fibers. Protein fibers include silk, wool, and leather. One sustainable protein fiber would be wool. The thing that makes this good for the earth is if the animal being sheered and has not been injected with any type of hormones; but instead is fed organic substances not treated with any form of pesticides. These animals must be raised according to an accredited standard for organic livestock production. When sheering the animal is completed, the fiber must be made into a spun yarn and textile. Now in order to stay sustainable the fibers cannot be bleached or chemically processed, as it usually would be. Organic wool is very sustainable, but it must be certified. Cellulosic fibers would include any type of plant fiber, cotton, linen, silk, etc. Some green plant fibers would be organic cotton and recycled cotton. Organic cotton is grown without the use of pesticides, sewage, irradiation or genetic engineering. Recycled cotton derives from two sources. One when spinning waste is recycled in the same spinning plant. And when garment fall-out, scrap yarn, and fabric can be processed and recycled into a yarn. Other forms of sustainable cellulosic fibers can include linen, hemp, and silk. For natural fiber to be considered sustainable it must be accredited by a certification organization. Natural fibers are more difficult to make and consider eco friendly than man-made fibers are; with man-made the options seem almost endless.


A man-made fiber has two categories, natural man-made and synthetic man-made. With natural man- made are fibers made from that of cellulosic and protein fibers, these would include glass, rayon, acetate, etc; these fibers often use harsh chemicals that are bad for the environment. Rayon from bamboo is considered green because it grows fast and constant, it does use chemicals that could be considered polluted and must be carefully controlled. Synthetic fibers are made from a chemical process derived from oil and include nylon polyester, acrylic and spandex. Most synthetic fibers that can be considered green can be recycled only; because of the chemicals used in making of these fibers they will not decompose naturally. The recycled products first must be converted by chemical or mechanical recycling. Mechanical recycling is the least expensive and uses the least amount of energy, but produces the least amount of yarn filament options and can become unsustainable for textiles. Chemical recycling does just the opposite of mechanical. Once the product has been converted it then must be accredited just like the natural fibers. Recycled nylon and recycled polyester are the most common synthetic fibers that are considered sustainable.  In this decade people are beginning to come up with alternative fiber sources.

Alternative fiber sources can change our world and make it more sustainable. An example would be Abaca, which is a cellulosic fiber from the bast family that is blended with soft fibers to form textiles. It could decrease the dependency on agricultural crops and is biodegradable. Finding these alternative man-made and natural resources is what will enhance the "green" world and promote the sustainability options of fibers.