Traditional sherpa fleece is great at keeping people warm but maybe even better at picking up natural debris, which can make a mess and lead to premature wear and tear on clothing.
Wrangler listened to this complaint from rural workers, ranchers and outdoor enthusiasts and designed something it’s calling Hay Away, a patent-pending technology that actively repels hay, straw, mulch and grass.
To pull it off, Wrangler shifted the focus away from surface coating, wash or seasonal finish and toward re-engineering the fabric construction.
"Historically, wearing plush fleece around livestock or outdoors meant dealing with constant debris," said Dhruv Agarwal, vice president of sustainability, innovation & development at Kontoor Brands, parent company for Wrangler, Lee and Helly Hansen. "We developed Hay Away specifically to eliminate that friction. By preventing debris from clinging to synthetic fibers, we have delivered high-performance warmth without the cleanup."
Agarwal told Industrial Equipment News the key was fiber morphology, or the form and structure of a fabric. According to Textile School, it covers four scales: the outline you see in a microscope; the surface imperfections of fabrics like wool and cotton; the internal layers of the fabric; and the molecular packing inside the fabric. For Hay Away, Wrangler is likely able to avoid surface imperfections of natural materials by relying on synthetic fibers while skipping manufactured cross-sections that can attract debris.
Wrangler’s technology is targeted at farmers and ranchers, but the company is also positioning it as a solution for families with kids who play outside as well as hikers and campers who want to avoid picking up trail debris.
Wrangler
