Polar fleece is a soft fabric made from polyester that is napped and insulating.
PolarFleece as a trademark registered by Malden Mills (now Polartec LLC) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on October 6, 1981. [1] Malden Mills developed polar fleece in 1979.
Polar fleece is used in jackets, hats, sweaters, sweatpants, cloth diapers (nappies), gym clothes, hoodies, pajamas, blankets, and high-performance outdoor clothing. The produced fleece can be used to create clothes that are very light, soft, and easy to wash. Polar fleece can stretch more easily in one direction than in others. [2]
Polar fleece originated in Massachusetts in 1979 when Malden Mills and Patagonia developed Synchilla (synthetic chinchilla). [3] It was a new, light, strong pile fabric meant to mimic, and in some ways surpass, wool. Malden Mills CEO Aaron Feuerstein intentionally declined to patent polar fleece, allowing the material to be produced cheaply and widely by many vendors, leading to the material's quick and wide acceptance. [4] [5] [6] Malden Mills registered PolarFleece as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on October 6, 1981. [7]
A lightweight, warm and soft fabric, fleece has some of wool's good qualities. Polar fleece garments are traditionally available in the micro, 100, 200, and 300 variants, where the numbers represent the fleece's weight in grams per square meter (gsm). The heavier fleece are warmer.
Fleece can range from being high loft to tightly knit. High loft fleece is warmer because it traps tiny air pockets which holds body heat. [8] Traditionally, polar fleece always had a two-sided pile (i.e., they were fluffy on both sides), but now clothes are often advertised as polar fleece even if they lack a two-sided pile. [9] [10] High pile fleece (which have a higher loft), will eventually lose some loft by becoming matted over time. High pile fleece are also more prone to collecting dirt than low pile fleece. To prevent high pile fleece from matting, they can be brushed regularly (which also removes dirt) and hung rather than folded. [11] To remove already existing matting, rinse it in cool water and vinegar, and while it is still damp, gently and unidirectionally brush the matting out (while optionally lightly spraying it with fabric softener mixed with water), and then use a lint roller. [12]
It is hydrophobic, holding less than 1% of its weight in water. It retains much of its insulating quality even when wet. It is machine washable and dries quickly. It is a good alternative to wool for those who are allergic or sensitive to wool. It can also be made out of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, or even recycled fleece.
Regular polar fleece is not windproof [13] [14] and does not absorb moisture (although this is often seen as a benefit, per above). [15] [16] [17] Fleece readily generates static electricity, which causes the accumulation of lint, dust, and pet hair. It is also susceptible to damage from high temperature washing, tumble drying, or ironing under unusual conditions. Lower-quality polyester fleece material is also prone to pilling (i.e., the jacket's fabrics break and reform into tiny balls on the jacket).
Washing synthetic textiles like fleece releases microfibers, a type of microplastic. [18] The release of these microfibers into the wastewater is proportional to the microplastic pollution in soil, marine, and freshwater habitats. [19] Studies also show that tumble drying of polyester releases airborne microplastics. [20]
Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word velvety means "smooth like velvet". Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Today, velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk-cotton blends, or synthetic-natural fiber blends.
A towel is a piece of absorbent cloth or paper used for drying or wiping a surface. Towels draw moisture through direct contact.
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A clothes dryer, also known as tumble dryer, is a powered household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing, bedding and other textiles, usually after they are washed in a washing machine.
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Thinsulate is a brand of synthetic fiber thermal insulation used in clothing. The word is a portmanteau of the words thin and insulate, trademarked by 3M. The material is made by the 3M Corporation and was first sold in 1979. It was originally marketed as an inexpensive alternative to down; at the time, 3M claimed it was twice as warm as an equivalent amount of any natural material.
Aaron Mordechai Feuerstein was an American industrialist, philanthropist, and the third-generation owner and CEO of Malden Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Some remember him as “the mensch who saved Christmas” when he publicly declared: “I am not throwing three thousand people out of work, two weeks before their holiday.”
Malden Mills Industries is the original developer and manufacturer of Polartec polar fleece and manufactures other modern textiles. The company is located in Andover, Massachusetts and has operations in Hudson, New Hampshire.
The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest of human technologies. To make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fiber from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns yarn into cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. For decoration, the process of colouring yarn or the finished material is dyeing. For more information of the various steps, see textile manufacturing.
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Massimo Osti (1944–2005) was an Italian garment engineer and fashion designer, most famous as the founder of the apparel brands Stone Island and C.P. Company. Osti's products were a mix of his own innovations and design ideas he got from studying military clothing, work-wear, and sportswear.
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Sherpa is a fabric with a pile on one side and flat on the other side.