one more company trying to sell what is impossible to make

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS REPRINTED FROM “SPOTSTEXTILE” ONLINE PUBLICATION.

Material’s cooling power confirmed by independent testing

12/05/2020

A UK-based superabsorbent materials manufacturer has had the cooling properties of one of its fabrics verified by the Hohenstein Institute and says the fabric can be used by garment and accessory manufactures for cooling and sweat management applications.

I wonder how much Technical Absorbents has paid the hoho institute to support their claim? I would like to know the method that the hoho institute used to demonstrate that this fabric is capable of accomplishing this action.
Technical Absorbents (TAL) designs and manufactures Super Absorbent Fibre (SAF) which can rapidly absorb up to 200 times its own weight in water and up to 50 times its own weight in saline. It then incorporates SAF into a wide range of nonwoven fabrics, including a new washable range.

I did some checking and read that cotton for its weight can absorb 27 times its weight of water. Is it really possible that this Super Absorbent Fibre of unknown origin can actually absorb up to 200 times its own weight of water and to my surprise an additional 50 times its own weight of saline (salt)? For the test was the salt dissolved in the water or was it added as a solid?

I have sold and worked with non-woven materials for years and having a washable non-woven is no big deal. The scrim I use in my Lamilite insulated garments and sleeping bags is a washable material. This paragraph suggests that what this company is doing is new.
The washable SAF fabrics can be used for moisture management to help increase wearer comfort and in garments designed to provide evaporative cooling when worn next to the skin or over outer clothing.

Fabrics cannot manage moisture so all that is said in this paragraph is erroneous.To withstand laundering, the fabric must be positioned between two outer layers, which can be tailored to suit performance requirements. Anti-microbial, flame-retardant and anti-odour finishes can also be added during the manufacturing process.

Now we have just read reality about the laundering capability of their non-woven materials. They have to be “positioned between two outer layers”, which better stated between the shell and lining fabrics. It cannot as have been suggested in the previous paragraph that it is launderable as a self-standing material.

The anti-microbial, anti-odor finishes flame-retardant and are just words they are using which have no meaning.

Mark Paterson, product development director at TAL, said: “TAL has a portfolio of SAF washable fabrics that can be used for sampling during the development process but we pride ourselves on collaborating with customers and developing specific fabrics to meet their needs. We prefer to supply bespoke fabric solutions wherever possible and we have a product development team that can support this process.”

If TAL has Mark Paterson as its “product development director” why do the upper management people think it is necessary to go to the hoho institute to verify what they already know?

They already know they do not have a product that is capable of performing as the article suggests so, they go to a world renown testing company to support what they want. Of course, this hoho institute is world renown for only telling their customers what they want to hear about their materials; they at the hoho institute are in my opinion not only not objective but also, they are not an independent company, that is independent in their testing of products submitted to them. From what I have read from their testing they always concur with their clients wishes. Yes wishes, the TAL company wishes their product worked as they claim.

I do not believe the TAL company will be successful selling their product to any company based upon the falsehood of their claims. I also believe they do not know that it is impossible to manage moisture coming out of the human body, but they are not alone in this so-called thinking. There are many who have proceeded them and failed equally as they will.

If you want to stay cool on a hot day wearing cotton garments is the most desire able clothing to wear. Cotton as I have just learned absorbs 27 times its weight of water. When that water is coming out of your body and you are wearing a cotton shirt the cotton is absorbing the water. At this time, you have two entities absorbing your body heat; 1- the fabric and 2- the water. Your body heat is also driving the water out of the fabric which is also happening by the sunshine and any breeze. The saline in your sweat is in a liquid state so it will be evaporated away as well. Do you think that you ever have 27 times the weight of water in the cotton fabric, I suspect not!

This is the only way to manage moisture in hot weather.

Cold weather is different, what you do not want is to have any dense fabric against your skin that either absorbs your sweat of just blocks it from getting away from your skin surface. Enter FISHNET BASE LAYER UNDERWEAR.

I have just written the two methods of how each of us can manage the moisture that comes out of our own body, there is no other method.