With the arrival of winter farmers will be looking to purchase clothing to protect against the wind, rain and cold. But how can those working in agriculture be sure the garments they buy are capable of protecting them from the winter weather and demanding agricultural conditions.
To evaluate the performance of their products Dickies has embarked on a programme of scientific testing of the most popular lines from their workwear range.
Richard Chilcott, Dickies Managing Director, explains: "At Dickies we regularly evaluate our workwear range to ensure it can withstand the tough conditions for which it's designed," he said. "Many of our products have been favourably reviewed in leading trade publications after being tested in real working conditions. Commissioning scientific testing of our core products is the latest stage in this appraisal."
To carry out the tests Dickies chose the SATRA Technology Centre, the world's leading independent research organisation for consumer goods industries. A Fieldtex Jacket for foul weather protection was among the first batch of garments sent for testing. The Fieldtex Jacket was tested for resistance to abrasion, water and oil penetration, and dimensional stability to washing.
The Martindale abrasion test is the internationally accepted standard for determining how well a fabric withstands wear from repeated mild abrasion. The results obtained were excellent. The Fieldtex Jacket easily met SATRA's recommendation, sustaining only moderate wear following 30,000 revolutions in dry conditions.
The water repellency test involves drops of water and various water/alcohol mixtures (creating different viscosities) being placed onto the surface of the fabric. A similar test using different drops of oil was also carried out to ascertain the oil repellency. From the test results SATRA concluded the Fieldtex Jacket had excellent repellency to both water and oil.
The assess the garment's dimensional stability through washing, the jacket is machine washed according to the manufacturer's instructions and allowed to dry naturally. Once again the Feildtex Jacket passed with flying colours recording a shrinkage or growth figure of much less than 1%, with no noticeable change in colour.
The Fieldtex Jacket is available unlined or with a warm quilted lining. For tough foul weather protection, it has to be Dickies. For further information on the complete Fieldtex range call 01761 410041 or visit www.dickies-uk.co.uk
