Fire Retardant Underwear

About two years ago a Navy field surgeon noted that soldiers were getting worse wounds because the underwear they were wearing was melting like molten steel into the bodies from the heat generated by IED’s and bullet heat causing the fabric to fuse to the skin where it entered the body. The fabric used to make the underwear was either polyester or polypropylene; both plastics. As a result of these injuries the military started to look for flame retardant (FR) underwear.

Basically there are four different fabrics available to make FR underwear. Fabric one is 100 % FR treated cotton, it has some good properties but it has insignificant durability. In order to FR treat the fabric it must go through a series of baths applying the FR chemical and each time it is dried the strength of the fabric is diminished. A T-shirt might last through six launderings if the garment hasn’t been shredded first just from aggressive wear. Fabric number two is Nomex which used extensively in underwear worn by race car drivers. Nomex is nylon with a very high melt point as compared to nylon such as is used for jackets. The reality is if you are wearing Nomex underwear and receive a bullet wound or are in close proximity to an IED you will experience the same melting as seen with polyester or polypropylene. Even if you do not get wounded it has other detrimental characteristics, it does not permit body generated moisture to get away from the skin surface, so in warm weather it is very uncomfortable hot and in cold weather you get a significant chill and finally it will retain body order. Fabric number three is made from “modacrylic” fiber. This fabric is possibly the worst of the three. Modacrylic is also a plastic; petrochemical based product that will melt as easily as polyester or polypropylene. However, in order to make it FR it is treated with vinyl chloride. When excessive heat such as an IED creates the modacrylic material will melt but it gives off a gas. The gas is toxic and its side effect is angiosarcoma of the liver and other cancers. [If you research Vinyl chloride on the internet you will find law suit after law suit about vinyl chloride.] The fabric makers are also adding anti-microbial chemicals to the fabric. The thought is the anti-microbial additive will kill bacteria that causes odor. I have written about this subject in the past; anti-microbial chemicals are pesticides. If the garment you are wearing is treated with these chemicals they will leach into you body through the largest organ of the human body the skin. The fabric makers also claim the fabric to be “moisture-wicking”. IMPOSSIBLE!!!!! I as well as everyone else in the world with any intelligence know plastic does not have any ability to wick moisture; so they are in a word “lying”.
Let us review the modacrylic fabric; it is made of a plastic so it melts into the skin, it is treated with vinyl chloride to make it FR but when it burns it gives off a toxic gas that is carcinogenic, it is treated with pesticides and finally it is uncomfortably hot in summer and cold in winter because the moisture the body generated is trapped against the skin surface.

Fabric number four is faultless

Fabric number four is a blend of two natural fibers each of them being inherently flame retardant. The blend is 50% merino wool and 50% FR viscose rayon. The material does not melt, if subjected to a high enough heat it will char. If you are wearing a synthetic fabric garment over it and it melts the molten material will roll off of the fabric as not melt into the material or skin. When you perspire the fabric “wicks” the moisture from the skin surface. When the moisture touches the fabric against the skin surface it is absorbed, as more and more moisture is created the moisture moves to the opposite side of the fabric away from the skin surface; the action of the moisture moving through the fabric in this manner is termed “wicking”. The result is more comfort in all weather conditions; winter, summer or in between weather. The comfort factor is on the incredible side: you soon forget your wearing underwear it is that comfortable. In addition the material does not retain odor and again there are no chemical additives applied to the fabric to accomplish this. And finally durability; how about being able to launder your underwear over and over and over again for a couple of years, with out wearing out. They will last that long.
To review; naturally FR, no gases, wicks moisture, does not retain odor, can be laundered countless times.
If you go to my web site and click on clothing you will find these remarkable underwear products; briefs, T-shirts and long underwear. They are made by Wickers and an American based company in the US of A.
If you have a relative working in the military and stationed in a war zone they are required to wear FR underwear and as far as I know it is not readily available in the system and will not be for probably a year from now. If you are a fire fighter or an electrical worker this FR underwear is what you also should be wearing.
I know that the sleeping bags and cold weather clothing I produce is as good as can possibly made and performs better than all similar products produced today or had been produced. I take great pride in that accomplishment. I am equally convinced that the Wickers FR underwear is without question in its field of garment to be an equal to my products and it for this reason I am proud to offer the Wickers products. They have my unequivocal endorsement.