Newness Retention of Textile Automotive Seat Covers

The current specified durability testing for automotive seat cover materials focus on fiber loss. Consequently, these tests do not consider the appearance acceptability or “newness retention” of seat covers. Preliminary study indicates that the major causes of perceived wear are soiling and pile crush. Additionally, the study linked the field performance of textile seat covers to fiber, yarn, and fabric characteristics. The results showed the effect of fiber denier, yarn construction, pile density and pile angle on the ability of fabrics to retain their newness and visual appeal.