James Heal’s AquAbrasion. © James Heal

James Heal, a leading manufacturer of premium quality textile testing instruments and consumables, will launch a new collection of precision testing instruments at this year’s ITMA, which takes place in Barcelona less than a month from now.

As well as James Heal’s established range of quality products, four new James Heal testing instruments will be showcased at the exhibition. The new instruments will be unveiled on the James Heal stand for the first time. Focusing on the emerging theme of performance textile and comfort testing, the company hopes that these products will enable much greater understanding of how garments will behave in different conditions.

The new products cover several essential testing criteria. AquAbrasion is a class-leading hybrid Martindale, which allows users to perform controlled wet abrasion testing for the first time; ideal for outdoor wear and textiles expected to perform when wet or damp. TruRain is a water repellency tester, allowing users to test for this in a tightly controlled and repeatable way, with the test closely replicating real life conditions. ProDry provides insight into evaporation, and how garments such as activewear or athleisure products, will dry if damp through rain or sweat. Finally, WickView is a state-of-the-art instrument that uses an advanced imaging system to track and record the transfer of moisture through a garment, helping understand its effectiveness at moisture management and wicking behaviour.

This will be the twelfth time that James Heal has attended ITMA in Europe. The UK-based company first attended the event in 1971. “We’re really looking forward to welcoming customers old and new onto our stand at ITMA Europe, and particularly excited to invite attendees to put the James Heal product range on show to the test. This is our twelfth time at ITMA Europe and it’s great to be returning with such an exciting new range of instruments to exclusively unveil,” commented Amanda McLaren, Managing Director of James Heal.

“As well as showcasing these new additions, some of our best-selling innovations from our core product offer will be on show. These are testing instruments developed as solutions to some of the biggest problems faced by brands and manufacturers, from a wide range of sectors. We are constantly listening to the needs of the industry we serve, and as a progressive business we are totally committed to producing products that best meet the needs of our customers, providing them with the quality that will give them the edge over their competitors. One particularly exciting area we are focused on is the performance wear and athleisure sector, which is a real growth area in the textile industry.”

“However, as the provision of instruments to test in this sector is lacking and outdated at present, there is a huge opportunity to innovate. As a result, we’re confident we have come up with the latest testing solutions which will benefit the industry and create a real competitive advantage for those materials and garment manufacturers willing to embrace it.”

www.james-heal.co.uk