Producing tomorrow’s fabric, today…
Sark is the result of a collaborative project between Aidan Tracey, founder and owner of Future Textiles Limited and Professor Subhash Anand and Textile Specialist Karthic Goverthanam, both of Bolton University Centre for Materials Research and Innovation (BUCMRI).
Future Textiles Limited is a specialist knitting manufacturer with extensive experience in the science of blending yarns to create fabrics with key qualities. Based in Derbyshire Future Textiles is a classic British innovator having created a material whose properties are almost without comparison.
Working on the original concept from Future Textiles Limited the BUCMRI have assisted in the development and testing of Sark. Sark is now ready to take to personal protection equipment market. The outcome of the joint project has been the only fabric to achieve the stringent HOSDB Slash Resistant Standard for UK Police 2006 certification from the Home Office.
Sark is a product which as yet is unequalled in it’s performance/weight ratio and has been specifically developed for PPE use.
The production of Sark is mix of yarns knitted on a flat knit, electronically controlled Shima Seiki E10 machine. The blend of yarns comprise:
- blends of Spectra® (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene), glass and polyamide;
- Stainless steel core with wraps of Dyneema® (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) and polyester, and
- different compositions of Kevlar® (Aramid)
The results are astounding and tests to date have showed that equivalent performance has been maintained even with a 25% reduction in overall weight per m sq.
Test compliance results are explained in line with the current EN test regimes to meet BS EN 388 and BS EN ISO 13997. Sark has passed both tests with flying colours.