a testimonial and a story of testing

THEY JUST KEEP COMING

I just wanted to express my amazing experience with my newest parka. I recently washed it as expected. I pulled it from the washing machine and draped it around my dinning chair to dry. I have never had so thick of a garment dry in 1.5 hours! I was totally amazed. I once talked to you, Jerry, about water and my concerns about a hood that I wanted removable and was concerned about it filling with water and spilling into my coat when lifted and you said no worries with my gear. I didn't believe you because I'm so used to the other crap I've bought. I'm starting to trust you more and more. I've bought your fishnets and the second layer for myself and my wife, your mittens even for my 82 yr. old father in Logan Utah, complaining of cold hands, no longer. Your head covers your socks your over boots for my crappy Ft. Lewis "go devil" boots lined with "gore" (which keep me warm in summer lol). I've even bought about 8 sets of super light and over bags for my family in case of an emergency earthquake along the Wasatch Fault.

Thank you for such wonderful equipment.

Sincerely,

Chad N Linda

Had Chad put it in a dryer in the fluff cycle the drying time would have been half an hour. The parka he is speaking of is the Antarctic parka.

All I can say is that without the continuous filament fiberfill (generic description for Lamilite/Climashield) as my only source of insulation I would not be in the business of making all of the products Chad and others compliment me on.

Chad’s reference to his “gore” lined boots keeping his feet warm in summer is very much in line with what people have either told me or written and published themselves about the Gore-Tex material in their boots to go along with all that is said about this garbage material not working in jackets.

Bobby G. have you ever received ANY testimonial letters expressing how wonderful your waterproof breathable material performs? The answer to that question is a resounding NO!

Intertek Launches Testing for Active wear

— July 13, 2017

Intertek, a total quality assurance provider to industries worldwide, has expanded its textile testing capabilities in the U.S., with the launch of new services for the fast-growing active wear sector. These services, which include evaluating evaporation/drying rates, water vapor transmission rates and antibacterial/antifungal properties, are new to the U.S. market and offer manufacturers of active wear, furniture and outdoor fabrics a more efficient, timely testing option.

Intertek corporate headquarters are located in London England. I would be interested in knowing what the results of these tests in the UK provided and what makes them think that American people sweat differently than Europeans. They create an unnecessary need and the companies here have a penchant to get approvals, assurances from as many unknowledgeable third parties as possible.

The expanded U.S. capabilities are the result of investments in new equipment at Intertek's textile testing laboratory in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The new machines allow experts in the lab to evaluate performance properties of fabrics for water vapor permeability and drying rates, as well as how they respond to variations in temperature and humidity. This information can be used to verify claims of breathability, quick dry and antibacterial qualities in textiles used for various products. These new capabilities complement existing active wear testing services for wicking, wind proofing and UV protection properties and, combined with Intertek's antimicrobial center of excellence in Columbus, Ohio, allows the Company to offer a full spectrum of textile evaluation and technical support across multiple industries.

Amazing the variety of tests that they will be able to do and what will all of these tests accomplish? They will be costly to the companies that use this service and that cost will be passed on to the consumer. What benefit will the consumer realize from buying a garment whose material was tested at this laboratory, absolutely none!  The results are from experts!  Must be a joke!

"At Intertek, our priority has always been providing our customers with innovative solutions to help support functional and performance claims of their products in order to improve their competitive position," said Gregg Tiemann, executive vice president at Intertek. "Bringing these textile capabilities to the U.S. and building off our existing textile services will help customers in the region leverage our services and expertise in order to bring in-demand fabrics to the industry more quickly and easily?"

Imagine that, “in-demand fabrics”. That statement means that the fabric suppliers are also paying to have their fabrics tested which increases the fabric cost. They really work on justifying their existence. What are do you think the innovative solutions are? They don't know them selves. 

Consumer demand is shifting to high-performance fabrics for clothing, furniture and outdoor equipment. Intertek's services evaluate performance qualities against promotional claims and industry benchmarking and standards, making it possible for customers to work with a third-party lab to assure products meet these demands. The new services complement the Intertek's existing U.S. textile services analyzing fibers, restricted chemicals, dimensional stability, colorfastness and flammability.

I do not believe that “consumers” are demanding high performance fabrics; period! I consider the statement a sign of stupidity. When a manufacturer puts a product on the market and truthfully advertises it consumers will buy it. And if it actually performs as advertised more of the product will be sold.

If Intertek actually evaluated the performance qualities against the claims made by the various fabric or manufacturing companies they would have found that the claims are non-sense. However, Intertek will happily tell the likes of Gore that their product works as the claim states, that is what they are paid to do. What you have here is one hand washing the other. They are what are commonly known as “birds of a feather flock together”.

Intertek performs textile testing on items ranging from fabric samples to finished products, including active wear, apparel, accessories, soft home furnishings, linens and outdoor products. These services help customers meet consumer demand, minimize reputational risk and reduce environmental impact, while protecting the interests of retailers, brands, manufacturers and consumers.

This last paragraph seems to be a repeat of what appears in almost all of the previous paragraphs. I believe they are unsure of themselves so they have to keep repeating themselves for justification.

Reputational risk, when the product is bad the reputation for offering bad product just follows a company.

What is very obvious to me is simple facts of the lives of the people who work believe they have to have a company like Intertek prove that what is being sold works as advertised. The fact is these people who market these products really do not know if the products they are marketing work or not!!! They do not work!!! 

These people have zero background in the textile industry so they automatically believe any fast talker that comes along. The youth of the industry has never been taught to think and I believe that is the case with their bosses.