Hainsworth Protective Fabrics has released its latest textile innovation, AGILE. This pioneering fabric technology is a lighter weight yet highly durable cloth for structural fire fighting, allowing the wearer increased comfort while still providing Hainsworth’s market-leading protection.
AGILE is constructed from ultra-fine yarns, including highly protective meta- and para-aramids that result in a lighter weight of 180gsm – over 15% lighter than the company’s TITAN range. The fabric has also been designed to provide increased flexibility, allowing the wearer to move and react with reduced interference.
Hainsworth has been developing protective textiles to the emergency services for over 150 years, when the company first provided wool melton to the London Fire Brigade. Ever since then, Hainsworth has been combining its historical knowledge of the innate qualities of wool with the latest cutting-edge fibres to create fabrics that combine protection, durability, and comfort.
When developing its latest fabric technology, Hainsworth sought out feedback from active and former firefighters to understand their concerns and thoughts about how their kit could be improved. A common theme in this feedback was the requirement for a more comfortable, lightweight kit that still delivered on heat protection.
Despite the emergence of newer occupational risks, heat stress remains the greatest threat to a working firefighter’s life. In the face of this, it’s crucial that firefighters not have additional strain and resistance placed on them in active situations. If a garment is too heavy or otherwise restrictive, the wearer is more likely to develop fatigue or become overheated – hindering their performance and placing their own and others’ lives at risk.
It’s with these requirements in mind that Hainsworth developed AGILE. The lighter weight and more yielding fabric structure means that firefighters who wear AGILE are able to move more freely and more easily focus on the vital task at hand, allowing for prolonged endurance and enabling them to perform at their peak for longer periods of time.
Despite this exceptional comfort, AGILE still provides optimum thermal protection from liquid chemicals, reducing the risk of exposure to harmful soluble particles. Its high strength also means that AGILE lasts longer, potentially increasing the life of your kit and saving costs in the long run.
