response to the nike article and other thoughts

RESPONSE TO MY REPRINT OF THE NIKE ARTICLE

The following came from a long-time customer and reader.

Harry Truman liked to say, “The only things new in the world are the history you don’t know!”

It seems, unless I’m mistaken, that Nike has forgotten history. If I’m correct, I recall that in the late 60s/early seventy’s Bogner made all sorts of claims about the insulated ski clothing they were making using needle-punching. The gimmick was supposed to be that the needle-punching created an infinite amount of surface for dead air to be trapped, hence the garments would be much warmer. I think Bogner (actually a pretty decent/high-end German company at the time)gave up after several years on needle-punching, so they discovered it didn’t work as promoted. All the best, John Conley

John thank you as your comment made me think of what was back then.

When I started selling fiberfill insulation to the skiwear manufacturers in the USA during the 1960’s I was the king pin because the company I represented made the best fiberfill batting in the country. Selling the best has never been hard for me. Then my competition introduced the needle punch batting because it would drape much better than the high loft batting, I sold.

Since skiwear became a fashion item and the skiwear manufacturers had no knowledge of insulation, they were sold a bill of goods that lasted for about three years. When these manufacturers got word from their retail customers, people their customers, were cold things changed back to the loftier battings and down parkas grew in sales. People wanted to stay warm especially when they were on the lifts, and they learned that loftier garments meant warmth. However, today the skiwear sold in the USA made in Asia is low loft quilted polyester or down so the skiers are back again to being cold if they can afford to go skiing if snow falls. I have already read that at the least one ski area in New Mexico in the Skandia mountains will not open for the second year.

Back to needle punch material, it may work as a clothing item that is cheap because the material is cheap to make and the cutting and sewing of garments a cheap unlined construction. The unlined construction does not relate to poor quality sewing but a fast method of construction. Anyone who owns our liner vest or liner jacket can see that they are of an unlined construction. This is one reason that we can keep the price of these product low. We use the same construction for the manufacture of our Lamilite socks.

There are two methods of constructing needle punch batting. The first is to form a fiberfill web and feed it under a needle board. The needles in the board are unique, they are lined up about ¼” apart with one row having barbs pointing down and a second row pointing up. So as the fiber passes under the board the fibers are tangled into each other. The result is an exceptionally soft not strong material unless it is very thick such as a layer put under carpeting. Certainly not acceptable for use as a garment fabric.

The second method is to feed the fiber through the same web making machine feeding it onto a substrate which is a non-woven material. Now the fibers are not only tangled into each other but through the substrate which adds substantial strength. This material can be made strong enough to be used as a fabric unto itself. The closest material I can point out made this way for garments is what is called wool Melton used for the old-style navy p-coats.

I am surprised that none of the geniuses or those who claim to be geniuses in the fiberfill for insulation business like the primaloft crew haven’t offered a needle punch fiberfill product. Strength wise it would be an improvement over what they sell now and have been since the late 1980’s. Insulation wise it is equally as poor a product as the rest of what they sell. But that shouldn’t stop them since what they currently sell isn’t any good as an insulator.

The other day I saw that ll bean is selling a summer weight form of a sleeping bag that uses primaloft that has in some manor incorporated the most wonderous of materials on earth for insulation “aerogel” and they refer to it as the “next generation of insulation.” I can only assume that some of the ll bean customer base is fooled because ll bean wouldn’t continue to sell the product if it didn’t sell. Of course, the ll bean marketing people in my op[inion do not care what they are selling if they do not check out the technical information that they are being told by the marketing people employed at primaloft. This is a perfect example of the blind leading the blind, but the relationship between ll bean and primaloft goes back to the 1990’s and their successes have as far as I know been failures. Had the primaloft insulation[?] not been a failure in their line of “no sleep sleeping “ bags they would have continued to use it. So, now they are trying again with the aerogel blended product. I suspect it will not be available next year.

In any event needle punch polyester fiber is not a good product regardless of the use.

I also noted that ll bean sells sleeping bags that have lining and shell fabrics made of polyester fabric. As I have written in the past polyester fabric is a combustible material and most of what they get from Asian manufactured bags made for them or from companies like nemo and probably other brands are in my opinion accidents waiting to happen. I suspect that the military is also buying no sleep sleeping bags made with polyester fabrics. The reason is simple, the cost for polyester fabrics is 20 percent lower than nylon fabrics, nylon is not combustible. See the video I made titled “Wiggy’s no burn” on my u tube channel.

I just thought about the fact that shoe companies at one time or maybe even now use a needle punch padding on the inside of the tongue of men’s shows, so maybe that is where they got the idea about needle punch, geniuses.