Martindale test

The Martindale test is the leading abrasion assessment for textiles, standardised in EN ISO 12947 parts 1-4. A round sample is rubbed under a defined load of 9 or 12 kPa against a reference fabric in a Lissajous motion. The metric is the number of cycles until yarn breakage or destruction. Rules of thumb: home textiles 15,000-40,000 cycles, workwear 25,000-50,000, contract office furniture 60,000-100,000+, automotive and public transport often 100,000+. Results are comparable but not directly transferable between woven, knit and coated fabrics. It pairs with pilling (ISO 12945), tensile (ISO 13934) and tear (ISO 13937) tests. In workwear tenders Martindale figures are now a mandatory material spec.