bastardization

BASTARDIZE; to lower in condition or worth; debase:

Various companies have for years have entered into the field of insulation with the exception of Climashield these companies have failed to make a product that actually works. The Climashield product is made of continuous filament fiber and used properly as we use it at Wiggy’s it outperforms all products that preceded it in the industry and those that have come along for as long as the Climashield product has been made and I believe nothing in the future will replace it, of this I am quite sure.

I have copied and pasted three articles about so called insulations that are bastardizations of insulation.

Thermore Introduces Freedom Stretch Insulation

March 13, 2024

SGB Today

by SGB Media

The Thermore Group debuted the brand’s most “dynamic stretch insulation in its five decades of innovation”—Freedom.

In my early years of being in the insulation business I was selling to skiwear manufacturers. And being a skier myself I learned that ski jackets had to be lose fitting to allow for all of the movements that you generated skiing. I also learned that the insulation had to stretch or give so it would not break away at the seams of the garment. The result of my learning how polyester fiber fill insulation performed in an active ski garment was that it had a stretch factor.

Freedom, made from 50 percent post-consumer recycled polyester, offers “ground-breaking stretch” while providing warmth across many uses, including alpine sports, running, golf, commuter, fish & hunt, cycling, and other active pursuits.

Dynamometer testing shows that the insulation, which comes in four levels of warmth, ranging from 60 to 150 grams per square meter, has “incredible elasticity and recovers to 100 percent of its pre-stretch size.”

Thermore noted in a release that the brand’s Freedom insulation “adds a higher level of comfort and functionality than previously attainable in the stretch category.”

Freedom insulation is GRS-certified, machine washable and/or dry cleanable and “design-friendlyfor product developers with high fiber migration resistance.”

Thermore introduced recycled fibers in the 1980s and has “mastered” the technology.

The only thing they have mastered is bastardizing the product they call insulation.

Based in Milan, Italy, the company specializes in researching, developing, producing and marketing thermal insulation for performance apparel. Thermore caters to outerwear industry brands through its global sales network and production facilities in Asia and Europe. The company is focused on sustainable innovation, using post-consumer waste, including PET bottles.

All of the rest of the article is of no value. Their product is made from chopped staple fiberfill that was made obsolete when continuous filament fiberfill came to the market. By the way Lamilite does stretch and recover far better than chopped staple ever could.

They do not have a product of any value.

Performance Days launch for 3M’s most lightweight insulation product

12/03/2024

Materials developer 3M will present a new functional fabric product, its Thinsulate Light series, at Performance Days in Munich on March 20 and 21.

This new series, the company said in the build-up to the event, is the most lightweight insulation product in its portfolio.

All 3m has ever made is bastardize products loosely called insulation in their portfolio. From what I know about their products from their inception into the marketplace is light weight and ineffective.

Asia-Pacific sales manager for 3M, Totti Liang, said: “Our developments with the insulation line of products is a testament to an unending focus on enhancing performance while building thinner, more versatile textiles.”

With a thickness of only 4 millimetres, the new series still provides “exceptional warmth and wash durability”, the company said.

Here we have the most outrageous use of the word insulation when you are describing a material that is “4 millimeters”. I looked at my caliper to see how thick 4 millimeters is and converted it to inches 0.15748031, any manufacturer who uses this product for a jacket claiming that it is an insulated garment would be an out and out liar.

On the opening day of Performance Days, Totti Liang will provide a talk entitled, ‘3M’s Science for Circularity in the Textile Market’.

Brands take up new PrimaLoft insulation options

08/03/2024

Filler material developer PrimaLoft has expanded its synthetic down alternative portfolio with two new high-performance insulations, ThermoPlume+ and Rise Loose Fill.

Among the first to use the new materials in finished garments are brands including adidas TERREX, Rab and Nike. Their collections for autumn-winter 2024-2025 include products with the new insulation products.

“Performance brands appreciate the products’ durability, packability and top thermal performance, even in wet conditions,” said PrimaLoft senior vice-president for -02 + product strategy, Tara Maurer-Mackey. “Partners are drawn to our synthetic down alternatives by the down-like hand feel, luxurious puffiness, sustainability and animal welfare considerations. Across categories, brands value the design flexibility and ease of manufacturing our loose fill options provide.”

Since the inception of primaloft from Albany International in or about 1984 they have referred to their polyester fiberfill product as a “synthetic alternative to down”. in April 1984, a report was published for the U.S. Natick Army Res., Development, Engineering Center titled Development of Synthetic Down Alternative.

The report was put together by three employees of Albany International.

What I find interesting is that they used polyester fiberfill for testing that had been in use for insulation in place of down since 1960 when I first entered into the fiberfill business. So, Albany International has taken responsibility of developing what had existed for 24 years. And Natick was complicit in accepting that they created an alternative to down which the U.S. Army was already using in sleeping bags, field jacket liners, and I believe cold weather parkas called “snorkel parkas” because of how the hood was made so it could snorkel away from the face to protect it when the wind blew.

Years later Albany sold off the primaloft product division probably because it was a losing proposition [my opinion]. The new company was called Primaloft Inc. and the new ownership was a very smart marketer. He put the primaloft into numerous manufacturers but it still didn't doesn't work but he was capable of marketing the company. He sold off the company years later.

All the while each of these companies has acted to “BASTARDIZE; to lower in condition or worth; debase:” what insulation is.

In my educated opinion having worked in the insulation business in manufacturing insulation, in pioneering the lamination of fiberfill and finally in the manufacturing of finished products such as sleeping bags, outerwear, footwear and handwear these companies have lowered the condition and performance worth of what they are marketing as insulation.