NYLON VS POLYESTER - THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN

Transcript (auto-generated)

What is up design family and welcome to another episode of fit design TV so happy to have you here who are we looking today at polyester and nylon to calmly make stuff synthetic fibers we're looking at both of them and I'll be giving you the definitive how-to guide on how to tell them apart and how to choose which synthetic fiber is best suited towards your specific application [Music] welcome to fit design TV on this channel we'll explore what it takes to make it as an active wear fashion brand whilst providing tips tricks and actionable steps towards starting your own product line whether an entrepreneur look at the start your own brand or just someone interested in fitness fashion there's something for you here [Music] the best way to go about this is to look at each polyester and nylon individually both are synthetic fibers which means they're man-made and they hold a lot of good properties that result from that man-made nature polyester is a category of polymers that contains the ester functional group in its chain hence the name poly ester polyesters are most commonly referred to as PE T or poly ethylene Triple E nylon on the other hand is considered synthetic silk it's also a synthetic fiber that was created to recreate the physical properties of silk it's a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers based on the aliphatic or semi aromatic polyamides nylon at its core is a thermoplastic silky material that can be melt processed into fibres films and shapes there's also the first commercially successful thermoplastic compound in this regard so that's why it has a lot of notoriety and it's done a lot of good with in most spaces not just the fashion space but in the industrial space and in kind of a lot of different industries the best way to draw between the comparisons of polyester and nylon to allow you to make a decision towards what of the two is the best suited towards your application is to look at five key points we're gonna be looking at the feel the durability the color absorption the cost and the ease of care I'll start off with the field both are synthetic fibers as I mentioned before owing to its beginnings as a substitute for silk nylon was generally regarded as being the softer and smoother the two fabrics that's why in the early days polyesters were typically used for rougher applications like suits outerwear garments but modern-day advancements and manufacturing have a lot of stomach polyesters they're equally as silky smooth so nylon no longer has the edge in that regard the second way that we have to look at is the ease of care nylon is also generally regarded as being the stronger of the two fabrics with more strength resistance and more stretch ability though not as strong polyester has a major up in it resists the effects of piling what is piling I'm sure you've heard that for piling is when the fabric filaments breaking the service in the unravel into these little balls that show up on these surface of the fabric and though that does not affect the structure of the garment like it doesn't actually affect the way that a garment holds itself together it is not aesthetically pleasing is usually a sign or a sign of a cheaper garment don't always necessarily true as you come to find out it does have that negative effect on the look and feel of the garment we'll also look at the water wicking ability of both fabric types both are hydrophobic in nature that means that they don't mesh with water as well and that is what is owed to them in terms of the way that they can wick away sweat from the surface but polyester has the edge in this regard being more hydrophobic in nature that means that when you use it in sports or applications it's going to take less time to dry whereas nylon paltry pound is going to be harder to wake that sweat away so polyester has better sweat wicking ability in this regard the durability of both fabric types is something to be considered and we know that because of their synthetic natures nylon and polyester are both super robust materials they shouldn't be ironed on high heat because of their kind of plastic base and that's also something that needs to be considered when buying what is the application of the garment where are you gonna be using it it's gonna be used in high heat temperatures so you may need to mix it with other types of fibers to take away or to give it a bit more heat resistance but on its own both by astir and are not as heat resistant the color absorption of both fabric types is something that we also need to consider by yester because of the same reason in terms of its hydrophobic qualities also make it better at absorbing ink that's why you see a lot of sublimated garments use polyester as fabric base that they're sublimated onto we've done a video on sublimation in our five fad printing methods to look at now recommend you watch a video to get a better idea of what sublimation printing is but you just need to know that polyester retains color better than nylon although nylon also does a good job but you're gonna get vibrant and more accurate colors with polyester and it's going to be easier to print on in that regard ease of care is going to be some of it we have to consider both are robust but because polyester is a bit of a rougher material and they need a bit more love and attention to get it to a point where it's soft and it's continuously feeling a certain way so you may have to use a bit of extra fabric softener to give it that added effect and as mentioned should not be ironed both are plastic or they're synthetic base and under high heat you're going to cause the fabrics to melt the final and one of the most important factors to always consider is the cost cost of anything is one of the key and most pivotal moments in deciding between fabric X and fabric y though there's no generic way to tell which of the two fibers is going to be more expensive because you can have different grades of both fiber types you can have different methods you can have different manufacturing methods that create a better result nylon is generally regarded as being almost 2x more expensive than polyester because of the resource intensive nature of grading nylon as opposed to polyester it's also suffered to recycle and in terms of recyclability if you wanted to recycle there's going to be more of a resource intensive cost associated with so if you're looking at recycled fabrics polyester is definitely going to be a better choice in a much more cost-effective choice if you have that social kind of consciousness in your mind and as a message for your brand so that's basically it that's a wrap guys that's been a very dense video a lot of good information hopefully you understand the key properties and components that make each of the two fiber types unique in this regard and how they overlap and I'm sure that you'll understand that there is no right answer in terms of what to go for but there is a contextual answer that is based on your specific situations so take the information that we provided and if there is anything that we haven't mentioned or there's some key items that you think would help others to make a decision between choosing the two please do leave in the comments below it's always awesome when we hear from you guys as always it's been an absolute pleasure having you on the video having you guys come by consume the content and just engage all in all thank you guys so much for tuning in until next time stay awesome.