Insulation Comparison

Whether insulation types and constructions differ under one set of measurements, and how much of the difference between two garments is caused by the insulation rather than by the shell, the lining or the pattern above it. Test method: to be confirmed with the laboratory, and the same method has to be applied to every specimen. Conditions required for a comparison to mean anything: the insulation type and its weight or loft per unit area; the face fabric and lining used either side of it; the baffle or quilt construction and stitch spacing; the panel size and the body position sampled; the loft of the specimen measured before the test; whether the specimen is preconditioned and how; the ambient conditions and humidity in the laboratory; the equipment used and its calibration status; and the number of specimens taken from each insulation. Where any of these differ between the two specimens, the result describes the difference in the specimen set rather than the difference in the insulation.

Insulation is one of the largest single cost lines in a cold weather garment, and buyers are asked to pay more for it on the assumption that it performs. Because we do not publish warmth figures, the only defensible way to justify a change of insulation is a comparison made under one method on the constructions actually being quoted. A buyer who changes insulation between two orders should be able to see what that change does on a measurement, and a buyer offered a cheaper garment should be able to ask what the cheaper insulation does differently. Without that, the decision is made from a material datasheet supplied by the insulation maker rather than from evidence about the finished construction, and the buyer carries the risk of a claim that cannot be checked.