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Firefighter Hoodie. Black edition

Name: Firefighter Hoodie. Black edition
Brand: Vollebak
SKU: SWH116BLKXSM
Price: 895.00 GBP
Availability: InStock

Made from the same fibres as F1 racing suits and firefighters’ hoods.

CHF 895

XS

S

M

L

XL

XXL

Model is 5ft 11 / 180cm with a 38 inch / 97cm chest, and wears size Medium.

Knitted from 100% meta-aramid
Flame resistance is built into the fibre, so it can't wash out
Stitched with flame-resistant thread

For tens of thousands of years our species has been spectacularly good at using fire to get what we want. We used it to make dinner softer, tastier, and easier to catch in the first place. It helped us build cities and crumble empires, by turning rock into copper, bronze and iron. And even today when we want to leave Earth behind and head to the Moon or Mars, setting stuff on fire sits at the centre of our tech stack.

But considering just how dangerous fire is, it’s pretty ironic that at the same time we’ve been spectacularly bad at protecting ourselves from it. 99.9% of everything we’ve ever put on our bodies has been super flammable. Hide, wool, linen, cotton, synthetics. They’re all really good at going up in flames fast.

So for most of human history our best fire safety strategy has been ‘standing a bit further away.’ That was until the arrival of meta-aramids. Made from stable carbon rings and high-energy chemical bonds, today you’ll find them being used in firefighter kit, military flight suits and F1 race suits. Why? Because meta aramid doesn’t burn, drip, or melt.

Which is why our new Firefighter Hoodie is made entirely from it. The body, the hood, the cuffs, the hems, the yoke, the underarm panels are all 100% meta-aramid. The 8mm drawcords are flame resistant with silicone dipped ends, and the two-way front zip has flame resistant teeth and a metal puller, hidden behind a roll-over guard. And where you’d normally find metal eyelets for the drawcords, ours are embroidered with flame-resistant thread.

Technical details

Material: 100% meta-aramid

Material weighs: 390g/m2

Hoodie weighs 1020 grams

Flame resistant

Body, hood lining, cuffs, hem and underarm panels all cut from the same material

Sewn throughout with 100% para-aramid thread

Flame resistant two-way open-ended front zip with metal puller

Roll-over zip guard

Flame resistant 8mm drawcords with silicone dipped ends

3-piece hood lined in the same material

4-piece raglan sleeves with self-material underarm panels

Flatlocked seams throughout

Kangaroo pocket box stitched at the corners

Relaxed fit

Machine wash 30ºC

Constructed in Portugal

Material: 100% meta-aramid

Material weighs: 390g/m2

Hoodie weighs 1020 grams

Flame resistant

Body, hood lining, cuffs, hem and underarm panels all cut from the same material

Sewn throughout with 100% para-aramid thread

Flame resistant two-way open-ended front zip with metal puller

Roll-over zip guard

Flame resistant 8mm drawcords with silicone dipped ends

3-piece hood lined in the same material

4-piece raglan sleeves with self-material underarm panels

Flatlocked seams throughout

Kangaroo pocket box stitched at the corners

Relaxed fit

Machine wash 30ºC

Constructed in Portugal

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Fire still sits at the centre of our tech stack

For tens of thousands of years our species has been spectacularly good at using fire to get what we want. We used it to make dinner softer, tastier, and easier to catch in the first place. It helped us build cities and crumble empires, by turning rock into copper, bronze and iron. And even today when we want to leave Earth behind and head to the Moon or Mars, setting stuff on fire sits at the centre of our tech stack.

Even today when we want to leave Earth behind and head to the Moon or Mars, setting stuff on fire sits at the centre of our tech stack.

So why don’t we protect ourselves from it?

But considering just how dangerous fire is, it’s pretty ironic that at the same time we’ve been spectacularly bad at protecting ourselves from it. 99.9% of everything we’ve ever put on our bodies has been super flammable. Hide, wool, linen, cotton, synthetics. They’re all really good at going up in flames fast. So for most of human history our best fire safety strategy has been ‘standing a bit further away.’

It’s taken about 399,940 years to make clothes that could handle fire

That was until the arrival of meta-aramids. Made from stable carbon rings and high-energy chemical bonds, today you’ll find them being used in firefighter kit, military flight suits and F1 race suits. Why? Because meta aramid doesn’t burn, drip, or melt. Which is why our new Firefighter Hoodie is made entirely from it.

For most of human history our best fire safety strategy has been ‘standing a bit further away.’

A hoodie made entirely from meta-aramids

The body, the hood, the cuffs, the hems, the yoke, the underarm panels are all 100% meta-aramid. The 8mm drawcords are flame resistant with silicone dipped ends, and the two-way front zip has flame resistant teeth and a metal puller, hidden behind a roll-over guard. And where you’d normally find metal eyelets for the drawcords, ours are embroidered with flame-resistant thread.

A 3-piece hood, flatlocked seams and a kangaroo pocket

The hood of this hoodie is built from 3 panels and lined in the same material as the body. The seams are flatlocked, laying the two edges side by side instead of stacking them, so no ridges sit against your skin. The sleeves are 4-piece raglans cut for easy movement, with a panel under each arm. On the front, there’s one kangaroo pocket that’s box stitched at the corners.

Meta-aramid doesn’t burn, drip, or melt. Which is why our new Firefighter Hoodie is made entirely from it.

An easy-wearing hoodie

Meta-aramid is not only good with heat. It is also more resistant to friction and abrasion than the cotton jersey most hoodies are made from. The material we use in this hoodie is a substantial mid-weight jersey, roughly double the weight of a good t shirt. So it has the easy-wearing body, structure and feel of an everyday hoodie, not protective gear.

Engineered to take the heat

Apply enough heat and most materials do one of two things. Synthetics often soften, melt and stick to whatever is underneath them. Possibly you. Most natural fibres catch and burn away. Meta-aramid does neither. It takes serious heat before it eventually chars, and even then it carries on regardless.

Essential kit for racing drivers and fire crews

Meta-aramid materials were introduced in the late 1960s and first used in suits for race car drivers, back when explosive Formula 1 crashes happened with terrifying regularity. Since then it's turned up in firefighters' kit, military flight suits and aircraft interiors. It is also an excellent electrical insulator, which is why meta-aramid paper is used inside transformers, motors and other high-voltage equipment.

The Firefighter Hoodie is made from the same fibres as F1 racing suits and firefighters’ hoods.

There are two aramids. This is the one that isn’t Kevlar

The development of aramid materials has taken two directions, para-aramid and meta-aramid. Para-aramid is the super strong one. It's the fibre used in body armour and cut resistant gloves. Kevlar is the best known para-aramid material. Meta-aramid is from the same chemical family, and it’s still strong, but it does a different job. It absorbs heat and turns into an insulating char layer when temperatures get serious.

Same ingredients, different results

Para-aramids and meta-aramids are made from the same basic family of ingredients: long chains of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen, held together with rigid carbon rings. But those rings are joined at slightly different points. In para-aramids, everything lines up in long, straight, tightly packed chains. That makes it absurdly strong for its weight.

A different superpower

In meta-aramids, those same chains take a small turn. They cannot pack together in quite the same rigid formation, so the fibre gives up some of para-aramid’s brute strength. But it still has a backbone made from tough, stable carbon rings and high-energy chemical bonds: the sort that need serious heat before they give up. When they finally do, the material turns to char rather than melting or dripping. That flexibility also makes it easier to turn into comfortable, wearable textiles.

The body, the hood, the cuffs, the hems, the yoke, the underarm panels are all 100% meta-aramid.

Making meta-aramid

Meta-aramid may be easier to wear than para-aramid, but it isn't easy to make. Polyester is simple by comparison: heat plastic until it melts, pull it into thread. Meta-aramid decomposes before it melts. So its building blocks are first joined into long chains, then dissolved and pushed through a spinneret, a metal plate perforated with microscopic holes like an industrial shower head. The liquid streams solidify into filaments, which are washed, drawn and gathered into yarn.

Why we say flame-resistant not fireproof

Nothing on Earth is actually fireproof. The most accurate term is flame-resistant, meaning a material won't easily ignite and it also won't keep burning once you take the flame away. Our material is inherently flame resistant. But a hoodie built entirely from flame resistant parts still isn't certified protective equipment.

From peacoats to protective gear

The material we use is made by Jules Tournier, which has been making cloth in Mazamet in Southern France for 160 years. It's still independent, still family owned, and one of the last fully vertically integrated wool manufacturers left in France, controlling everything from fibre and spinning through to dyeing and finishing. It made cloth for the French army in the First World War, naval peacoats, and then luxury tweeds.

From fire crews to fencers

In the 1970s Jules Tournier launched a technical textiles division. It now spins its own aramid yarns and makes cut resistant, heat resistant and flame retardant materials for protective gloves, industrial equipment and fencing (as in the Olympic sport, not outdoor perimeters). It might be the only company that supplies couture houses, fire crews and people trying to stab each other, for fun.

A difficult dye job

Meta-aramid does not want to be dyed. Its structure is tight and chemically unwelcoming, with very little for dye to hold onto. Getting it to take the deep, even black of our hoodie requires high temperatures, advanced chemistry and the know-how of a specialist manufacturer that has been dyeing difficult things since the 19th century.