Armadillo Merino® saving your skin
Armadillo Merino® is distributed globally to police officers by specialist distributors. For more information, contact us at: andy@armadillomerino.com
Photos of an Italian policeman with significant burns have appeared in the media following the recent highway tanker explosion near Bologna on 7 August 2018. (See here) . The officer was providing emergency rescue assistance and was caught in a secondary explosion which inflicted severe burns to his body from the melting, dripping synthetic material. The melted garment is shown below.
Our sympathy and thoughts are with the Italian policeman. This incident also highlights the dangerous decision making within uniform procurement of specifying polyester uniforms and in particular next-to-skin layers, when they know that the users are likely to face dangerous and potentially life threatening situations.
The next-to-skin garments are your last line of defense against heat and flames so the performance properties garments need to be looked at more closely to prevent unnecessary injuries or potential loss of lives.
To understand the current thinking, we tried to understand why a police officer would be issued with synthetic next-to-skin uniforms:
It "wicks" sweat: Wicking is a marketing term commonly used by synthetic clothing brands. There is widespread belief that synthetic based materials move moisture better than fabrics made with natural fibres. This is factually incorrect. To understand this concept you need to understand how a synthetic garment "wicks" mositure:
Worn by pro-athletes: The Pro's are paid to wear the garments. The sports field environment where a pro-athlete is using the garment is very different from that of a servicing officer.
Cost: One cannot talk about why users wear synthetics base layers without mentioning cost. Yes synthetic garments cost less, but how much is the cost of reparation from just one burn victim. What is your skin worth to you should you be caught in an volatile situation? Cost is a poor justification as the argument does not consider the potentially life changing implications of being caught in the bad situation. Outfitting police officers in synthetic garments that melt or drip could be negligent.
Moving forward, accepting that the outer layer is likely to be a synthetic fibre blend then the last line of defense, your next to skin layer, becomes vitally important. Potentially this garment is the only defense preventing burns from melting, dripping fabrics.
There are multiple reasons, but we will focus on three major ones:
Armadillo Merino® fibre has natural flame resistance properties that make this fibre suitable for use in base layer clothing. The flame retardant properties are due to the wool fibres unique chemical structure (high nitrogen content (14%) combined with a high relative moisture content) which delivers the following benefits:
A comparison of Merino fibre with other important textile fibres, demonstrates superior performance across virtually all parameters measured.
Another advantage of merino wool is
that it offers a level of thermal protection such as heat from the outside. In the same way that merino wool helps to keep you warm when it is cold it also helps to keep some of the heat out. This is particularly important when using FR overalls as they stop the flame but be less effective in preventing thermal transfer. By adding a merino base layer under the FR coveralls you can significantly increase the user comfort and protection.
See our video below showing how different fabrics burn.
Police protected while training under molotov attacks by wearing FR coveralls combined with Armadillo Merino® base layers.
Wool helps reduce sweat and odour keeping you drier, cleaner and perhaps more importantly to your mates, less smelly. Body odour is the result of bacteria buildup on the skin and in your clothing. One of the key factors contributing to the build-up of bacteria and body odour is sweat on the skin surface. Sweat does not have any odour, however when the sweat remains on the skin for a period of time the bacteria build up which generates the body odour. Keep the skin dryer and you will produce less odour.
Add to this that bacteria doesn't naturally grow on merino garments, so you will have less smell. No more day-old cotton t-shirt smell! You can wear our merino wool t-shirts for days on end in summer and they wont smell - ever!
An important function of your base layer is to help provide thermoregulation. When you get hot, it needs to move the sweat away from your skin and when it is cold it needs to provide insulation to help keep you warm. If you are sweating then stand in a cold environment then your base layer becomes increasingly important as it may be wet with sweat but it still needs to keep you warm.
What is unique about Armadillo Merino base layers is their ability to move the sweat away from your skin in a vapor state. We call this the breathability of merino and it leaves your skin drier while you sweat in a vapour state.
Secondly merino can absorb up to 30% of its weight in moisture before it feels wet, once again leaving your skin drier. Before a synthetic base layer can start to wick the sweat away your skin must be wet with sweat and the fabric must also be saturated. Wet skin and wet fabric will leave you feeling cold and clammy.
A final reason why merino is a great base layer is felt when the air is cold, Merino keeps you warm by trapping small pockets of air within its fibres and this continues to work even when the fabric is wet. When it is warm the same fibres will help to whisk moisture away from your skin so it can evaporate back into the water cycle!
The combination of these features means less overheating, less sweat, and less chilling producing a more comfortable base layer for police officers on the job.
In conclusion, we believe this is a really important issue for police leaders and procurement managers to be discussing. They need to reconsider what fibres/fabrics are used for baselayer garments towards enhancing the levels of safety, performance and comfort of their officers especially the specialist teams operating in high risk environments.
Look after yourself and your team this summer. You only get one chance to get it right so invest wisely.
Armadillo Merino® saving your skin
Armadillo Merino® is distributed globally to police officers by specialist distributors. For more information, contact us at: andy@armadillomerino.com
