let us get electrified

THE NEXT GREAT SCAM

“Smart Thermal Solutions” is the title of an article I read Saturday afternoon in the magazine WSA PERFORMANCE AND SPORTS MATERIALS. It is “the international magazine for performance and spots materials”. The front page cover title for the article is “wearable electronics for warmth”. Obviously this title got my attention so it was a must read for me.

Before I go any further it should be understood that I am against any and all electrically heated garments for use on the earth. In space yes. I do not believe it is anything but dangerous to fool the human body!!!

Back in the late 1960’s I had a customer who was manufacturing gloves that were heated with two D cell batteries per glove. He was also manufacturing 12 inch high wool socks also heated with two D cell batteries per sock. One day he called and introduced himself and told me about his two products and now wanted to expand his line to include a vest and a snow suit. The heating source again was D cell batteries. How many per garment may have been 4 and the heating elements were placed a cross the back of each garment to heat the kidneys. He purchased the 8 ounce insulation that I was already selling to Raven Industries for their snow suits. I once tested the snow suit by skiing off of the summit of Mount Snow located in southern Vermont when the temperature on the summit was -60 degrees F. I was the only person to ski that day except the lift operators who were at the summit waiting for skiers who never came. I guess the skied down or possible rode the lift down. They would have been warmer skiing.

Anyway I asked my account why he needed the heating in the suit and that is when I learned it was to keep the kidneys warm. Totally unnecessary but he paid the bills and I knew he would have happy customers because when the batteries died they would not. The items were very expensive and the only customer I knew of was the original Abercrombie and Fitch in NYC.

Reality set in and in about two years he was out of business; electrically heated garments whether they are for feet or hands or the rest of the body do not work. There were others who have attempted to do the same but all ultimately have failed.

The difference that exists today is the heating mechanism it is miniaturized but regardless it still is dangerous not from shock but it offers a false sense of security.

There are 10 companies named in the article; not a one is a US company although I believe there are/is some here. Those companies mentioned in the article are either in Europe or Asia.

They create a problem by inserting their heating elements in close knitted garments as is visible in the garments pictured on models. At this time we know that close knit base layers trap all movement of vapor emitted through pores and cause a chill. These companies are now placing heating elements in the materials and when you turn on the electrical current they warm the material and the moisture before the heat gets to your skin surface. What they do not know and I am very sure they do not know that the heat is moving away from you just like the heat that your body is producing. Heat moves from the source to cold!

They have a caption prior to the start of the article that reads as follow; “Electrically powered textile heating systems for garments are programmed to deliver just the right amount of warmth and where it is needed. Mastering this simple function is far from easy, involving many different textiles, electric and electronic options, arguably making it a blueprint for next generation wearable electronics”.

Imagine they are I guess trying to make a garment that will automatically know where you are cold and respond to heating that area of your body. NONSENSE!!!

I understand having a battery in a jacket to charge a cell phone but what these companies are attempting is never going to work. They have I guess invested probably a collective of millions of dollars and I believe all for naught.

The title of the article “smart thermal solutions” when it comes to apparel is neither smart nor a solution for anything.

The following comment came to me as a response to yesterday article.

“Pretty sad. I have friends who get very angry when I speak with them about the very expensive Goretex clothing they have purchased which do not do what it claims. They seem to be embarrassed about admitting to spending a lot of money and not getting what they paid for.”

GB

I accept the reality that these companies may sell some of their product and those who by them will ultimately learn what the goretex crowd of buyers has learned. This new electrical product does not do as advertised either.

So is this going to be the next great scam?

Eskimo people had for several thousand years worn the skins of animals and survived in the very harshest of environments humans have lived in. They did not know, understand or probably care why what they wore worked so well other than the fact that the animals who originally wore it lived.

The reason these skins worked so well was because the skins allowed their body moisture to migrate through the skins. The people who have bought my leather boots have also discovered that the moisture from their feet migrates through the leather the boots are made of the end result is warm feet.

All of the companies that work at creating insulations and adaptive methods of insulation such as I have described here are oblivious to what has worked historically. The single improvement that has made it possible for humans to successfully live in these harsh cold environments today is continuous filament fiber used correctly. All of the gyrations that some people dream up will fail very successfully as will become evident in the not too distant future when they introduce these garments to the general public if they ever do and some buy them.

But they are following the pattern of hype that has preceded them in the field of making garments for use by people who go out of doors who are fooled into thinking they are getting the newest greatest ever made. As they have been disappointed with waterproof breathable and flat quilted winter jackets as well as all the close knit base layers if they wear them in active situations when the temperature is below the freezing point, they do experience the chill.

We still live in a free country so one can spend their money on whatever they want even if it is bogus. However I really hate seeing people get ripped off!