why you can't trust textile testing labs

TESTING LABORATORIES

Recently I wrote about W.L. Gore Company opening a massive testing laboratory which in my opinion has no purpose other than for them to propel themselves further in front of their customers and the consumer market as concerned about the materials used to make all sorts of clothing products with the emphasis on how good the Gore-Tex products are as well as telling their customers what fabrics they should use.

Today I was reading an article “IN THE LAB, IN THE FIELD” sub headline “Today’s textile testing is challenged with evaluating varied performance qualities for multiple governments”. The publication is SPECIALTY FABRICS REVIEW and the category is “ADVANCED TEXTILES”. The location is NCSU’s Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry, Engineering, and Science.

Before these labs opened we had Kansas State University Environmental Lab and the US Army Natick Labs. There are many more labs around the world that test fabrics, the Hohenstein Institute based in Germany and Intertek based in England. All create machines to test materials used in clothing.

If I were to have used one of these companies to test the materials I use specifically my insulation I would have been making the same none performing sleeping bags and outerwear that all of the “on brands” sell., remember Wiggy’s is an “off brand” and been referred to by L.L. Bean as a cult company and probably would have succumbed into oblivion. A place where many of the companies serving the outdoor user market place would like to see even now.

I did have one bag once tested at KSU at a cost of $1000.00 to be told it had a clo value of 4.5 but was also told they couldn’t apply a temperature in F, but for its weight the clo was the highest they had ever tested. That made me feel good, but I did in my opinion waste $1000.00.

Recently I came across a fabric I am calling Ducksback to use for rain garments and other products that require voiding rain water but still remain “vapor permeable”. What I did to test it was to hold the fabric under the water running out of the spout of the water faucet in the sink in my office. And low and be hold water ran down the fabric like water running down a ducks back, hence the brand name. I then held the fabric to my mouth and drew air through the fabric, so I knew immediately it was “vapor permeable”. No telling what I would have been charged for any one of these labs to test the fabric for me or how long it would have taken.

Keep in mind that my name Wiggy appears on the sewn in label of my products so it is my responsibility to make sure that the products I sell actually perform for the purpose they are made. All the other companies that make similar products, have a love affair with, “independent testing labs that support with results what they the companies are paying them to find”.

The reason these very large companies rely on the testing labs is simple; upper management has almost no knowledge of the products they sell and are more concerned with hitting stockholder demands. So they hire younger people who are equally void of knowledge to do the research so they work with the testing labs and give what I believe is bogus results to their bosses who are pleased as punch. What you have is the blind leading the blind. At no point does anyone say “let’s go into the field and see how this stuff performs”.

The last paragraph of the article is and I quote; “A test method is useful if it gives reproducible results, which correlate with the parameters of interest to the use, said Dr. Ballard (OF UNSU’s College of Textiles). The expense of testing is not at all costly when compared to the cost of returned merchandise and dissatisfied customers”. What he obviously does not know is the “dissatisfied” customers who do try to make returns are not successful.

Another statement comes from Den Hartog who I guess works at UNSU and I quote; “While testing in the lab is likely to be more accurate, testing in the field has more relevance”. According to this guy as I read it if you are uncomfortable in the field the lab test is more relevant stating that you shouldn’t be less comfortable in the field. So in his opinion field testing is “irrelevant”.

FISHNETS

I saw an article about the Chicago Bears playing the Green Bay Packers in Chicago in record cold. If those football players were wearing my fishnets they would be warmer and ultimately play better because they are warm. Maybe next year management of the football teams will come to me for the fishnets and sideline coats.

Wiggy’s working at keeping people warm!