Recent advancements in fabrics and styles are challenging conventional wisdom.
Flame-retardant and arc-resistant protective clothing has been commonly used in the United States for nearly thirty years. For most of that time, it was seen as heavy, stiff, itchy, and/or airtight-in short, uncomfortable, which is understandable. And ugly. It looks, feels, washes or wears nothing like ordinary clothes. As a result, many people do not want to wear it correctly as required, or in many cases, they refuse to wear FRC at all. This leads to a large number of problems, including a lower safety and satisfaction workforce, lower compliance, more internal headaches and management issues, and a lower cost/benefit ratio. Sound familiar?
But recently, major advances in flame-retardant fibers, fabrics, clothing styles and brands have changed the rules of the game. Now, in terms of comfort and appearance, many new options are no different from ordinary clothing.
What is comfort? You may be surprised by some of the factors that influence a person's decision to make clothes comfortable. Clothing comfort is "a state of satisfaction for the wearer", including the balance of psychological, physical, and physical characteristics. It varies from person to person, even from day to day. The first category—psychological characteristics—may be unexpected, but understanding the problem and its impact on satisfaction may be the key to opening a whole new door for comfortable and happy wearers.
It is important to understand the difference between what most people think of driving comfort and actual effect, and psychological attributes account for the largest share of this difference. Public perception usually ranks weight, breathability and feel (softness) as the top three; however, the reality is that brand, style, appearance and fit are the most important factors. Among them, none are fabric characteristics, only fit is physical characteristics; the rest are psychological problems. We are attracted by the brands and/or styles we like before we feel the fabrics, test the fit, and then make a purchase decision.
This article was originally published in the March 2019 Occupational Health and Safety Journal.
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