chunky
Well-known member
For the past 6 months I have been testing a new prototype fabric from Warmbac to replace the traditional Cordura which has been used historically on their suits.
So what has changed?
As far as design goes not a bean. The traditional blue and red has been replaced with a new red and black 9oz soft fabric pre-shrunk Cordura.
It is instantly softer and more supple to the feel which makes the suit sizes feel more generous.
A lot of my caving involves crawling and due to my size I tend to contact the cave passage more than your average caver and I am happy to report that the suit has fared at least as well as its predecessor and after 6 months of abuse is still going strong with almost no signs of wear.
One of the biggest problems I have had in the past has been with the suits snugging up on me over time and have always purchased them slightly larger than required to allow for this.
The new material has stayed noticeably softer than my old suits and has not shrunk through my cleaning process.
Kit care over the last 6 months:
I hose and brush ( or Jet wash if very muddy) my suits after a weekend and then hang in a shed to dry.
If my suits begin to stiffen I soak with fabric conditioner overnight and then hang to dry.
In summary this is the exact same suit but with a softer no shrink fabric when cleaning by hand and slow drying. I can't comment on any other cleaning methods as this is the only method I now use to maintain my oversuits (Lessons learnt after the kids, trying to be helpful, put a two week old oversuit on a 60 degree wash and then tumble dried :chair: )
On the downside I ordered mine with an extra couple of inches in the body and so I am going to have to keep with the cake regime if I am ever going to fit in it properly!
Oh yes and a black oversuit for photos.......really!!!!