TEXTILES.ORG
The staff of Hainsworth Protective Fabrics, West Yorkshire, England, already knew about the technical properties of wool, which has been part of the company’s ECO-DRY firefighter gear fabric since its development in 2012. But they wanted hard data.
The company recently undertook laboratory testing to quantify the fabric’s resistance to evaporative heat transfer (RET) coefficient. Tested was the ECO-DRY Shield fabric, which is used in jackets and pants for wildland firefighters. The fabric is worn as a single layer, without a liner or moisture barrier, and is a blend of 72% aramid, 28% wool/Lenzing™ FR fibers. It was tested versus a control of 100% meta-aramid woven in the same structure. Results found the proprietary fabric to be 17% more breathable, a company release says.
Then James Heal tested wicking properties with its WickView equipment. The Hainsworth release notes that the product “demonstrates excellent wicking properties for a flame-retardant fabric” and that the control didn’t allow any liquid through. Breathability and wicking are essential for reducing heat stress for firefighters.
The merino wool in the fabric comes from trusted suppliers in Australia and New Zealand. The business’s legacy of supplying wool for firefighting uniforms extends back to the establishment of the London Fire Brigade in the 1800s; parent company AW Hainsworth began in 1783.