Abstract :
Textiles are elements which coexist with humans. Some are called functional; because they assist humans in every way, ensure their comfort and protection. They are divided regarding the environment in which humans live, move and/or perform their working activities. These textiles touch human skin irrespective of environment and work type; therefore it is logical that some functions are fulfilled by the textiles placed next to the skin surface. Some of these functions are sweat management system, while other ensures therapeutic, healing, antibacterial and antimicrobial effects and prevent the infections. The latter is important in medicine where patient´s bodies are enveloped by different textiles with the aim to cool, heat and/or maintain body temperature as well as other specific care effects, for example the prevention of infections that are spread by textiles used in the hospitals. The inner textile layer with sweat management ability is the most important for establishing the thermal balance in the multilayer system “human-clothing-environment”, but it is usually ignored. However, it is obvious that functional textiles that touch our skin impact human life, their comfort, well-being and performance at working and daily activities. In this paper we will see how human life could depend on the different textiles (positive or negative way).
Keywords :
antibacterial activity; biothermics; patient care; protective clothing; skin; textiles; antibacterial effect; antimicrobial effect; functional textile; healing effect; hospital; human life; human-clothing-environment; infection prevention; medicine; multilayer system; sweat management ability; textile layer; therapeutic effect; Clothing; Heating; Hospitals; Skin; Standards; Textiles;