While this Old Virginia Modified Herringbone fabric has zero tactical application, it’s still cool to see these small mills continue to manufacture specialty fabrics here in the US. In this case, the fabric is woven on a 1939 Crompton & Knowles W3 shuttle loom and used by The Hill-Side to produce ties.
Old Virginia: The Hill-Side’s “Modified Herringbone” Fabric from The Hill-Side on Vimeo.
In honor of Independence Day, get 10% off 1st Quality Overrun MultiCam fabrics. Sale ends 14 July, 2013 and orders will ship when Duro reopens after the holiday, on 15 July.
multicamfabric.com/fabric-overruns
We’ve mentioned D3O several times recently and thought it would be a good idea to explain what it’s for those of you who are unfamiliar.
D3O is used in 5 core markets including motorcycle, PPE (law enforcement, military, industrial workwear), electronics (phone, tablet, laptop casing), footwear and sports.additionally, they have recently developed a helmet liner system for the baseball market with Schutt Sports and plan to roll out new military helmet liner systems to the later this year.
Some further examples of its use in the PPE market include:
This impact protection undergarment from French firm Leo Minor.
Renegade Armor has incorporated D3O into select armor carriers.
And the elbows and knees of DRIFIRE FR clothing accept D3O inserts.
As for the actual material used for D3O, it’s a composite of a dilatant and polymers. How it works is based on non-newtonian principles. In standard conditions the molecules flow freely, but on impact, lock together to absorb and dissipate the impact energy. After the impact, the material instantly returns to its soft and flexible state. D3O is strain-rate sensitive, which means the stronger the impact, the more the molecules react.
An introduction to D3O in the Military sector – Soldier Systems from D3O Lab on Vimeo.
Thanks to D3O for the video.
This is the evolution of Austrialpin Cobra Buckles developed specifically for use in the Ares Armor Derma Carrier which we previewed back in April.
As you know, US military uniforms must be Berry Compliant. This means that they have to be manufactured here in the US with US materials. It has long been difficult to maintain Berry compliance for materials to produce dress uniforms due to the relatively low numbers required. troops just don’t wear as many dress uniforms as they do field uniforms. So, it’s great to see companies like Burlington sticking with it to ensure that our men and women are clothed in quality, American apparel.
Burlington Industries LLC, a division of International Textile Group (ITG), announced today it has been awarded two contracts totaling a maximum of $160M by the Defense Logistics Agency to supply wool blend fabrics for use in the newly updated Army dress uniforms. These fabrics will be produced at the company’s facilities in Raeford and Cordova, North Carolina.
Burlington has been an integral part of the defense supply chain for more than 50 years, serving as a domestic resource for new fabric development and known for delivering quality products with consistent shade characteristics. “The award of these contracts demonstrates the strategic value that Burlington provides to the U.S. Military as the dominant supplier of worsted wool dress uniform fabrics for all branches of the military,” said Jeff Peck, President Burlington.
These awards follow four contracts previously awarded to Burlington this past April. These contracts, awarded over a five-year period, include a contract for khaki polyester/wool tropical shirt fabric for theU.S. Marine Corps with a maximum value of $21 million; a contract for green gabardine sponged fabric for jackets and pants for the U.S. Marine Corps with a maximum value of $28.5 million; a contract for khaki polyester/wool tropical shirt fabric for the U.S. Navy with a maximum value of $18 million; and a contract for gabardine sponged blue fabric for the U.S. Navy with a maximum value of $3.5 million.
Burlington’s Raeford operation is known for its superior consistency and repeatability of yarn color used to produce dress uniform fabrics. The wool top is dyed and spun into yarn and is shipped to the company’s Richmond plant in Cordova, NC where it is woven into fabric. The worsted wool and wool blend fabrics are returned to Raeford where they are finished and shipped to specified cutters to make the final uniform. The fabrics are engineered to provide the soldier with advanced durability and wrinkle-resistance. Skilled workers, many with more than 20 years experience, carefully tend to the yarn and fabric at each process. “It’s a matter of our employees’ taking pride in our products and the dedication they bring to building the fabrics for those who serve our country,” said Peck.
Look for S&S Precision PullTabs from LBT Inc soon! Shown is Toadvine which goes great with Honor Camo.
CTOMS posted an interesting look at the Raptor buckle on their Private Bloggins site. Their intent was to decide whether to take a look at replacing the Austrialpin Cobra buckles used on their X-Belts and M-Harnesses with the Raptor. To do this, they pull tested two Raptor buckles to compare their measurements with the manufacturer’s. here’s one example.
CTOMS is very up front about how they obtained their samples, what they did with the buckles and the limitations of how they evaluated the buckles. I like that kind of honesty and the story is worth looking at if you want to see how buckles are pull tested and the whole “behind the scenes” on how and what they did. You’ll also find out if CTOMS decided to take a further look at these buckles.
