White Paper: The Danger Hiding in Plain Site: Generic FR Fabrics

The vast number of FR fabrics, garments and manufacturers in today’s market has led to confusion around the differences between flame resistant (FR) fabric types, FR fabric manufacturing methods and FR garment brands. Many don’t realize that the term “88/12 FR” is nothing more than a fabric content or type of fabric. “88/12 FR” is not a brand of fabric, and therefore does not provide any information on fabric performance, which varies widely by fabric manufacturer. It’s also not well understood that who manufactures the fabrics is almost always different from who manufactures the garment, and behind a trusted garment label might be lower-quality, generic FR fabric. Given the poor performance of generic “88/12 FR” fabrics, misunderstanding the terms and labels can have serious consequences for workers.