Korea: Focus on underwear sector
INSIDE ASIA
Diversified perspiration-absorbing / fast drying materials are competing fiercely in underwear applications. Hyosung Corp. has marketed its newly developed perspiration-absorbing/ fast drying nylon filament yam in the underwear market. In this sector, newcomers are vigorously cutting into the forerunning DuPont’s market. “CoolMax” is a square– cross-sectional polyester filament yarn. Newcomers are marketing products made of olefin fiber imported from Taiwan,
Perspiration-absorbing / fast drying nylon filament yarn developed by Hyosung proves that its water-absorbing quality is more than 70% higher than cotton products and challenges the common sense that “pure cotton is best for underwear.” Already, it has gained acceptance for licensed brands of sports brassieres and panties.
Fine-denier olefin filament itself is non-water absorbing, but the capillary action produced by the space between olefin filaments can suck up perspiration quickly and release vapors of perspiration out of clothing very effectively. Perspiration-absorbing/fast drying materials are fully utilized. Already, Taiwanese firms have adopted fine– denier olefin yarn for apparel going to Italy and they have begun to newly expand marketing in Korea. These new fibers are threatening to catch up with DuPont’s “CoolMax”. With commercialization around the globe, “CoolMax” products have received high evaluations in Korea as well.
Apparel firms are carrying out the planning of new products for next year, but what kind of material they are going to adopt remains to be seen. In the sector of sports underwear involving frequent perspiration, the competition between these functional fibers has become even stiffer
Copyright Osaka Senken Ltd. Oct 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
