DEVELOPING AGING PROTOCOLS

Assessing the aging, wear and tear process of materials is key to understand the lifespan of products and make informed choices to design durable and long-lasting products. To this end, the residency layed the ground for the development of a protocol to reproduce an accelerated aging of swimwear accessories, specifically swimsuits, and offered the opportunity to perform preliminary tests. An initial phase concerned the research of existing protocols to assess the aging of products and related tests, the definition of the constraints undergone by swimsuits during use, and their quantification. Once this phase was concluded, a selection of jersey fabric samples was performed together with tests in controlled laboratory environment by employing a dynamometer. In parallel to the development of the aging protocol, the residency activities included the planning, organisation, deployment, rating and reporting of Product Advantages (PA) tests on selected items, involving external testers, performed in the pool ecosystem. Written documentation of the aging protocol and PA tests results, even if not fully validated due to lack of time, offer the hosting company a valuable basis for further research.