James Heal announced today the launch of its redeveloped TruRain water repellency tester. The latest release includes an innovative new ‘water recirculation’ feature, making TruRain the only Bundesmann tester on the market which is proven to significantly reduce operating costs by 83% and water consumption by 99%.
The leading manufacturer of precision textile testing instruments, James Heal, has developed a sustainable solution to an industry-wide problem: the water consumption of artificial rain shower testing.
The traditional ‘Bundesmann’ water repellency test is the accepted method of providing artificial rainfall to simulate the process of rain in the natural environment, to determine the water repellency of different fabrics.However, this test method is not sustainable: the running costs for testing are high and so are the environmental impacts associated with it – waste, water use and energy consumption. For instance, a typical Bundesmann water repellency test runs for 8 hours per day, five days per week, consuming 3360 litres of water.
TruRain is an evolution in sustainable textile testing: a next-generation, artificial rain shower testing instrument, for determining the water repellency of textiles, sustainably. Its benefits include:
• Significant cost savings: An 8-hour working day use of the TruRain recirculation system sees an 83% total cost savings in energy consumption and total running costs
• Less waste: 99% less water is used during testing alone – weekly test water usage consisting of 150 tests drops from 2100 to just 23 litres
• Increased throughput and productivity: Easy to use and less ‘cumbersome’ than a traditional Bundesmann, tests can be run continuously for 8 hours/day, 5 days/week
• Accurate, safe and reliable: Through the use of an effective Water Safety Plan, health and safety can be maintained with no impact on the efficacy and reliability of test results.
“As our product range grows, we will consider the introduction of sustainability features for new product releases over time” said Innovation Director, Neil Pryke. “But with TruRain, we saw an opportunity to take action now to slow the curve on water use in textile testing,” emphasised Neil.
The news of James Heal’s TruRain sustainability feature is particularly timely, given that the apparel and footwear sector has been under global scrutiny more than ever recently, as the second largest polluter in the world. 20% of the world’s total wastewater is produced by the apparel industry, and over 2.5 billion tons of water is discharged per year in China alone. “Water waste has become a core part of the fashion industry – it’s happening across the supply chain, from yarn to consumer – and not enough is being done to address the issue of waste,” adds Neil.
