James Heal
(Source: James Heal)
The fashion industry is responsible for producing 20% of global wastewater and 10% of global carbon emissions. By reducing the volume of wastewater and energy consumption, textile testing solutions provider James Heal has created a solution to improving the sustainability of water repellency testing in textiles.
Water repellency is an important function of technical fabrics from a safety and comfort perspective, for example garments intended to protect the wearer in wet conditions. The 'Bundesmann' test is the established industry-wide method of providing artificial rainfall, simulating the natural outdoor environment to determine the water repellency of different fabrics and garments. These instruments have a high environmental impact through heavy water usage and energy consumption, which adds up to high running costs, they also suffer from a reputation of being difficult and messy to use.
The next generation Bundesmann tester, TruRain, has been developed with a water recirculation unit. In comparison to the traditional testers, the system uses 99% less water during testing based on a weekly program of conducting 150 tests, reducing consumption from 2,100 l to just 23 l for the week. TruRain is the only Bundesmann tester of its kind that reuses water during testing.
In addition, TruRain from James Heal Ltd., Halifax/UK, makes significant energy cost savings over a typical 8-hour shift which sees an 83% total cost reduction, highly important in the current climate of high energy costs. Productivity is also increased through greater ease of use than a traditional Bundesmann, tests can be run continuously for a week without the need to change the water. An innovative automated shower guard that protects the operator from getting wet during testing.
Water repellency is an important function of technical fabrics from a safety and comfort perspective, for example garments intended to protect the wearer in wet conditions. The 'Bundesmann' test is the established industry-wide method of providing artificial rainfall, simulating the natural outdoor environment to determine the water repellency of different fabrics and garments. These instruments have a high environmental impact through heavy water usage and energy consumption, which adds up to high running costs, they also suffer from a reputation of being difficult and messy to use.
The next generation Bundesmann tester, TruRain, has been developed with a water recirculation unit. In comparison to the traditional testers, the system uses 99% less water during testing based on a weekly program of conducting 150 tests, reducing consumption from 2,100 l to just 23 l for the week. TruRain is the only Bundesmann tester of its kind that reuses water during testing.
In addition, TruRain from James Heal Ltd., Halifax/UK, makes significant energy cost savings over a typical 8-hour shift which sees an 83% total cost reduction, highly important in the current climate of high energy costs. Productivity is also increased through greater ease of use than a traditional Bundesmann, tests can be run continuously for a week without the need to change the water. An innovative automated shower guard that protects the operator from getting wet during testing.
