Cool-wool

The New Cool Wool from Burlington Worldwide

Burlington Worldwide has added wool to its Cocona fabricline utilizing TrapTek LLC's Cocona activated carbon technology to offer evaporative cooling, UV protection and odor management.

Cocona, TrapTek LLC's patented innovative technology thatincorporates activated carbon derived from recycled coconut shells into fibersand yarns, has received accolades as a natural, sustainable technology that provides evaporative cooling and moisture management, and traps odors and ultraviolet (UV) rayswithin the activated carbon's pore structure. The technology was developed in2002 by Gregory W.Haggquist, Ph. D. - the Longmont, Colo. -based company's founder - and made itsconsumer market debut in 2006 in knitted cycling apparel developed by UnitedKnitting, Cleveland, Tenn., and Bethel, Conn.-based Cannondale Bicycle Corp.

Last year, Burlington Worldwide (BWW), a business unit ofGreensboro, N.C.-based International Textile Group Inc., received exclusiverights to develop, license and market woven fabrics using Cocona technology, first offering a line ofman-made fiber fabrics primarily for active wear, and then adding cotton blendsand entering more mainstream markets. Just recently, it added a collection ofwool-blend fabrics to its Cocona line, which now includes about 20 man-made, 15cotton and six to 10 wool styles.

According to Nelson Bebo, vice president of Burlington Labs,BWW's research and development division, BWW, with its global reach, has been working withTrapTek for 18 months to two years, and Burlington Labs was instrumental inbringing the Cocona technology into commercial yarn and fabric markets.

''TrapTek came up with some pretty interesting intellectual property (IP), but it was just a small IP company and needed help in commercializing thetechnology," Bebo said.

The nanoscale pore structure of activated coconutcarbon used in Cocona^TM adsorbs moisture, odors and UV rays, which are thenreleased during laundering using a scent-free detergent and drying using a heatsource.

The Cocona^TM Story

The Cocona technology imbeds activated carbon from coconutshells into polyester or nylon polymers. The coconut shells, recycled wastefrom the food industry, are burned at 300C followed by a 1,000C steam-activation process. The activated carbon thus produced is imported by suppliers to waterand air filtration, wastewater treatment, and other such industries. Themicroscopic, ultra-fine particles that are too small for those applications arejust what TrapTek needs to incorporate into its fiber and yarn.

"Not only are we using a green material, but we'rerecycling what would have been thrown into landfills," said Jonathan Erb,a principal at TrapTek. ''This is encapsulated to provide a durable surfacethat allows the activated carbon to go through the very rigorous processing of polyester or nylon fibers and survive that process. The protective coatingactually comes off during the course of fiber extrusion, and that releasesactivated carbon to be very much a part of that fiber."

According to Erb, the coconut shell's hardness, created bythe nanometer-scale pore structure, gives it an advantage over softer activatedcarbon materials, which have fewer and bigger pores. The coconut pore structureis very complex, and the size of the pores is very even, he said. These poresadsorb moisture, odors and UV rays and through the exothermic adsorption process cause moisture to evaporatequickly. TrapTek says activated carbon from coconut shells exhibits a greaterexothermic reaction thanany other known substance, and garments containing Cocona activated carbon show45-percent greater wick ability and significantly higher drying rates thangarments offering conventional moisture management technologies.

Cocona fabrics and garments are rejuvenated and trappedodors removed by laundering using scent free detergents and drying using a heat source and nodryer sheets. Bebo said 60 to 70 percent of odors are removed during washing,and the heated drying causes the remaining odors to vibrate and move out of thepores.

Erb said most alternative moisture management fabric treatments are topical chemical applications, "whereas ours is integral to the fiber, which can be combined very nicely with other fibers such as manmade, wool or cotton to give new attributes to those fabrics."

In blends, the ratio of Cocona to other fibers is based increasingly on end-use profiles, Bebo said. "For knit socks, you might want more Cocona than for everyday apparel to get the full benefits of the technology as it relates to odor control. In most applications, the percentage of Cocona is based on fabric weight, and 40 percent tends to be ideal for the types and weights of fabrics BWW does. As a fabric goes up in weight, the percentage could go down so the weight stays the same," he explained.

BWW's Cocona Wool

Bebo noted the Cocona technology, combined with the sustainability movement, makes it a natural especially for better brands participating in the active wear market, but it also has moved into mainstream, everyday apparel. He said BWW offers its man-made and cotton-blend Cocona fabrics in both of those markets.

The new wool fabrics, offered in a range of weights and constructions, are targeted to military and service uniform sectors, as well as for business suits, other dress apparel and everyday wear - and even possibly "as an item in a golf collection," Bebo suggested. Some also offer a bit of stretch.

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