Polar fleece is a soft napped insulating

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

made from

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...

Uses

Polar fleece is used in jackets, hats,

sweater A sweater (North American English) or pullover, also called a jumper (British English and Australian English), ...

s, sweatpants, cloth diapers (nappies), gym clothes,

hoodie A hoodie (in some cases spelled hoody and alternatively known as a hooded sweatshirt) is a sweatshirt with a hood. Hoodies with zippers usually include two pockets on the lower front, one on either side of the zipper, while "pullover" hoodie ...

pajamas Pajamas ( US) or pyjamas (Commonwealth) (), sometimes colloquially shortened to PJs, jammies, jam-jams, or in South Asia night suits, are several related types of clothing worn as nightwear or while lounging or performing remote work from hom ...

, blankets, and high-performance outdoor clothing. The produced fleece can be used to create clothes that are very light, soft, and easy to wash. Polar fleece can stretch more easily in one direction than in others.

History

Polar fleece originated in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in 1979 when

Malden Mills Malden Mills Industries is the original manufacturer of Polartec polar fleece and manufactures other modern textiles. The company is located in Andover, Massachusetts and has operations in Hudson, New Hampshire. History Malden Mills was foun ...

(now Polartec LLC), and

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

developed Synchilla (synthetic

chinchilla Chinchillas are either of two species (''Chinchilla chinchilla'' and ''Chinchilla lanigera'') of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha. They are slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels, and are native to the Andes mount ...

). It was a new, light, strong pile fabric meant to mimic, and in some ways surpass,

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

. Malden Mills CEO

Aaron Feuerstein Aaron Feuerstein (December 11, 1925 – November 4, 2021) was an American industrialist, philanthropist, and the third-generation owner and CEO of Malden Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Early life and education Feuerstein, a Jew, was born in ...

intentionally declined to

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

polar fleece, allowing the material to be produced cheaply and widely by many vendors, leading to the material's quick and wide acceptance. Malden Mills registered PolarFleece as a trademark with the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

on October 6, 1981.

Characteristics

A lightweight, warm and soft fabric, fleece has some of wool's good qualities. Fleece is categorised by weight – in gsm, or grams per square metre. Polar fleece garments traditionally come in different thicknesses: micro, 100, 200, and 300, with 300 being the thickest. It is

hydrophobic In chemistry, hydrophobicity is the physical property of a molecule that is seemingly repelled from a mass of water (known as a hydrophobe). In contrast, hydrophiles are attracted to water. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be nonpolar and, t ...

, holding less than 1% of its weight in water. It retains much of its insulating quality even when wet. It is machine washable and dries quickly. It is a good alternative to

for those who are allergic or sensitive to wool. It can also be made out of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, or even recycled fleece. Regular polar fleece is not windproof and does not absorb moisture (although this is often seen as a benefit, per above). Fleece readily generates

static electricity Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material or between materials. The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge. Static electricity is na ...

, which causes the accumulation of lint, dust, and pet hair. It is also susceptible to damage from high temperature washing, tumble drying, or

ironing Ironing is the use of a machine, usually a heated tool (an iron), to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of 180–220 °Celsius (356-428 Fahrenheit), depending on the fabric. Ironing wor ...

under unusual conditions. Lower-quality polyester fleece material is also prone to

pilling Pilling is a village and civil parish within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. It is north-northeast of Poulton-le-Fylde, south-southwest of Lancaster and northwest of Preston, in a part of the Fylde known as Over Wyre. The ci ...

Microfiber pollution

Washing synthetic textiles like fleece releases

microfiber Microfiber (or microfibre) is synthetic fiber finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers. A strand of silk is about one denier and about a fifth of the diameter of a human hair. The most common ty ...

s, a type of microplastic. The release of these microfibers into the wastewater is proportional to the microplastic pollution in soil, marine, and freshwater habitats. Studies also show that tumble drying of polyester releases airborne microplastics.

References

External links

Polartec, once Malden Mills, the original manufacturer of Polartec and Polarfleece
{{Fabric American inventions Pile fabrics Technical fabrics 1990s fashion