Abstract: At present,there are varieties of test methods available for measuring water vapor permeability of fabrics.They differ in measuring principles,test conditions,and measurement parameters.Five test methods were employed to evaluate the water vapor permeability of six different fabrics.The test results indicated the water vapor transmission rate obtained by the desiccant inverted cup method was the highest,followed by the new test method,the inverted cup method,and the upright cup method.In addition,the data obtained by the new test method are in good agreement with those obtained by sweating guarded hot plate,inverted cup method,and desiccant inverted cup method.Since this test method offers short test time,good repeatability,high sensitivity and small sample size,it is a very useful tool for routinely testing water vapor permeability of fabrics for quality control in textile plants.