Explore The New Changes In The Sun Protection Clothing Market

How to protect the sun from the sun? (New economic orientation · innovation around)

——Upstream and downstream collaboration of the industrial chain to find the market from the demand

Sunscreen clothing, sunscreen hats, sunscreen masks... In the hot summer, there are more people wearing various sunscreen products on the streets. What are the new changes in the sunscreen clothing market this year? What factors determine the strength of sunscreen effect? What technological innovations are hidden in sunscreen fabrics? Recently, reporters went into shopping malls and factories to find out.

In a shopping mall in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, many outdoor sporting goods counters display sun proof clothes in a prominent position. "The biggest feature of this model is that it is sunscreen and cool. Even if it is washed many times, its sunscreen ability will not be reduced." The shopping guide introduced.

Previously, most sunscreen clothes had the disadvantage of "the more you wash, the weaker the sunscreen function". However, in summer, consumers inevitably need to clean sunscreen clothes for many times due to excessive sweating. If you want to reduce the number of times of washing, you need to wear them carefully, which has become a pain point for consumers when using sun protection clothes. Can the durability of sunscreen fabric be improved? With the problems found in the survey, an outdoor sports brand found a sunscreen fabric supplier - Xiangxing (China) Group Co., Ltd.

Clothing production involves many links such as spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing, finishing, and garment manufacturing. Xiangxing Group, located in Jinjiang, Fujian, focuses on dyeing and finishing, which is the key to sunscreen clothing production: adding sunscreen additives in the dyeing and finishing link is the main way to make fabrics have sunscreen function. "But with the increase of washing times, additives will inevitably decrease, leading to a decline in sunscreen effect," said Du Guohai, director of Xiangxing Group's research and development center. Seeing that the fabric end is difficult to solve the problem, Xiangxing decided to seek a breakthrough upstream of the industrial chain.

"UV resistance mainly includes two ways: shielding light and absorbing light." Fujian Yongrong Jinjiang Co., Ltd. is a yarn supplier of Xiangxing Group. Yu Juan, a senior engineering teacher of Yongrong Jinjiang R&D, introduced that in the spinning process, both inorganic materials for shielding UV light and organic materials for absorbing UV light were added, Then, by changing the cross section of the yarn to make it more shielded from ultraviolet rays, the three pronged approach will increase the sunscreen effect of clothing from the beginning of the yarn.

If you want to further improve the sunscreen effect, you can also start from the yarn layout density. "Generally, the denser the yarn is, the better the sunscreen effect will be, but the air permeability will become worse; the looser the yarn is, the thinner the fabric will be, and the sunscreen effect may decline." Du Guohai said that the sunscreen effect is better, but the comfort of the fabric cannot be sacrificed. It is necessary to take into account the lightness and breathability to improve the wearing experience of consumers.

In order to find the best balance between sunscreen effect and comfort, Xiangxing Group and Yongrong Jinjiang jointly tackled the key problem, and made multiple rounds of adjustments to yarn thickness and layout for more than half a year, finally finding an optimal solution. Later, in the dyeing and finishing process, Xiangxing further added anti ultraviolet additives to consolidate the sunscreen effect, and increased the air permeability by opening holes in the fabric. The data shows that the SPF of the fabrics produced in this way is still unchanged after more than 30 times of washing. According to the data of an e-commerce platform, the cumulative sales volume of this single sunscreen made of original yarn sunscreen fabric is close to 3 million pieces.

With the enhanced sunscreen effect, can other functions be further improved? For consumers' clothing needs in summer, Xiangxing Group has developed sunscreen and cool fabrics, fabrics with mosquito prevention, antibacterial, deodorization and other functions, and fabrics with heat shielding and insolation resistance in extreme weather. "We work closely with the brand side to aim at market demand innovation. If we can't do it ourselves, we will work together with upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to tackle key problems." Du Guohai said that Xiangxing Group closely cooperates with garment enterprises, from grey cloth production to actively docking with the brand side to carry out innovation. In the past three years, the company has invested more than 20 million yuan annually for independent research and development, and the annual turnover growth has remained at more than 10%.

A sunscreen garment reflects the active innovation of the upstream and downstream of the clothing industry chain in the face of market changes. Chen Xiaofeng, the relevant person in charge of Jinjiang Dyeing and Finishing Industry Association, said: "The market is changing rapidly, and the homogenization competition of textile enterprises is serious, so the traditional production mode is difficult to sustain. Only by seeking innovation and change in technology and process can we win a place in the market competition."

(Source: People's Daily reporter Wang Yinxin)