educating the youth of the industry cannot happen

The following quote is from an article I read in a textile magazine “Textile Insight Magazine” May/June 2020 Issue. The author of the article is “By Formula4 Staff”.

“How to keep warm in cold weather has challenged the best and the brightest in the business over the decades, inspiring advances in insulation materials, strategic layering, engineered fibers and smart yarns. In 2020, the hunt for winter-worthy performance comes in the form of intriguing tech and testing developments.”

What you have just read is the opening paragraph of the article. Further investigation shows that the author “formula4 is actually three people; Jeff Nott, Sam Salvaggio, and Kate O’Donohue. Is it possible all three contributed; YES! I am sure this is a case of the blind leading the blind of the uneducated in the field of insulation for outerwear and sleeping bags.

Obviously the best and the brightest in the industry are not so bright. Those in the business over the decades I can categorically state did not inspire any advances in insulating materials. There was down which can only be used in one application of manufacturing, quilting it. Then there is polyester fiber which comes in two configurations; chopped staple fiber and continuous filament fiber. The only advance that took place was when a machine was built to take continuous filament fiber and make it into a batting. So, these three staff writers have no foundation of knowledge of insulations.

To further show their ignorance what do they mean by saying the following and I quote; “strategic layering, engineered fibers, and smart yarns.” Do they know that the only fiberfill product made for insulation purposes is continuous filament fiberfill? No of course not, why? because they do not have a foundation of knowledge in the field of insulation. The way that chopped staple fiberfill is made and has been since 1960 does not allow for layering. “Engineered fibers” for insulation purposes does not exist today, it did in the 1960’s when Du Pont, Celanese and Eastman Chemical were competing with each other. Since these companies are long removed from the fiberfill business what is left is Asian produced fiber used to make chopped staple battings, probably mostly in China I suspect. There are woven and knitted fabrics made from yarns, how did they get smart? They didn’t and there are no smart yarns that I know of used to make insulation.

This further shows their ignorance of insulations.

And to further point out their lack of knowledge there is no “winter worthy performance (that) comes in the form of intriguing tech and? testing developments.” Intriguing tech, what does that mean? they do not know but maybe someone they interviewed used the words so they thought they sounded good so they have used them. There are no “testing developments” of note and of course what does it mean? BLANK

Reality is reality, A=A. These people are young I suspect and therefore they may have been told by people older than them who have no knowledge of the subject themselves what they imagine insulation does and because they have failed and they pass on failed insulation “knowledge”. This is not new, as I have observed it and written about it for years. These people that were interviewed who have been failures avoid reality, they want A to equal B and of course that cannot happen.

If those wanting to make insulated products want an insulating medium (a material used between two other materials) that has attributes that do not exist with any other material referred to as insulation you want continuous filament fiberfill known as Climashield or Lamilite. Made in the USA, all other products for years have been made in China and they do not work.

ATTRIBUTES

You stay warm in Lamilite insulated garments and sleeping bags

You stay dry in Lamilite insulated products

You can wash Lamilite insulated products as often as you want

You can compress Lamilite insulated products

When you put on a Lamilite product or get into a Lamilite sleeping bag the product hugs you

There are no other insulations that have these attributes, nor will anyone ever develop an insulating medium that has them.

The youth of the industry leave everything to be desired today.