answering a question from last nights commentary

CLARIFICATION

The email below I received last night based upon what Ken read in the article that was published last night. I have written extensively on the subject but in this commentary I will be more specific.

Jerry,

Could you please enlighten us as to why companies use the chopped staple fibers as opposed to sheets of continuous filament batting?It must be economic.Is it like the cheap way of building canoes where they spray chopped fiberglass fibers and resin onto a mold vs the better (and more labor intensive) method of hand laying up fiberglass mats?Is it somehow less expensive to use the chopped stuff, with the attendant quilting line cold spots?Box baffling is time consuming and expensive but is the only good way of handling down, I get that, but with synthetic filaments I don’t understand the use of the chopped stuff.Thanks, Ken McCaskill BC, Canada

The primary reason that companies like Mountain Hardwear, and ALL the rest of the well-known brands use chopped staple fiber has to do with cost.

When I first entered into the fiberfill business there were companies like DuPont that made a branded fiberfill fiber that they advertised. Keep in mind that DuPont actually made the fiber as did several other fiber companies. Today that is not the case. Primaloft to cite one company does not make fiber! Neither does Mountain Hardwear or any other brand promoted by these companies. They buy the fiber from polyester fiber producers in Asia most likely China. I suspect what they are buying or specifying to the company that actually converts the fiber to a batting is the cheapest fiber available. That cost does not show up in the retail price of the garment or sleeping bag that has chopped staple fiber as its insulation. These companies trade on the basis of being the highest quality producers in the industry. A joke!

It does not matter where in the world you chose to produce your insulated product there is a garnetter located there who can process the chopped staple fiber for you. It is of no significance where it is made or what the thickness of the fiber is, it is still just chopped staple fiber and is more than likely seconds since nobody can tell the difference when they look at a finished product.

I worked for two companies, garnetter’s at the time that branded fibers were being used and to the best of my knowledge if a customer ordered DuPont’s Dacron 88 they were lucky to get a batting that had more than 20 percent Dacron 88. To say they the garnetter’s were cheating is an understatement. It is for this reason that the government changed from chopped staple in 1968 to continuous filament, because its either continuous filament or it isn’t, you could no longer cheat them. The company I worked for who made the continuous filament fiber tried all they could to destroy it. Why, because you couldn’t cheat. They even made it difficult for me to sell it. They are long gone and I have persevered all to the benefit of the public so to speak; i.e. for people who want the best insulated products they can get.

Since the bulk of the outerwear is made in Asia where chopped staple is readily available and cheap that is what these garment marketers chose to use. They put their money saved by using cheap components into advertising with incredible verbiage about how well their “new” insulation performs. The question is why don’t they use continuous filament as I do? COST!!!!!

Continuous filament fiber otherwise known by the trade names Lamilite and Climashield (Lamilite is made from Climashield, no substitutions) which are made in the USA and only in the USA. Therefore, if any of the well-known brands were to use the Climashield these companies would have to ship it to Asia which was done years ago but they stopped, why (?) COST!!!!! This situation opened the door for the cheap chopped staple fiber to become the only fiber these upscale (?)brands would use and it is for this reason that Wiggy’s stands alone as the producer of the warmest sleeping bags and clothing in the world, the use of Climashield to make Lamilite.

Unfortunately for the American consumer not a one of these companies has any intention of bringing production back to the USA which would give them the opportunity to use the Climashield because I do not think the powers to be in these companies has the slightest knowledge of how to run a sewing operation. They never learned years ago when they were young and therefore, cannot teach young people today how to run a sewing plant.

Years ago I wrote an article which you can find in the archives detailing the practical education I was exposed too working in the industry. Today 90 percent of what I was exposed too is no longer in the USA, a sad commentary on how things have changed.

Ken,

I trust that I have answered your question.