still one more bogus insulation

“WANNABE” INSULATION

Once you get all of the information about a product you can make a rational decision about its ability to do the job it is represented to do.

I will be examining this product and offering my thoughts on it. However, I do believe it is not any different in its ability to perform than Primaloft, Thinsulate, or any other chopped staple fiberfill product that is available these days.

POLARTEC TO LAUNCH POWER FILL FABRIC

Polartec will launch Polartec Power Fill in fall of 2017. The fabric technology contains insulation that rounds out the company’s range of temperature-regulating performance fabrics.

Fabrics do not regulate temperature. All companies that state such nonsense should be stayed away from.

Polartec Power Fill is a soft and pliable matrix of spun polyester yarns engineered with a proprietary hollow fiber construction that is softer and more durable, forming thousands of air pockets that continuously capture and contain body heat, while maintaining a resilient, equalized thermal layer between the colder air on the outside and the warmer temperatures on the inside.

What Polartec has done in creating this product on the surface seems to be quite a manufacturing feat similar to bonding down so quilting is not needed! In the case of down it is bonded so its soft feel is compromised. In the case of the Polartec product it must be quilted even though it is configured with yarn versus chopped staple fiberfill. As for its “air pockets” there is no difference in this product than all other insulating materials made from fibers. The question is for how long will it keep the warm air contained, my opinion for not very long at all.

A controlled melt process bonds the hollow fibers, increasing durability and drapability, eliminating the need for scrims or other stabilizers. This gives power fill unmatched warmth and design versatility for a wide range of styles and usage occasions. The polyester fiber’s inherent hydrophobic properties also work to ensure that Polartec Power Fill resists moisture absorption and dries quickly, while maintaining a high warmth to weight ratio.

Hollow fibers mean nothing and applying a low melt binder fiber to keep the fibers together is partially true. When I spoke with a representative at Polartec I said since the fiber does not need a “scrim or other stabilizer” it therefore does not need to be quilted. The response was “yes” it does need to be quilted. That being the case it does need a scrim which is necessary to make it easier to cut and sew as well as for launder-ability. As for it being hydrophobic, all polyester fiber is hydrophobic but when you quilt it you create areas when the moisture gets trapped which does have an impact on its insulating ability because you are reducing the thickness of the batting. By bringing the fibers closer to each other eliminating much of the air spaces that existed before quilting which is significant.

Made with 80 percent post-consumer recycled content, power fill insulation technology provides greater warmth retention in colder conditions, without added weight or bulk.

Post-consumer recycled polyester fiber does not have any more warmth capability than new polyester fiber, so the statement is erroneous. I am very sure it is impossible to see or feel the difference between virgin polyester and polyester fiber made from recycled polyester.

“We’re proud to deliver an insulation technology to our customers that enables the design of better products with Polartec premium quality,” said Polartec CEO Gary Smith. “Polartec created the category of active insulation with our industry leading range of alpha temperature regulating product offerings, and now power fill continues with innovative fill solutions for the coldest conditions.”

Gary Smith must be very young to believe that Polartec fabrics are the out door industries leading range of active insulations. This is so far from truth it is amazing to me. Polyester battings have been used since 1960 in various weights for various temperatures and various activities. The first Polartec product did not appear on the market until about 1980 plus or minus 2 years. To further state that this innovative fill is a “fill solutions for the coldest conditions” is farcical. I find it remarkable that the CEO takes pride in speaking so highly about an insulation material without facts to support the conversation. I for one would like to know where the garments made with this batting material have been used, by whom, where and at what temperatures. However, I did write to the representative asking for a temperature guide; see below the actual email exchange. After all the CEO states “for the coldest conditions”, so I thought it is a fair question to ask what they believe these condition are.

Tommy

Glad you wrote this morning.

I was going to write to you asking if you had temperature guide lines for the different weights when used in jackets.

Thank you.

Hi Jerry,

Good Morning!

We do not associate the insulation with a particular temperature because how it holds up in that respect depends more on how it is used than the insulation itself... you could pair it with heavy liners and have it hold up a lower temp than if it were light and breathable liners – make sense?

What we do offer is a CLO rating and you can find that right on the tech sheets I had sent over... CLO is the ability of a fabric to retain warmth...

Hope this makes sense – Tommy

The following I did not write to him, other than to say “thank you”. His comment does not make any sense. Also, since Polartec has so much interaction with Natick they should have known that a clo rating just shows the difference between one thickness of insulation versus another that is thinner or thicker and nothing more. That is what Natick has written to me. The use of temperature rating in FAHRENHEIT is never considered. Why because they at Polartec as well as every other company that likes to use clo (a designation that has no value) are afraid to offer any actual temperature ratings. The published clo ratings for each of the four weights of the “power fill” batting is as follows; 1.8 ounce per square yard (psy) is 0.80 which is equal to 82 degrees F; The 2.4 ounce psy is 1.3 which is equal to 79 degrees F; The 3.0 ounces psy is equal to 77 degrees F; and the 4 ounce psy is equal to73 degrees F.

The clo rating I took from the specification sheet they sent to me. The conversion to temperature sheet I usedto compare is I believe from Kansas State Universities Environmental division.

When I compare the Lamilite when the weight is almost equal as in the case of the L-6 Lamilite it calculates to a weight of 4.8 ounces per square yard and the clo rating conversion chart shows the clo at a temperature of 35 degrees F. (However L-6 Lamilite is used in the Barron Grounds parka which I rate to 0 degrees F.)

The CEO states that this insulation is for use and I quote once again “for the coldest conditions” .TRUTH is the recognition of reality; AYN RAND in her discussion in “The Arbitrary as Neither True nor False”. Gary Smith is simply not telling the truth when he makes statements of this nature. Simply put he does not know what he is talking about. To add insult to injury this material is very expensive, and if I figured correctly the cost is $9.60 per pound. It is very easy for me to make a far superior insulating material using the least expensive polyester fiber that would cost me about $1.60 per pound, it too would have to be quilted.

Below is an actual picture of their product as taken from their web site. I just love the arrows and spots to show the movement of air, hot or old.

I have for all the years that I have used continuous filament fiberfill starting when it was first manufactured in 1968 tried to educate the many manufacturers that did exist in the USA at that time. I unfortunately was not very successful in that endeavor.

Years later, when I became a manufacturer selling my laminated non-quilted sleeping bags to retail stores, when I owned the Olam Company no longer in existence, I had a hard time selling them. Why, because my bags were not quilted like all of the other synthetic bags made by these same companies that would not buy the laminated product from me. They too refused to accept getting an education.When I started Wiggy’s I became a mail order company and realized the benefit of my labors because people wanted a product that worked and if there was no quilt stitching nobody cared. Today I am the largest and in my opinion only quality sleeping bag manufacturer in the world.

That said I have tried to sell the Lamilite to any company that makes outerwear because it is superior to all other chopped staple fiberfill used by outerwear companies for the past 40 years. The companies that sell outerwear to retail stores in the USA have made for them all their garments in Asia primarily and will not ship my product to those factories. The powers to be running these companies are only concerned with the bottom line and will continue to use the least expensive chopped staple fibers they can find or a product that has a significant advertising budget and I expect that Polartec is going to offer them just that. They are following the lead of Primaloft or 3-M’s Thinsulate. These major companies have in my opinion absolutely no concern for the consumers of their products.

Maybe one day the companies that get products made since none has its own factory these days and they will use a product that actually does what the manufacturer says it will do. As I have said before when looking for an outerwear garment BUYER BEWARE, because there are many charlatans out there. And remember every chopped staple fiberfill product used in outerwear does not perform and this new product is made from a matrix of yarns and does not have much loft to it, so it will not perform any better.