A Super Fabric Makes Its Debut!

"Can you believe it? Uniqlo's sales during this year's 618 shopping festival hit another record high."

"Why don't consumers understand?"

"Uniqlo's UT series T-shirts, which sell for 99 yuan, are actually just ordinary thirty-two-count cotton. Their factory price is only 11 yuan."

"The famous AIRism quick-dry series is, bluntly put, just cuprammonium fiber. And cuprammonium fiber was invented way back in 1857!"

"And HEATTECH thermal underwear uses acrylic fiber from Japan's Asahi Kasei Group as its raw material."

"For truly high-end self-heating fabric, even if you don't use De-Rong, you should at least use Mitsubishi's Miyabi, right? What's the point of using acrylic from Asahi Kasei and Toyobo? That stuff will pill after just one season at most."

"Besides, acrylic is imitation wool and cashmere. At present, no company's technology can truly rival natural wool and cashmere. Thermal underwear made from 18.5-micron mercerized Merino wool is the best thing in the industry..."

Inside the fabric testing laboratory, Dr. Xu Qingzhou complained to several of his students. As a staunch nationalist, Dr. Xu loathed the current state of the textile industry.

In fact, the vast majority of synthetic fiber materials in the world had been invented in the West, and their patents were also controlled by the West.

Viscose belonged to Britain's Courtaulds Group. Nylon, acrylic, polyester, Lycra, and other mainstream synthetic fiber products around the world belonged to North American DuPont. Polyvinyl alcohol fiber belonged to Japan's Kurashiki Group, while polypropylene belonged to Italy's Montefibre Group.

Although China ranked first in the world in both production and sales, wherever one looked, there seemed to be foreign powers everywhere. Perhaps this was a sorrow only professionals in the synthetic fiber industry could understand.

Of course, there were small inventions and innovations in China's synthetic fiber sector, and quite a few of them at that.

But the key was that China had yet to possess a top-tier flagship product like DuPont Group's Lycra, one that could dominate the global market. That had to be called a tremendous regret.

After all, manufacturing was like warfare. Conventional weapons alone were not enough. To become one of the United Nations' five great powers, one also needed a trump card—nuclear weapons.

"Professor," one of Xu Qingzhou's students said, "clothing companies are more about marketing. Whether the fabric itself is advanced doesn't have much to do with it."

"Uniqlo's success can only be attributed to its strong marketing and the market's high acceptance of its products."

"That's true," another of Xu Qingzhou's students chimed in. "The predicament we face now is a double shortage of technology and marketing."

"On the technology side, we need first-rate raw-material and research giants like Bayer, BASF, and DuPont. On the marketing side, we need Uniqlo, ZARA, H.M, Nike, Adidas, and Muji."

The topic suddenly became somewhat heavy, and everyone felt a little discouraged. Like attracted like; under Xu Qingzhou's influence, his students all carried some degree of national sentiment.

Unfortunately, the current situation was too grim. International giants blocked the way ahead, while rising contenders like Vietnam were closing in from behind.

On top of that, textiles were considered a sunset industry. They had lacked attention and support for years. Whether factories relocated or shut down, ordinary people neither knew nor cared. The outlook truly was not encouraging.

"Professor, do you think it might be possible to bring a fabric's Quick-Dry Index down to a single digit?" one of Xu Qingzhou's students suddenly asked.

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible." Dr. Xu answered without even thinking. "The strongest quick-dry fabric in the world right now is North American DuPont's COOLMAX. Its Quick-Dry Index is under twenty, more than five times that of pure cotton fabric."

"A single-digit Quick-Dry Index? Wouldn't that make it more than ten times faster than pure cotton, even better than DuPont?"

"Believe me, it's impossible on Earth. Maybe with alien technology." Xu Qingzhou ended with a joke.

Yet the bespectacled student was unusually serious. He swallowed, shock evident in his eyes, and handed Xu Qingzhou a test report.

"But Professor, these freshly released figures show that the fabric submitted by Kunlun Company has a Quick-Dry Index of an astonishing 7.4."

Pfft—

Xu Qingzhou nearly spat everything out, unable to believe his ears.

"7.4!?"

"Even COOLMAX is only at twenty."

"That's 13.5 times faster than pure cotton!?"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! The data must be wrong!"

Xu Qingzhou felt this was the most absurd thing he had ever heard in his life. But when he picked up the report and examined it carefully, his expression immediately became extraordinary.

Besides the Quick-Dry Index of 7.4, there was another crucial metric: water absorption.

Pure cotton could absorb water equal to 7 percent of the fabric's weight. Ordinary polyester fiber had a water absorption rate of four-thousandths, while the fabric Kunlun Factory had submitted this time had a water absorption rate of only one-thousandth!

"There's been a mistake. There must have been a mistake." Dr. Xu shook his head and muttered. "Kunlun Textile Fabric Company? I've never even heard of it. If they really had that kind of capability, why would they open a factory? They could go straight for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry."

"Who tested this fabric?"

The bespectacled young man from earlier raised his hand. "I was responsible for the test."

Xu Qingzhou nodded slightly. "All right, then. You assist me, and we'll test it again."

Before long, the laboratory was in an uproar. Everyone dealt with synthetic fibers year-round, yet they had never heard of such powerful figures. Word spread from one person to ten, then from ten to a hundred, until everyone knew about it.

"Is it real?"

"Not sure. Xu Qingzhou is leading a second verification right now."

"Its overall performance is nearly three times higher than the world's strongest COOLMAX."

"That's incredible. It feels a little like science fiction."

"No, it's beyond science fiction. It's practically fantasy!"

"I hope it's all real. Then we could finally beat North American DuPont and vent some of our frustration."

"A small private factory wants to beat DuPont? Stop daydreaming. Let's wait for Xu Qingzhou's second test results. I'd guess the first test was done by one of his students. Young people lack experience, so there's a good chance the data was recorded wrong."

The laboratory was filled with differing opinions. Regardless of whether it was real or not, the few pieces of fabric Gao Yuan had submitted had now become the absolute center of attention.

However, Xu Qingzhou's second test progressed unexpectedly slowly.

It continued from the morning until the dead of night. Only then did Xu Qingzhou emerge from the laboratory with several exhausted-looking students.

"Qingzhou, how did it go?" Several people rushed over from the neighboring room and asked anxiously.

Most of their colleagues had long since gone home. These few were simply eager to know the results as soon as possible, so they had stayed behind.

"Director Qin? You're still here?" Xu Qingzhou paused in surprise.

"I couldn't put my mind at ease either." Director Qin said frankly, "The first result was simply too shocking. If it's real, it could overturn many things."

Xu Qingzhou nodded slightly. Facing his anxious colleagues, he did not keep them in suspense and said directly, "My result was 7.2."

Boom—

The place instantly erupted!

These people were all professionals who had seen plenty in their time, yet when they heard that number from Xu Qingzhou, they still showed utter shock.

Who could have imagined it? Xu Qingzhou's result was actually 7.2—lower than the first test!

"Professor, this is fantastic news! Treat us to a late-night meal!" Xu Qingzhou's students were ecstatic. They hugged each other and cheered, then began clamoring for their professor to buy them supper.

Before Xu Qingzhou could answer, Director Qin burst out laughing. "Everyone has worked hard. I'll treat you to supper!"

"Long live Director Qin!"

The young people immediately cheered, chattering away as they discussed what to order for delivery and how to make Director Qin pay dearly.

After finding a quiet corner to sit down, Director Qin said to Xu Qingzhou, "We all know what it means for such a high-performance quick-dry fabric to appear out of nowhere."

Xu Qingzhou nodded repeatedly, unable to hide his excitement and joy.

Nuclear weapons.

This was the super nuclear weapon the industry had been waiting for!

How much damage it could inflict on Western giants was still unknown, but it would definitely make them suffer.

After a pause, Director Qin said solemnly, "This is a matter of great importance. Get some rest tonight. Tomorrow, run another test and make sure the data is solid."

This...

Xu Qingzhou rubbed his forehead and gave a wry smile. "Director, the reason we finished so late is because my team and I ran three consecutive tests."

"The Quick-Dry Index of 7.2 is the average result of all three tests."

Please recommend! Please bookmark! Please donate!