Quality Features of Local and Foreign-Made Printed Fabrics

Abstract

In examining the purchasing habits of Ghanaians regarding foreign fabrics, it often seems that these materials are viewed as being of higher quality than those made locally. The research sought to evaluate the performance characteristics of three local and three foreign wax cotton printed fabrics. The properties of these fabrics were compared against the standards established by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to identify which type of fabric shows better quality. The criteria evaluated included weight, yarn count, colourfastness, breaking strength, and dimensional stability, using experimental methods for assessment. For selecting sample specimens for this research, both stratified and simple random sampling techniques were employed. An analysis of the data was carried out utilizing version 25 of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), wherein an independent samples t-test was applied to evaluate the significant differences between the two types of fabric. The findings indicated that there were no notable differences in the features examined, and all the textiles studied met the wax print standards established by the Ghana Standards Authority for the characteristics analysed. However, ATL, Printex, and Sanhe did not pass the strength test in the weft direction. Notably, Printex was the only fabric to pass the weft yarn count test, while the others did not. Thus, it can be concluded that foreign fabrics excel in terms of fabric weight, yarn count, and colourfastness, whereas local fabrics are superior in tensile strength and dimensional stability. This investigation should be expanded to include more textiles and parameters to better assess fabric compliance with specified standards for particular end-uses.