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 Polartec & Polarfleece
Fleece is a textile engineered in a laboratory, the first concept was thought of and brought forth by Malden Mills in the USA. It's become one of the foremost textiles used for apparel in polar and arctic conditions. It can keep it's wearer warmer than traditional wool, but weighs a fraction of it's mass. Malden Mills continue to use the terms 'Polartec' and 'Polarfleece' to describe their products, unlike the mass of producers which call their products simple 'fleece'. Polartec is a registered company, an offshoot from Malden Mills. They manufacture over three hundred various fleece synthetic fabrics. They have now made alot of these various fabrics a registered trademark like their
Polarfleece has always been susceptible to wind chill, and Polartec have managed to create fleece which is denser and can help block wind chill in extreme conditions. They are also trying to go 'green', with over twenty of their three hundred fabrics using recycled fibers from plastic products like pop bottles and synthetic materials like polyester. One downside with polarfleece is washing it, it does not like to be cleaned in hot water or with fabric softeners. The problem is that both of these washing techniques counteract and disable the ability of polarfleece to repel water and wind. A fabric softener will not drastically alter the fabric, but can destroy the properties of it's drying abilities. It's quite often that people do not realise that the fleece top they are wearing is using a 'Polartec' fabric. They currently have over five hundred manufacturing partners who use their fabrics in various fleece products. It's common for polarfleece products that use 'Polartec' fibers to display a small tag with a 'Polartec' logo. Some of the biggest brand names in outdoor clothing use 'Polartec' fabrics in their apparels, names such as Alvika, Berghaus, Karrimor, Montane, North Cape, O'Neill, Redfox, The North Face, Timberland, Toasteesocks and Turtle Fur.
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