wheresoft

by Andy Wilkes

High Visibility Clothing – The Essential Facts

Does your business use high visibility clothing? Are you an employer who provides hi viz clothing to your workers, contractors or visitors? Or are you an employee who is required to wear high visibility clothing when on site?

If so, are you aware of the legal requirements governing high visibility clothing, the ways in which you can verify that hi viz clothing is suitable and fit for purpose, and what to look for in hi visibility clothing that has been used, soiled, washed or simply worn for extended periods of time?

It’s a fact that many employers can become oblivious to the problems which may be encountered when using hi viz clothing, and if such clothing has been provided to workers or visitors for use on site and it does not comply with recommendations, regulations or the law, then not only are you running the very real risk of placing people in danger, but if an accident occurs you will be directly responsible in the eyes of the law.

Whether you are an employer who is under a legal obligation to provide hi viz clothing free of charge to any and all workers involved on site, or whether you are an employee who has been provided with high visibility clothing to wear, it is imperative that you are aware of the different ways in which such clothing should be checked to make sure that it is entirely suited to the job.

If it isn’t, then people are likely to be placed in direct danger, and worse than this, they may be relying on the hi viz clothing under a false sense of security and protection when in fact it is doing relatively to protect the wearer.

In some cases failing to verify the high visibility clothing is completely suitable can result in the clothing itself representing a direct risk, and there have been instances where such clothing has been responsible for an accident occurring which would not have occurred had the wearer either been provided with more appropriate hi viz clothing, or indeed hadn’t been wearing any safety clothing at all.

The first thing to be aware of, and perhaps one of the more obvious aspects of safety clothing is the colour. Most high visibility clothing is fluorescent yellow as this most often contrasts effectively against the surrounding environment. However, there may be instances where yellow is less effective, and may almost act as a form of camouflage. Regulations governing hi viz clothing state that the colour should be in contrast to the surrounding environment, and this may mean that the clothing should either be orange or green.

If unsure, compare the different clothing choices in the environment, under the conditions and lighting normally expected. However, be aware that lighting, the weather and the environment can all effect the level of contrast, and if in any doubt make sure that high visibility clothing is available which provides as great a contrast of  colour as possible.

The next point to be aware of is that there are three classes of hi viz clothing, simply referred to as class 1, 2 and 3. The lowest form of protection is class 1, which includes such items as tabards. Class 2 provides slightly more visibility and includes waistcoats and jackets, with class 3 providing full body cover and the very highest level of visibility.

It is important to make sure that the appropriate class of high visibility clothing is provided to the wearer. If managing a car park in summer class 1 or 2 is likely to be all that’s needed, but if working on the motorway in foggy, dark conditions class 3 will be essential.

However, there are times when the bulk of class 3 clothing can prove to be dangerous, either because it is too baggy, could get caught in machinery, restricts movement or limits vision. Judgement should be made according to the specific circumstances in such cases, and there may be cause to lower the class worn to lower the potential risk.

All hi viz clothing, regardless of class, will eventually be subject to wear and tear, including UV damage, damage due to washing, wearing, folding and working with machinery. Check regularly for missing retroreflective strips, or reduced reflectivity or visibility, otherwise the high visibility clothing may in fact be providing much less protection than would be assumed.

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by kampol likitkanjanakul, pop. FASHION STYLIST

Screen Printing Clothing vs Embroidered Clothing

Screen Printing Clothing vs Embroidered Clothing

When you have to choose between two processes in this case ‘screen printing’ or ‘embroidery’ it can be very difficult so hopefully the following information will help.

Screen Printing & Embroidery are mainly used for promotional clothing so choosing the best process to promote your company is a very important decision. They both have their advantages and disadvantages but either choose has a massive impact on potential customers.

The process of screen printing

There are many factors when it comes to screen printing, the artwork, the screens and the machines your t-shirts are printed on. Firstly we have to produce the artwork which is created in Adobe Illustrator and is known as Vector, this is then printed onto film which gets exposed on the light table. Screens are made up of many types of meshes from a 43 which allows a heavier deposit of ink to a 120 which puts a minimum deposit of ink down for finer detailed designs, emulsion is placed onto these meshes and then the film placed on top. These are both placed under the exposure unit to expose. The film blocks the light allowing the surrounding emulsion to cure whilst the covered area breaks down, the screen is then rinsed and ready for print.

Depending on your design this process can be done 1-12 times to produce screens for an individual job so setting up a job can be very time consuming. The screens are spun automatically around the machine in sequence whilst the squeegee pulls the ink across the screen depositing the ink onto the shirt. All colours are put down wet on wet unless we have dark shirts where a flash cure unit is used to dry the base before proceeding to the next colour. Once all the colours are completed the shirt is then taken off and placed through the dryer and there you have it a printed t-shirt.

The process of embroidery

Embroidery consists of two processes firstly you need your design digitised using embroidery software (Wilcom) this coverts the artwork into a format the machines can recognise and replicate the design into stitches onto your garments, Once completed this can be loaded into an embroidery machine (SWF) ready for sewing.

The time for processing the design can take 10 minutes to run; most manufactures machines have eight heads which enables multiple production runs.

The machine has a start point so wherever the designer has located this depends on how the image was created, most images are produced in layers and work backwards depending on the garment type. Each element is stitched with its specified colour which is taken from the industries standard (Madeira) threads with a maximum of 12 colours per head.

 

Whilst we have discussed the processes we haven’t spoken about the advantages and disadvantages of screen printing and embroidery.

The major advantage between them both is speed, whilst screen printing has alot of stages to produce the screen once complete the process is minimal with some companies producing around 20,000 t-shirts a day. Embroideries downfall is the digitising, most designs are small but when you have an intricate design this can take hours to digitise and when complete only a maximum of 8 designs can be produced at one time.

Last ability is a major issue as screen printing is the choice when comparing with digital transfers but when it comes to embroidery this wins hands down. Screen Printing is produced by using inks so after time and many washes the inks start to deteriorate, this is alot slower than transfers but faster than embroidery threads losing their colour. Embroidery is the perfect choice for corporate wear as these can be washed at high temperatures and multiple times.

Cost effectiveness is the most important issue for most people as applying these techniques to clothing isn’t cheap. The majority of the cost comes down to the design, if you have a small left breast 1 colour design this will be roughly the same cost, if you look at the other end of the scale and the design is large with multiple colours, screens become very expensive and programmes can have thousands of stitches. These two basically level out but setups on Print can cost £240 and embroidery programmes around £120+.

My personal opinion on this topic is that screen printing achieves more effectiveness for promotional clothing when trying to sell a product and embroidery suits corporate clothing but overall the both have their advantages and disadvantages.

If you would like to some more information on these two types of processes why not visit www.screenworks.co.uk they offer very competitive prices and offer many other services.