27 Trade Reports more than 50 million garments in ten years Waxman’s milestone: Waxman Fibres Ltd., exclusive distributor of Kanecaron Protex modacrylic fibres, has announced that in the first quarter of 2015 its official network of partner producers reached a major miles- tone having passed 50 million garments since the partnership was established some ten years ago. The unique Protal blend Starting as the Protex partnership and more recently established as the Protal partnership, developments have progressed from standard Protex fibre blends with cotton to more sophisticated multi-hazard blend solutions today.With great concern for quality in both the products produced and the partners it works with throughout the garment supply chain,Waxman Fibres sees this ac- colade as a mark of ten years’ dedication. High-performance fibres intimately blended with long-staple com- bed cotton without any chemical treatment give Protal its unpara- lleled soft, natural touch and appearance. Each balanced blend of fibres allows the resulting fabric to have highly effective moisture management properties. Philosophy: selected partners Protective clothing manufactured with any of the blends in the Protal range stays looking good for longer, performing right to the end of its lifecycle. As for the Protalbrand appli- Waxman Fibres’Technical Director, Peter Seward says that “when we started the partnership just over ten years ago we had a clear strategy to search out the very best quality spinners and fabric producers in Europe.The idea behind this was to work with a few, carefully selected partners to ensure high quality woven and knit- ted products with full traceability and technical compliance.This philosophy has worked extremely well and enables us to trace the origins of our partners’ fabrics back to individual batches of fibre lots used in the production of the many yarns now produced”. Moreover, Seward adds that “in recent years our partners and Waxman Fibres have developed more sophisticated solutions for the many international standards that are required in what is now a global market for inherent flame retardant workwear. Protal blends can now achieve multi-hazard European and American standards in super lightweight fabrics. Innovations in seamless knit- ting technology, high visibility orange fabrics with remarkable elec- tric arc performance and metal rejection fabrics for foundries are a few examples of the inventiveness of our network of Protal partners. Many more exciting developments are currently under- way to open new markets globally”. cations and options, it must be highlighted that Protal is available from very lightweight fabrics.The carefully balanced blends of fibres accept all co- lours, including Hi-visibility. Responding to market expec- tations, to stay at the cutting edge of FR technology,Wax- man invests heavily in refining the range in order to improve product performance and maintain its position in the protective clothing market. Naturally,Waxman also insist on the same strict processing controls from their partners. Protal fabrics are suitable for woven, knitted or non-woven protective workwear and are designed for use as next to skin, liner, inter-liner and outer fabric.Waxman’s knowledgea- ble and skilled partners are constantly developing new yarn, fabric and garment solu- tions for a number of diverse applications. Protal’s inherent flame retardant properties will not deteriorate or diminish; they are literally ‘built-in’ to the fabric. As well as elimina- ting the need for costly re-treatment and unpleasant odours, this also gives Protal the edge in practical comfort.There is no loss in performance, even after repeated laundering (including industrial), dry or spot-cleaning. Getting the market confidence Waxman Fibres’ Managing Director, Greg Cluskey stresses that “this is a remarkable achievement and a credit to our partner pro- ducers and their partner distributors and resellers.Waxman Fibres works very hard with end user companies to understand their re- quirements and specify correctly the fabrics that will perform best for their workers. In many cases the solutions are very complex with multi layers, coatings, laminates and so on”. Greg goes on to add “In recent years we have noticed a number of non partner suppliers in the market passing off products as Protal or fabrics in- cluding Protex fibre in the blend. On fur ther analysis we have found many to be substandard or not actually containing Protex at all.This is a potentially very dangerous issue as the wearer of such products can find themselves in high risk situations.That is precisely why we have a quality partnership of producers who work tire- lessly to ensure that their products perform consistently and with no shortcuts. I would like to congratulate all of our partners for their innovations and hard work”. Specifiers and procurement personnel alike can rest assu- red the Protal range offers a wide choice of fabric options to cover the increasingly com- plex and ever-changing global compliancy laws and world safety standards.