As with last year, demand for cool-to-touch fabrics in the bedding market is surging.   One reason is greater interest in bedding due to anticipation of a summer as hot and humid as last year and prolonged time spent at home because of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.
Huvis (CEO: Shin, You Dong, 079980), specializing in chemical and fiber materials, has recently stepped up its marketing campaign with three times greater production capacity to meet the rising demand for its cool-touch fabric Duraron-Cool with monthly sales also having increased by three times compared to the same period of last year.
 
These cool-to-touch fabrics, such as ramie and hemp, feel cool when touched. In winter time out in the field, if you feel that an iron bench is colder to touch than a wooden one, it relates not to any difference in the surface temperature between them, but to this cool-to-touch property. Because energy flows from a high temperature to low,
the iron bench, which has a high thermal conductivity, absorbs your body heat, and displaces the thermal energy quickly thus making you feel cold. Cool-to-touch fabrics are made based on this principle. Duraron-Cool has a higher thermal conductivity than traditional fabrics like cotton and nylon and can displace thermal energy from the body to the bedding faster to create a cooling effect, which can in turn help you get a better sleep.
 
Duraron-Cool is made of high density polyethylene. Because polyethylene is hydrophobic, Duraron-Cool is highly moisture and sweat repellent. The fabric is easy to take care of as it dries fast after washing and prevents contamination. In addition to robustness and durability, it shows little sign of wear or deformation after prolonged use. To address its shortcoming of being difficult to dye, Huvis incorporated pigment-contained color yarns in the fabric to eliminate the need for dyeing.

The product's largest application is bedding materials including blankets, mattress toppers and baby pads. It is particularly popular among children with a higher body temperature and men. The fabric will be adopted by renowned local bedding brands, including Park Hong-geun Fashion, for use in their products to be released this summer. Duraron-Cool is also being increasingly adopted as a material for pet pads as more and more people choose to keep a pet. Huvis also has plans to be the first in Korea to expand the fabric's application to garments, which require a higher level of technological capability, with a view to commercialization for the sportswear or underwear segments.
 
“As an earlier and longer summer is expected this year, and as people are more aware of hygiene, brands are showing a higher level of interest in Duraron-Cool,” says Kim Bong-seop, Director of Huvis. “We plan to diversify our product lineup to include premium items that include less-skin irritating cool-to-touch yarns and anti-bacteria cool-to-touch yarns.”  (The end)


[Photo] Cool-to-touch bedding incorporating Duraron-Cool yarns