unintelligent insulation

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ SHOULD ONLY BE READ WHILE WEARING CHEST WADERS AND HAVING A SHOVEL!!!

RALPH LAUREN DEBUTS “INTELLIGENT INSULATION” TECHNOLOGY, A PIONEERING APPAREL INNOVATION DEVELOPED FOR TEAM USA'S OPENING CEREMONY PARADE UNIFORM

Published Jan 20, 2022

New York, New York – January 20, 2022 — Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) today unveiled a groundbreaking apparel and textile innovation with Intelligent Insulation – a first-to-market, sustainably-minded temperature responsive fabric that adapts to cooler temperatures by expanding and creating a layer of insulation – that will be used to outfit Team USA for the Winter Games Opening Ceremonies.

Designed with a sustainable ethos, Intelligent Insulation expands the lifespan and use of a garment that might otherwise be appropriate for only a short, seasonal time-period. For the first time, a single item of apparel can transition through three-seasons, and from indoor to outdoor environments seamlessly, eliminating the need for multiple garments.

“The development and introduction of Intelligent Insulation reimagines what is possible in the apparel landscape. For the first time, you can have a singular item that provides incredible versatility and style, for a variety of temperatures, changing the way we can holistically think about the makeup of a consumer’s closet. As a longtime partner of Team USA, Ralph Lauren is proud to continually provide innovative and purposeful apparel to the world’s best athletes,” David Lauren, Chief Branding and Innovation Officer, Ralph Lauren.

Building on the Company’s ongoing commitment to investing in, developing and progressing revolutionary innovations in apparel, Ralph Lauren partnered with textile innovation company, Skyscrape, to bring the technology to market for Team USA’s Opening Ceremony Parade Uniform.

The Intelligent Insulation technology adapts to changes in air temperature around the wearer without the use of battery-powered or ‘wired’ technology. The fabric itself is comprised of two separate materials that expand or contract at different rates in response to temperature changes. As temperatures drop, the lengths of the two materials change differently causing the textile to constrict and bend – creating channels in the fabric structure to increase the amount of insulation provided by the garment. The state-of-art technology developed by Skyscrape required years of research and development, including the creation of bespoke machines and a proprietary production process that was initially supported by ARPA-E in the United States Department of Energy.

If there is “intelligent insulation,” that suggests to me that there is unintelligent or stupid insulation. It is amazing to me the lengths some companies will go to, to sell their product.

Being “intelligent insulation”, it must be awfully expensive because these coats cost [I hope you are sitting] $1992.00 each. I guess Ralph sr. or jr. believe by putting the Ralph Lauren label on a jacket they can sell it for any price, even though it can’t perform as advertised.

Since you cannot find a schematic on the internet showing how it works it does not matter to me. what they are claiming is impossible. The channels must be filled wit something to hold them apart. Air will not suffice. Something like the Lamilite would be needed to fill the spaces. So, there is nothing to trap the body heat as Lamilite does.

I have been in the textile industry for 60 years and have yet to hear, read let-a-lone see fabrics that are capable of expanding or contracting differently depending upon temperature change. However, when I review all of the previous incredible developments of insulations for outer wear that were supposed to be “smart” versus “intelligent” that proved to be stupid because they didn’t work, I am quite sure this “intelligent insulation” will prove to be equally stupid, and that would be a term applied to anyone who actually bought one of these coats.

The dream of all outerwear makers is to make a garment that will be capable of working in all seasons that necessitate a jacket. Is such a garment possible, yes, only in dreams, not now nor ever in reality!

I thought I had heard it all with regards to insulations until now. What I do now understand is that people with absolutely zero knowledge of insulation and how it works in concert with other materials exist. These people get an unintelligent idea [they think intelligent] and pursue the unintelligent and once they have created said product, they venture forth without any knowledge of what they have done. But in the case of the so called “intelligent insulation” they get with a well known company who in this case I suspect donated the garments to the Olympic team so they could show case the product or maybe the US Deptment of Energy paid for them.

After all is said and done in my opinion there is possibly a new product on the market beyond rl that has been created by and offered for sale in product that comes from the unintelligent.