A suit wearable by a human user includes a torso section, two arm sections extending from an upper portion of the torso section, and two leg sections extending from a lower portion of the torso section. The suit further includes a plurality of spaced apart marks connected with an interior surface portion of the suit. The plurality of marks formed on the interior surface portion of the suit impart a roughened, uneven surface along an exterior surface portion that corresponds with the interior surface portion of the suit, and a surface roughness of the exterior surface portion varies based upon a degree of stretch applied to the suit.

The moisture and motion-activated cooling chef jacket is configured to be worn in a relatively hot work environment and includes a breathable outer layer having an inside and an outside, and is configured to define a front, back, sleeves, neck area and armpit area. A hydrophilic cooling layer is loosely layered at the inside of the breathable outer layer at the back, neck area and armpit area and configured to contact the skin of a chef to absorb sweat. The hydrophilic cooling layer is attached by seams to the inside of the breathable outer layer. The breathable outer layer includes a breathability configured to provide an inflow of air to, and outflow of vapor from, an evaporative zone formed between the hydrophilic cooling layer and the breathable outer layer. The hydrophilic cooling layer is stretchable and has an evaporative-related permeability such that body motion of the chef and corresponding stretching of the hydrophilic cooling layer promotes evaporation of absorbed sweat within the evaporative zone.

Composite materials are described herein. An example composite material may comprise a shell fiber layer. The example composite material may comprise a membrane disposed adjacent the shell fiber layer.

A parasitic Acari barrier fabric that impedes parasitic Acari movement, traps parasitic Acari, and/or exterminates parasitic Acari thereon or therein. The barrier fabric includes an outer face formed from open mesh construction having evenly spaced openings formed thereon that are adapted for passing parasitic Acari from outside the fabric to inside the fabric, an inner face that is breathable and configured for moisture vapor transmission from a wearer's skin therethrough but is impenetrable to parasitic Acari passed to the inside of the fabric, and an intermediate spacer that extends between and interconnects the inner face to the outer face to form the parasitic Acari barrier fabric.

A system pump-conditions a garment worn about a torso of an individual. A circulation array within the garment and a pump array circulate a fluid within an interior space between the garment and the torso. The pump array exerts a negative pressure on the circulation array to circulate the fluid generally from a head opening at a top portion of the garment, into the interior space, then through the circulation array, then out of the garment. The pump array exhausts the circulating fluid down and away from the torso. The moving circulating fluid draws heat and humidity from within the garment and directs same away from such individual to cool and comfort same. The moving circulating fluid also draws a cooling and comforting breeze about the head of the individual.

A fabric having resilient prominences on at least one surface is described for improved thermal protection, drag reduction and quick drying. Resilient prominences are bulges that extend outward from a fabric surface and trap some volume of air or other material therein. For example, a resilient prominence may be dome shaped and extend outward from the fabric plane. A resilient prominence is resilient in shape, whereby the resilient prominence may be compressed and then popped back into substantially the original shape. Reflective and/or absorptive materials may be configured on the surface of the fabric to provide camouflage from IR cameras. Reflective material may be configured on the fabric to reflect heat back to the wearer of a garment made with the fabric described.

A parasitic Acari barrier fabric that impedes parasitic Acari movement, traps parasitic Acari, and/or exterminates parasitic Acari thereon or therein. The barrier fabric includes an outer face formed from open mesh construction having evenly spaced openings formed thereon that are adapted for passing parasitic Acari from outside the fabric to inside the fabric, an inner face that is breathable and configured for moisture vapor transmission from a wearer's skin therethrough but is impenetrable to parasitic Acari passed to the inside of the fabric, and an intermediate spacer that extends between and interconnects the inner face to the outer face to form the parasitic Acari barrier fabric.

Articles and methods of using and making adaptive garment portions are provided. An adaptive garment portion is one that has shifting surfaces with apertures that shift from an aligned to an offset orientation depending on environmental conditions/stimuli. For example, a first surface material and a second surface material may be coupled by a responsive material portion. The responsive material portion may physically change in response to a change in environmental conditions internal or external to the garment (e.g., thermal energy, moisture) and/or stimuli (e.g., light energy, electrical energy, magnetic fields). The physical change in the responsive material portion facilitates the planar shift of the first surface material relative to the second surface material.

A firefighter's protective garment including an outer shell, moisture barrier and thermal barrier in which the thermal barrier is constructed with spacers on its inner surface such that air can circulate between the garment and the firefighter wearing it. The garment redistributes metabolic heat over a larger surface area, and increases metabolic cooling and firefighter comfort. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the spacers are strategically attached to those areas of the thermal barrier which find themselves opposite those parts of the human body having the highest rates of perspiration and metabolic heat transfer.

A protective glove including a knit fabric hand shell having a cuff portion and a hand portion that includes a back side opposite a palm side for covering opposing sides of a user's hand. A polymeric coating covers the palm side of the hand portion and has a thickness that gradually diminishes from the palm side to the back side of the hand portion. The back side of the hand portion has an area that is free of the polymeric coating to provide ventilation to the user's hand through the knit fabric hand shell. A plurality of perforations is uniformly dispersed over the palm side of the hand portion. The perforations have a diameter less than 0.2 mm and extend though the polymeric coating to provide ventilation to the user's hand and to increase a coefficient of friction for an exterior surface of the polymeric coating.