associations

ASSOCIATIONS

I receive SECIALTY FABRICS REVIEW each month and the September issue is interesting. They have an article about some products made to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Apollo 13 safe return to earth. The company making this stuff is Rumpl. They are located in Portland, Oregon. That is the headquarters. I doubt that they have a factory there or for that matter in the USA. They do not have a phone number published on their web site nor do they say if the products are made in the USA or imported. I believe there is a law saying you have to say that. REI, L.L.Bean and other large mail order companies comply.

Anyway, this company is showing 3 quilted items with the NASA logo and American flag on them recognizing the trip. They are associating their company with NASA in order to sell these products as commemoratives items I assume. They have installed as insulation what I learned from their web site with “nanoloft”. It is a very cheap polyester fiberfill. 50 years ago, this company did not exist 50 years ago. However, nanoloft did exist only we called it unbranded polyester fiber because there were companies like Du Pont who sold branded fiber for fiber fill called Dacron 88. The cost was 3 times higher for the branded product.

I guess NASA will sell their logo to who ever wants to pay the price. It does not matter if the products are made in Asia so NASA does not support their own country. Of course, rumpl also choses to get product made for them offshore, so they too do not support the country the sell their products in. Should this surprise me? I’ll let you answer that question.

When you read the information about the company you learn nothing about their form of insulation because they never had any knowledge of insulation to begin with but they dreamt up a name to convey an image of insulation. They have done what others have done before them so they make an association with NASA.

FACE MASKS

The same publication is showing more face masks that now are compared to the N95 claiming to be better, they have one made with transparent materials for more efficient speaking. Good if you are also a lip reader. Face masks and equipment to make them is now very much an industry.

We make them, one style that is in my opinion the best on the market. Aside from keeping everything out it is durable, meaning it can be washed who knows how many times, we never have tested them to get a third party opinion but some that I have read about will go about 100 washings, probably not if used and washed versus the laboratory.

There is a market for millions which we will not see, so we are satisfied with people who want the best.