Polartec, a Milliken & Company brand, announces Polartec Shed Less Fleece, a milestone in its efforts to reduce textile fiber fragment shedding. Shed Less is a process that combines yarn construction, knitting, chemistry and manufacturing to reduce home laundry fiber fragment shedding by an average of 85 percent. The first fabric to receive this technology is the brand’s iconic Polartec 200 Series Fleece, the modern version of the original PolarFleece launched in 1981, and in 1993.
The Shed Less process works by engineering the lofted fibers that give fleece its soft hand the ability to resist breaking and rubbing off during home laundering, cited as one contributing factor to the spread of fibers fragments. Polartec Shed Less Fleece achieves this remarkable outcome while maintaining all the attributes that make Polartec fleece a staple of mid-layer collections – lightweight, breathable, and warm, with softness and hand feel.
The brand used the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) TM212-2021 test method for fiber fragment release during home laundering. This test was conducted with large sample sizes to account for variability. The testing concluded that Shed Less Fleece reduced fiber fragment shedding by an average of 85 percent compared to the baseline fabric.
“In 2016 we began looking into how we might test for fiber loss because there wasn’t a lot of research on the issue,” said Aimee LaValley, Polartec Textile Development, Dye and Chemistry Manager. “This led to new products like Polartec Power Air, new manufacturing processes, as well as our participation in the TextileMission workgroup to study the issue on an interdisciplinary basis.”
TextileMission was a three-year collaborative initiative of academia and industry to reduce the impact of textile microplastics funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Founding partners include The Association of the German Sporting Goods Industry, Hochschule Niederrhein – University of Applied Science; TU Dresden – Institute of Water Chemistry; Vaude Sport; WWF Germany; Adidas AG; Henkel AG; Miele & CIE; and Polartec, LLC.
Known for pioneering the use of recycled materials in performance knits, Polartec has also EcoEngineered new processes at its plants to reduce the spread of fiber fragments, including the installation of customized vacuum and filtering systems for all surface finishing machinery, and upcycling all captured fabric waste for reuse in other products. These efforts also extend to other product innovations such as 2018’s Polartec Power Air, constructed to contain lofted fibers to prevent breakage and maintain heat retention.
Polartec Shed Less Fleece will be initially launched in the United States and will be available to customers beginning March 1. The brand plans to apply the Shed Less process to other industry-leading fabric platforms and manufacturing facilities around the world.
For more information visit Polartec.com
