Thermaltrex Sac de dormit

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Our new Seasonfort Sleeping Bag is permanently Fire Retardant with no chemical treatments or coatings.

To do this we designed Thermaltrex, a warm 330gsm polar fleece machine washable recyclable fabric; which meets both the Faa 4 ply Airline Blanket and en71 2 Child Safety fire standards. Natural chemical safety allows it to pass the worlds toughest European chemical safety standard Reach, and is without formaldehyde or azoic dyes. It is colourfast, mildew resistant and offers upf50 sun protection.

Dimensions & Packaging

1kg rectangle sleeping bag is 190 x 79cm. Make a double size 190 x 159cm by zipping together 2 units. Silver reflective ropes to see in low light and pull Ykk reversible zips. Users can unzip the footend and walk around in warmth. Black nylon trim at head-end complements two woven labels, Seasonfort and ThermalTrex brands. Alongside is a green and blue ribbon denoting profits from sales assist Tony and Lisa Clark's homeless charity, Backpack Bed for Homeless. En13537 Sleeping Bag Celsius ratings, Extreme at 1C, Comfort at 15C. Stowed in multi-use 6L dry bag, one handle each end, digital logo print.

Tags

sleeping bag, fire, safety, fire retardant, Seasonfort, camping, textiles

Production Technology

Our not for profit social enterprise Seasonfort, founded by Tony & Lisa Clark, was created to help fund our life-saving Thermaltrex fire retardant polar fleece sleeping bags for homeless; 19,500 distributed to date.

To create our vision of safety - without any fire retardant chemicals - we made our new textile Thermaltrex to ensure every fibre was fire retardant, machine washable and recyclable.

Thermaltrex fabric is recyclable; shredded, de-polymerised, then repolymered again e.g. into PET plastic bottles or industrial plastic products.

In comparison to traditional polar fleece the cost difference is approximately 30 percent. A breakthrough for safety.

Design Challenge

Tony Clark initially was searching for a low cost way to make fire retardant sleeping bags for homeless people sleeping on the street.

For safety the fabric should not use chemicals.
The fabric must self extinguish a 1 inch flame for 12 seconds.
It must not use price prohibitive yarns or fibres e.g. Kevlar.
The fabric must be affordable for mass market safety.

Research

To reduce final production costs the material needed to be both synthetic and recyclable. This logically narrowed down the fibres and yarns that could be used. Next was to combine different materials and yarns at various ratios; which required a trial and error approach.

After each trial and error, materials would be tested in-house in various ways. Tests was grouped into 4 sets; fire, chemical, material and product. Upon success, all production would be tested at an independent lab test.

Inspiration

Street sleeping homeless need a fire retardant sleeping bag that could be washed.

Fire kills and injures. All campsites and outdoor fires often spit fire.

Today, sleeping bags are made of a polyester, nylon shell; which can easily ignite, spread fast and melt on the skin.

Sleeping bags are rarely washed, any sleeping bag that claims to be washable is usually damaged while washing; filling is damaged, clumps, creating uneven warmth and cold spots.

Project Duration

Product and fabric designer Tony Clark took 3 years to research, design and verify that Thermaltrex results could be repeated.

Thermaltrex polar fleece could not be made in Australia. Tony spent much time overseas. After much trial and error samples were made with various different textile mills; success finally happened.

Before independent test labs, major product testing occurred in Australia in-house lab.

With this knowledge, Tony could then apply theories into reality and final repeated success.

Operation Flow

Users of the Seasonfort Fire Retardant Sleeping Bag enjoy multiple functions.

Two units can be joined together to make a double sleeping bag.

The Ykk reversible rail zips also allows users to open the foot end of the sleeping bag and walk around wherever they are; cozy and warm.

Instead of a typical drawstring stow bag, the Seasonfort Sleeping Bag is stored in a 6L dry bag with two handles. An additional functional dry bag is handy when camping. The sleeping bag does not need to be carefully rolled to be re-packed into the dry bag; instead it can be stuffed back in quickly without hassle.

Patents

Seasonfort and Thermaltrex are registered word marks and trademarked in major jurisdictions globally.

Image Credits

Seasonfort video and photos in-house.