I had just arrived home when I got the Teams message from our Head of ESG to say that our FireBear polyester-free orange hi-vis had won Sustainable Product of the Year at the Southern Sustainability Partnership Big Sustainability Awards.
It was fantastic news, especially when I thought about the effort our team had put into placing the product in the spotlight over the last few months. From what I heard the Southern Sustainability Partnership put on a fantastic evening, and it really brought together organisations from a range of sectors that are all trying to solve similar sustainability challenges, share ideas and celebrate progress. To have FireBear recognised in that company is a huge deal.
Later on I thought about how I could best summarise the award win. Why do I think we won? What does this mean for FireBear and FR and arc protective workwear? Is this true innovation at work?
If you've been responsible for sourcing or worked with FR and arc-rated PPE before, you'll know that polyester has been part of orange hi-vis garments for a long time. It was widely accepted as necessary, because you needed at least 15% polyester to create the correct shade of orange.
But here’s the catch: polyester is far from the best solution for creating FR & arc flash.
Firstly, it is a synthetic fibre with well-known environmental drawbacks - energy required to produce it, the microplastics it can release, and the fact it remains in the environment for decades.
But even more concerning, is that polyester can melt during serious thermal incidents and vaporise off. This is a big challenge for anyone responsible for putting people into clothing designed to protect when working in hazardous environments.
This has never sat right with us, so we were determined to find an industry alternative.
Our focus was on removing polyester altogether … but that was easier said than done.
The reason polyester was part of orange FR & arc was because it was needed to create the correct safe shade of fabric. So removing it wasn’t like taking an ingredient out of a recipe, it had to be replaced by something safer and more sustainable, whilst never compromising the visibility and safety of the wearer. We had to rebuild the fabric from the ground up.
But by working alongside specialist partners, that search eventually led us to URIM technology and the development of what became the world's first polyester-free orange FR and arc-rated fabric. Instead of relying on polyester, the fabric uses a cellulosic fibre system that delivers the required visibility, flame resistant and arc-rated performance without needing polyester at all.
That is what was so exciting about this project and what made it so significant. It was believed that polyester was the price you paid for orange hi-vis, but we had created a completely new solution.
That was the real breakthrough. We weren't tweaking an existing material or reducing the polyester content, we were replacing it with a completely different fibre system that could achieve the same performance requirements without the environmental drawbacks or risks.
Polyester wasn't only an environmental challenge, it was a known melt risk during serious electrical incidents. That means that by replacing it, we didn't just create a more sustainable product, we created a safer one too.
Independent testing carried out by AITEX also showed excellent performance under sustained heat exposure. During a four-second EN11612 burn test, the coveralls resulted in less than 2% second degree burns on protected areas, with all components remaining intact. The testing demonstrated that removing polyester didn't compromise protection, it reinforced why removing it was the right decision in the first place.
I think that's why the product stood out for The Southern Sustainability Partnership. It was real innovation. We challenged a technical constraint the industry had accepted for years and found another way forward.
The result was a product that reduced environmental impact, removed a known melt risk and created a completely new option for those specifying orange FR and arc-rated PPE.
Discover how polyester-free fibre innovation improves safety, sustainability and long-term value. Download the eBook.
Bruce works at the forefront of global requirements and is a leading authority on arc flash PPE. Bruce is also highly knowledgeable about the requirements of the Energy and Utilities industry.
