Next Generation Textiles for Multi-Threat Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

When responding to an incident, first responders often do not know what environments they will encounter at the incident scene. Although the garments that they are wearing may provide protection in their normal working environment, it may not be suited for unexpected conditions they encounter when they reach the scene of the incident, or as the incident progresses. Through this SBIR, Wizbe Innovations, Tex Tech Industries, University of Maine, and Supreme Corporation, will develop and introduce a basic textile for use in protective clothing for first responders. This textile and clothing made from this clothing will provide a basic level of protection including: ballistic/fragmentation, slash/stab for knife/cut glass type incidents, antimicrobial protection, and fire resistance. The new textile and garments made from the textile will be lightweight and flexible enough to enable wearing in most typical, daily activities and enable a certain level of protection.