Bergloff 1

Ben Bergloff

Mrs. Gatfield

British Lit

3 May 2019

Testing Jackets Matters - How do companies test their jackets for real-life work?

Have you been in a place where you had to buy a jacket for an outdoor activity where you

did not want to restricted from movement or to be too cold, or too hot? Body temperature is very

important for us. A article from Mons Winter Gear Box says, “The purpose of clothing is to

ensure that the proper body temperature is maintained according to the intensity of the work that

is being carried out” (Mons 1). Jackets “should insulate from the cold and offer protection

against wind, rain, and snow. It should also provide the possibility for ventilation so that if

required, surplus heat may be released” (Mons). To end this is showing that body temperature is

very important when it comes to jackets giving warmth.

Today there are many outdoor recreational activities, and many of these activities require

warmth for your body. For example, activities such as snowboarding, ice climbing, and

backpacking require warmth, yet must be functional for different levels of experience and

rigorous activity. Outdoor recreational enthusiasts need to choose their jacket based on needed

functionality, weather conditions, and their activity level. Jacket manufacturers need to test their

products in order to provide their customers with the products that meet their customers’ needs.
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In order to fulfill customer needs, Jacket manufacturers test the quality of their jackets by using

artificial lab methods and real-world field trial scenarios.

To begin with, companies such as North Face and Eddie Bauer need to prove quality and

durability with their products, so that they must meet needed functionality and weather durability

standards. These companies test with major experiments and put their products to their limits for

consumer purchasing. In the North Face lab they “place a one-inch by one-inch square tube over

the fabric to measure how much water the fabric can stand before it leaks.” North Face also does

some pressure testing to simulate wind to see if their jackets can withstand Earth's wind (The

North Face 2). Gore-Tex, a company partnered with North Face, provides waterproof fabric for

their jackets. They do some major laboratory testing with their fabric. Gore-Tex does a series of

tests such as, “The Comfort Test,” “The Rain Room,” “ The Cold Flex Test” and “The

Martindale Test (Gore-Tex 4-7) These series of tests will determine if their products can

withstand the conditions of Mother Nature. To start off with the comfort test,

“Comfort is the state in which were neither too warm nor too cold when there’s a balance

between the heat we produce and the heat we lose. We compare laboratory measurements

with personal feelings of comfort from our testers. This ensures the best possible comfort

for a wide range of activities and conditions” (Gore-Tex 7).

This test is showing that they are testing the products on a person and doing some major testing

with flexibility and comfort. Next is the “Rain Room.”

“Our very own weather machine. This sophisticated testing facility is designed to

simulate a wide variety of rain conditions. Using specially engineered rain nozzles
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strategically positioned in the chamber, we test a garment waterproof design in conditions

that range from light drizzle to wind-driven rain” (Gore-Tex 6).

This test is showing that engineers are making mock rain and testing it to make sure that the

fabric is water resistant or waterproof. Lastly, Gore-Tex is showing that they do some hardcore

testing in other company's products with the help of their testing facilities. Gore-Tex has put

millions of dollars in their testing abilities and labs, and they want to ensure that companies

products can withstand environmental conditions in all places.

In addition to Gore-Tex, a company called Prevention, also known as (testing one, two

and three), They have a team of lab techs and they test many, many products, and not just

jackets. For one of their tests, they were testing jackets in August in one of the hottest days of the

year. They “set to test several dozen winter jackets to determine which ones really perform in

below freezing temperatures. Finding the right location,without shipping half the staff to

Antarctica, proved a challenge. But our resourceful we test it team came up with just the place.”

They came up with an ice freezer to test the jackets to see if the jackets can withstand the

freezing temperatures of the ice color. To wrap up we see how companies took the jackets and

put them to the test with artificial lab testing to see if the jackets can withstand elements of life.

As a result of this, we see how labs test their jackets and how it's very important to test because

consumers want the best out of the best jackets out there as possible.

We see that lab testing is very beneficial to companies however we also recognize that

jacket companies want to test their jackets in the real world to see if the jacket can withstand

elements of life. For example, North Face has done their own testing with their jackets that deals

with some famous outdoor enthusiasts. North Face athlete Victor De Le Rue, is a major
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snowboarder but he also tests jackets for North Face to make sure that their jackets can withstand

the snow and wind when going down a mountain.

The owner of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, said that all products get passed by him before

production. The way he tests the product to see if they can withstand nature's elements, he takes

jackets to different parts of “Europe to climb or south america to fish” (Chouinard 2) to test the

Patagonia products. Patagonia made some very great points on how their jackets gets passed by

testing and gets to production for consumer buying. Lastly, Eddie Bauer also does testing in the

elements of mother nature. They took one of their jackets called BC EverTherm and they took it

out on a Teton summit expedition last winter. Eddie Bauer said that this jacket with standard the

elements because it had the long hemline that offered great coverage in the back even while

swinging ice tools overhead.To conclude this section, The North Face testing methods we see

how they test and why. Companies show the buyer why it's important to test their jackets so they

know that the product is well made and that the jacket will withstand mother nature's elements of

life.

To wrap up, jacket manufacturers take lots of time and money into testing their jackets

for our world life elements. For snowboarders, to people in Antartica, we see that jackets need to

meet everyone's needs. Rain, wind, and snow are some of the basic elements in life. This is really

a big so what factor because we can ask why do companies test their different jackets. The

number one answer is that they want to make sure that the human body will maintain its steady

temperature. Over all we see how companies test their jackets and we see how both testing

methods are necessary because it gives us too perspectives on how the jackets will perform

outdoors.
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Works Cited

WELCH, LIZ. “The Way I Work.” Inc, vol. 35, no. 2, Mar. 2013, pp. 94–97. EBSCOhost

Ellis, Rosemary. “Testing, One, Two, Three.” Prevention, vol. 57, no. 1, Jan. 2005, p. 27.

EBSCOhost

“The North Face® | Free Shipping – No Minimum.” TheNorthFace USA - English,

www.thenorthface.com/​.

“Waterproof, Windproof & Breathable Clothing | GORE-TEX Brand.” GORE,

www.gore-tex.com/​.

Hsu, Leslie, et al. “Outside Online.” Outside Online, ​www.outsideonline.com/​.