Setting Fire to Fabric: Inside a Toronto Film School Class in Textile Burn Tests

What can you tell by setting fire to fabric? A lot, according to Pat Kline, a textiles instructor in the Toronto Film School’s Marketing for Fashion & Entertainment Diploma program.

 

 

“Good textile buyers are able to distinguish instantly between wool, a polyester, acrylic or acetate,” Kline said. “You can do that by the burning characteristics and also by the smell.”

This video is a look inside a lesson in textile burn tests, where students learn to identify fabric by their burn characteristics.

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