Technical and Performance Wear
When a garment has to do a job — keep water out, move sweat, resist a hazard — the specification has to prove it.
A free, self-paced specialist course on technical apparel: performance materials and finishes, engineering activewear, outerwear and protective workwear, seam sealing and construction under stress, and validating a performance claim with the right test. Three modules, each ending with a five-question quiz.
- 3 modules · 12 subjects
- About 9–12 hours of reading and quizzes at your own pace
- 3 quizzes to check your understanding
- Written by Sanjeewa Dehiwalage
Enrol free
Who this course is for
- Product developers and technicians on activewear, outerwear or workwear
- Quality and laboratory staff validating performance claims
- Merchandisers handling technical programmes
- Engineers and students moving into technical apparel
What you will be able to do
- Read a performance fabric specification and say what it can and cannot claim
- Match construction — seams, sealing, taping, bonding — to the performance the product promises
- Engineer activewear, outerwear and protective workwear to their different demands
- Choose the test that proves a claim, and reject the claim the test does not support
- Keep restricted-substance and durability requirements inside the specification, not beside it
Preview module
Module 1 — Performance materials and finishes
Read a technical fabric package and separate the properties built into the fabric from the properties that only a finish provides — and know how long each lasts.
Sample quiz question from this module
A fabric is called 'waterproof breathable'. What must accompany that phrase to mean anything?
- A. The supplier's word
- B. The test methods and results — hydrostatic head and moisture vapour transmission — with the condition they were measured under
- C. The fabric weight
- D. A colour card
Show the answer
B. The test methods and results — hydrostatic head and moisture vapour transmission — with the condition they were measured under — Performance words are only as good as the method and number behind them. Without a method a claim cannot be compared or defended.
Self-study material. It is not an accredited qualification and no examination board has assessed it. Progress is kept on your device, and on your account once you sign in.
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