Aerogel cold-resistant clothing, volcanic rock thermal cotton, infrared heat storage, air temperature lock... With the coming of winter, thermal products have begun to attract attention again. But when choosing warm clothing, you may also be dazzled by these "high-tech" concepts.
When new winter warm products integrate technological elements, is it real technological innovation or a "IQ tax" trap? Can a winter coat that doesn't look thick really "lock in heat"? Is there any scientific basis for the "scientific warmth" advertised by merchants? Faced with fancy propaganda, how can consumers avoid stepping on thunder and choose the right winter equipment? New technologies are indeed warmer, but merchants often over-advertise, so consumers should keep their eyes open when purchasing.
Aerogel cold-resistant clothing
Black technology or "IQ tax"?
"We use aerogel, the core insulation material of space suits. This is a new black technology. Its heating capacity is twice that of ordinary cotton clothes..."
Open a live broadcast room selling winter clothes, and you are likely to hear some black technology-themed rhetoric. Recently, some new brands have begun to launch "aerogel cold-resistant clothing", claiming that it has the effect of being lighter and warmer than down jackets.
In fact, aerogel is not a new concept. It refers to a nano-scale porous solid material formed by replacing the liquid in the gel with gas through a certain drying method. It is the solid material with the lowest thermal conductivity and the lowest density known so far. It has been used in aerospace military industry, petrochemical industry and other fields in the past. It has been used by NASA for isolation space suits, etc.
With the iteration of technology and the leap of industry, aerogel has also begun to be used in clothing materials in recent years. By adding fiber reinforcement materials, an aerogel composite material is formed. So can it really bring better warmth and cold resistance?
At present, there is no national standard for the use of aerogel in the field of clothing. "The filling ratio, thickness, composite material, structural design, etc. of aerogel will affect its warmth effect. There are also good and bad aerogel clothing on the market." Li Zhaoling said.
Many new concepts of warmth are exaggerated
"Air locks in temperature", "warmth black technology", "graphene self-heating"... As the end of the year approaches, all kinds of "high-end" warm words have begun to occupy prominent positions in major stores and online shopping malls.
On an e-commerce platform, a warm vest claims to have added graphene, priced at 39.9 yuan, and has sold 891,000 pieces; another graphene warm pants has also sold 369,000 pieces. In the details page, the merchant introduced that this pair of warm pants heats up in 3 seconds, and one pair is equivalent to three pairs...
Take graphene as an example. It is a new material made of carbon atoms arranged and connected in a special structure. It has excellent thermal conductivity, but graphene itself does not generate heat.
Searching for keywords such as "warm clothes" and "down jackets" on e-commerce platforms will pop up tens of thousands of product categories; walking into a store, there may be more than ten kinds of autumn clothes and autumn pants. Some netizens exclaimed: "It's so hard to survive the winter!" Faced with a variety of clothes, how should we choose? Experts and industry insiders in the textile field have given some suggestions.
First, put aside the advertising slogans and look at the ingredient label first. "Generally speaking, the content of ingredients is accurate to one decimal place, which is more credible. Fabric composition testing rarely has an exact integer percentage." Mr. Zheng said.
In addition, underwear should avoid choosing underwear with high polyester (polyester fiber) content, because polyester is not breathable, does not absorb sweat, and has a strong sense of stuffiness.
For warm underwear, Mr. Zheng believes that those who pursue cost-effectiveness can choose German velvet, which has a good warming effect, high firmness, and is more durable; those who want a higher degree of comfort can choose blended fabrics containing wool and cashmere; those who want to be warm and not bloated can choose products with high yarn counts.
Second, look at the price. If the price of a piece of clothing is much lower than the market price, you need to be more cautious.
Taking wool clothing as an example, Mr. Zheng said that a set of thin all-wool thermal underwear and pants suits costs about 100 yuan off the plane. Including packaging and sales costs, the price is generally more than 200 yuan. If it is lower than this price, it should be questioned. "Some are discounted in wool content, and some may be backlogs of inventory. Because some have exceeded the warranty period, the warmth and quality may be affected." The third is the try-on experience. To feel the warmth effect more intuitively, consumers may wish to try it on outdoors in person. The most important thing is that consumers should remain rational, especially when shopping online in the live broadcast room, and don't be "fooled" by the exaggerated words of some merchants. "Some thermal clothing requires professional preparation technology. Even if the raw materials are the same, different processes will bring different wearing feelings, which is difficult to reflect in pictures or videos. Consumers can try to find brands or old stores, which are relatively more reliable."