The story behind our commitment: When it Comes to FR Safety, We Are All In

Westex by Milliken has always provided much more than high-performance FR fabric. For decades, we’ve taken a big picture approach to FR safety. This article shows you what it means to be “all in,” with an unmatched dedication to FR safety across the industry.

Westex by Milliken leads the industry in creating comfortable FR fabrics through our innovative softening technology. Our innovation begins with significant investment in research and development and the skills of our organic chemists and textile engineers. Milliken has over 100 Phds on staff, at least 8 of whom are dedicated solely to FR fabrics and the science behind them. These experts work on cross-functional teams that collaborate with sales and our manufacturing partners to capture front-line, end-user feedback. Our innovators bring together textile design, raw material expertise and FR engineering to continue making fabrics that perform well beyond industry standards.

Advanced, proprietary engineering is also at the heart of our bold commitment to go “all in” for FR safety. Before many FR safety standards even existed, we were the first to engineer cotton fabric with a guarantee of flame resistance for the life of the garment. Our focus on FR fabric, U.S. operations, custom-made equipment and specially-trained staff gives us control over the full engineering process. It ensures consistency among every yard of fabric and the ability of our fabric to perform in real-world conditions.

Being “all in” means that we don’t just focus on new products. For decades our educational outreach has been helping workers out in the field understand hazards and what the national safety standards really mean. We are the first resource to have created flash fire and arc flash testing videos to show the dangers of non-FR and minimally-compliant FR fabric to bring home the true risks to workers. Our seminars and educational DVDs have become standard training tools, and we’ve provided them – at no cost – to thousands of companies around the world.

We also partner directly with industry organizations: NECA, IBEW, the Electrical Training Alliance, ASSE and standards committees, among others. Plus, we’ve invested in on-site research at companies to develop case studies that benefit the entire industry.

Our goal is to break down myths, clarify standards and ensure that safety managers and workers make informed decisions – regardless of what brand of FR fabric they choose. In the end, today’s safety standards have helped save lives, but they simply don’t go far enough. Our customers are real people who risk their lives every day to get a job done.

Watch what it means to be “all in” or visit our website to learn more about our commitment to the FR industry!

This article originally appeared in the June 2015 edition of Flame Resistant Insights eZine.