FOAM-BACK MATERIALS FOR WARM COATS

Press, Volume C, Issue 29517, 19 May 1961, Page 2

FOAM-BACK MATERIALS FOR WARM COATS

American fashion manufacturers have produced a foam-backed winter fabric which can be made up into a coat weighing less than two oranges or six eggs. Taken ounce for ounce, it is said to be 87 per

cent, wanner than wool. Foam-back started in casual wear coats and jackets but now United States manufacturers are using them for suits, says the English "Drapery and Fashion Weekly” magazine. The material is produced in a wide variety of fabrics. They range from knitted to woven textures and incorporate almost every known textile fibre. In surface effects, the field is unlimited, veering from soft, suede-like fabrics in nylon or acetate nylon to rugged-looking woollen and wool-cotton mixtures. Reversible fabrics sandwiched with foam are also featured.

The fabrics start off at about 25s a yard for a 52in acetate avion foam-back weighing about nine ounces a yard. More than anything seen on the British market so far, the foam-backs forcibly illustrate and emphasis the enormous potential which lies in this development. Not only will they revolutionise the field of out-wear, but they will also have important application in other branches of the fabric trade. They could, for example, replace the quilted housecoats.

Their outlet in menswear will be great. A department store director was in the United States when the temperature dropped to two degrees below zero. He was persuaded to take off his heavy-weight winter coat wear a bantam-weight foamback "shortie.” His verdict was: “I was as warm as toast.”

Foam - back materials breathe and do not induce perspiration, say the manufacturers, and they can be bonded to any fibre. They have high crease resistance and garments can be packed, twisted and squeezed and they will spring back to their shape. They are selfsmoothing. The manufacturers claim that when bonded to fabric the foam cannot pull or lump and garments made with it will retain their light-weight warmth and initial thickness throughout their lifetime. The foam-back materials have been washed at 190 degrees and dried at 225 degrees without any adverse effect No special care is needed with either washing or dry-cleaning. For most out-wear garments. a thickness of no more than 3-32 in is sufficient to give all the protection required.