Innova®, Polartec® ProvideSevere Weather ProtectionInnova®, a polyolefin yarn manufactured by American Fibers and Yarns Co. (AF and Y), Chapel Hill, N.C., and Polartec® fabric, manufactured by Malden Mills Industries Inc., Lawrence, Mass., are being used in the military’s Extended Cold Weather Clothing System (ECWCS), a five-layer clothing system for use in extreme environments such as those in Afghanistan, Alaska and Bosnia.”Innova yarn is used in the base layer of the ECWCS because of its moisture-management, insulative and quick-drying properties, all essential elements of a protective clothing system’s skin contact layer,” said Mike Apperson, president and CEO, AF and Y.Malden Mills recently secured federal funding to supply Polartec products and research and development services to the US military for use in the ECWCS.The funding wiIl allow the company to develop rugged textile electronic garments for combat wear.Sensors in the garments will monitor respiration, pulse rate, skin temperature and blood pressure. Data will be transmitted via discrete antennae to medics behind the front lines. Development partners include Foster-Miller, Waltham, Mass.; Exponent, Irvine, Calif.; and Eastern Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.December 2002
