Uniforms

[Gho57rid3r]

Good Day all,

I have a couple of questions I hope could be answered.
       
        1.With regards to Navy combats and the Nomex that they are made of, I understand that they are supposed to be washed only with other Nomex clothing and any grease or stains should be removed immediately in order to up keep the Nomex. With that in mind can you send your combats to the dry cleaner ? Would that harm them in any way? Also if you were issued previously enjoyed Naval combats how could supply be sure that the previous owner cared for them properly and didn't affect the Nomex protection in them?

        2.As for those of you that don't wear cadpat on a regular basis and wear uniforms that need to be pressed, do any of you just send them out be dry cleaned? do the dry cleaners press them properly? or do you still continue to press them yourself ? and how long have you been doing it that way?

Thanks again for all the feed back, this site continues to prove to be an amazing resource.

 

[niceasdrhuxtable]

Ref #2, I do all my own pressing since it's much cheaper and doesn't really take much work. Just use the regular iron settings for cotton and wool depending on which item you're trying to press and they'll come out fine.

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

When you're at sea the ships laudry does them for you and they just wash them....then you iron them. They will soften up a bit as they get worn in. the seams used to come apart on them really easily...I haven't worn them much since 98 as I've been ashore and then in Gagetown after my promotion wearing CADPAT....hopefully they fixed the seam problem as it was a real problem on the pants. Females didn't find them all that comfy either.

 

[medic65726]

I've been wearing Nomex flightsuits ofr years and a couple pf years ago had a talk with one of the suppliers. They said the flame retardant nature of Nomex if inherent in the fabric and cannot be washed out. However the only problem with washing with other types of fabric is the lint from the other itmes may be flammable and could transfer onto the Nomex (not really a big issue). The bigger problem is people using fabric softners and dryer sheets, as they are mainly parrafin wax and turn your clothes into a candle if ignited. Dry cleaning can be ok, but I think there are types of chemicals that are ok. Try Google for "nomex washing" or "Nomex care".
Just my 2 cents.

 

[Neill McKay]

I suspect -- and note that I'm not a dry cleaning SME -- that the chemicals themselves would not cause any trouble as they likely evaporate readily.  But the dry cleaner probably doesn't know to to keep your NCDs separate and only clean with with other Nomex garments, so you're back to contaminating it with assorted lint.