Frequently Asked Questions
All Tech Wear garments (standard-stock and custom-made) are made with pride in Arizona, North Dakota or California.
A jacket is shorter and will be about hip-length on a person of average height.
A ¾-length is a happy medium between jacket and coat. The bottom hem reaches to about mid-thigh on most wearers. (Standard length for Econo$hield garments)
A coat is almost knee-length on a person of average height.
Click here to see our fabrics and colors. Please contact us if you’d like a free sample of our fabric selection mailed to you. Yes, custom fabric colors are available. However, minimum quantities will apply depending on your selection of fabric.
Shielding
Garments with ground cords can be used as a primary grounding path for personnel. The carbon web of the garment ensures even dissipation across the garment’s entire surface, greatly reducing the likelihood of damage from ESD or concentrated fields. Static shielding garments do not, however, ground the operator or garment.
Grounding
Our groundable garments provide a path to ground for both operator and garment through a single connection at either side of the wearer’s waist. Conductivity between operator and garment are ensured either by the grid-knit ESD cuffs or with the Key Option and existing wrist straps. If you’re currently using wrist straps, you probably already know how effective personnel grounding is; imagine those benefits with the added benefits of unleashed hands! Some examples of Groundable Garments: LOJ-23C | VOJ-23C | HOJ-33C | HOC-23C | HIJ-43C | LOC-23Key | LOJ-23Key
Monitoring
Our X2 garments are compatible with dual-loop ground monitors for applications when ensuring absolute grounding is critical. The instant either garment or body aren’t grounded, the monitor beeps–a simple but very effective way to eliminate yield losses. Tech Wear garments made of OFX-100 or IVX-400, with ESD knit cuffs or Key Option are compatible with continuous monitoring systems that require a single connection to ground.
Access pockets – Allowing access to the pockets of your street clothes underneath our knee-length coat.
ESD grid-knit cuffs – Form contact patches on both wrists to ground the body. All garments with ESD Cuffs also include 4mm male snaps at the wearer’s waist to snap the ground cord.
Elasticized sleeves – We can install elastic at the sleeves if grounding is not required, but loose-hanging sleeves is a concern.
Neckline labels – For garment identification purposes, we can sew a custom label to the neck or almost anywhere inside the garment.
Modified length – Jacket-length too long? Coat-length not long enough? Just tell us how long you want it and we’ll make it happen!
Modified sleeve length – From short-sleeves to gorilla-arms…yes, we can!
Overcuffs – We can install an elasticized layer of fabric over the standard ESD grid-knit cuffs.
Patches – Mail us your name/company logo patches for installation or email us the image of your logo and we’ll take care of the rest. Embroidered | Silkscreened | Sublimated
Pen-tabs – A handy place for stashing a ball point pen, we can install them almost anywhere on the garment.
Side slits – Do you require a full-length coat, but do a lot of sitting and getting-up? Side slits are the answer!
Unexposed snap front – The snap backings at the front of the garment can be installed under a layer of fabric for situations where scratching sensitive surfaces is a concern.
Yes! We also make groundable or static-dissipative chair covers to your specifications. They are available in all fabrics and colors and can be grounded with a drag chain and existing ESD flooring. In addition, we will also make custom covers to suit almost any application. We’ve made ESD covers for electronic production assembly carts, microscopes, even ESD curtains for shelves used for static sensitive components. We also offer ESD barbeque aprons, cobbler aprons and sleeve protectors for static shielding or grounding. Email us with your application and we’ll reply with a solution.
No. Tech Wear garments are intended primarily for non-cleanroom electronics production environments. However, our garments made of the OFX-100, IVX-400, & ECX-500 are made of Polyester and carbons-suffused nylon threads and while they do not have the containment capability of typical cleanroom garments, they do not lint or sluff fibers.
No! Tech Wear garments are made to protect sensitive electronics from the voltage generated by the operator’s body and clothing. They are highly conductive and should not be worn near sources of high voltage. Hopefully there are no high voltage hazards in your ESD-safe workplace! Please contact us for a copy of ESD Controls in Hazardous High Voltage Environments, a paper that discusses an approach to resolve the seeming incompatibility of ESD controls and high voltage hazard safety controls.
Test your garments following the guidelines in the ESD Association’s [Standard Test Method] STM2.1-2013 – for the Protection of Electrostatic Discharge Susceptible Items – Garments – Resistive Characteristics. This document is available for purchase on their website at www.esda.org. If you are using a Tech Wear (Category 3) garment with ESD knit cuffs (or the Key option) as the primary grounding path for personnel, you can use a standard wrist strap tester by connecting a ground cord to the designated groundable point (located on the hip pocket) and plug into the tester. A “pass” indication from the tester is your assurance that you AND your garment are grounded. Tech Wear can arrange to have a sample of your present garments tested under our “No-Charge” Garment Testing Program.
Yes we can! In order to ensure a garment is as conductive as possible, the preferred method is to embroider or silkscreen your name or company onto a patch and sew this directly to the garment, but we can, depending on your fabric selection, embroider or silkscreen directly onto the garment. Please contact us with your questions and requirements.
Each of the static control fabrics we use in our garments have a distinctive advantage when matched to your application. E-mail us with your requirements and we will explain the advantages of each.
Quick Fabric Comparison
| Fabric | Carbon | Polyester | Cotton | Fabric Weight | Groundable | ESDA STM 2.1 Guaranteed | Application |
| OFX-100 | 13% | 87% | – | 2.3oz/yd2 | YES |
Category 3 100 washes |
For grounding person and garment when used in conjunction with ESD cuffs or Key Option. Lightweight comfort and excellent ESD performance |
| IVX-400 | 7% | 93% | – | 4.0 oz/yd2 | YES |
Category 3 100 washes |
For grounding person and garment when used in conjunction with ESD cuffs or Key Option. Medium-weight comfort and excellent ESD performance |
| ECX-500 | 2% | 98% | – | 3.0 oz/yd2 | no | Category 2 | Static shielding garment in continuous electrical path with a person; however, not the primary ground path |
| Nylostat | 1% | 65% | 34% | 5.0 oz/yd2 | no | Category 1 | For use in heavy soil & solder. Electrical field suppression properties |
OFX-100 is a light-weight knit (2.3 oz per square yard) fabric that is breathable, groundable and easily laundered. It is ideal for use in areas where there is little abrasion, light soil, and little or no exposure to soldering and chemicals. The fabric is made from monofilament thread, eliminating contamination from loose fibers working their way out of the fabric. The conductive grid pattern is knit into the fabric and designed to provide the highest carbon content and therefore best shielding and grounding performance available. Tech Wear’s ESD knit cuffs can be added to any OFX-100 garment and allow grounding of garment and wearer through one single ground cord, without the need of a wrist strap. OFX-100 fabric is available in White, Blue, Burgundy, Black, Teal and Military Digital Camouflage. Click here to see available colors.
IVX-400 has the same excellent static control properties and performance as OFX-100, but is a slightly heavier. IVX-400 fabric is 4 oz per square yard; while OFX-100 fabric is slightly transparent (you can almost read a newspaper through it in a bright room), the IVX-400 fabric is denser and more durable. IVX-400 also repels soil, stands up to abrasion, and will not slough off fiber contaminants. Our ESD knit cuff option on a garment made of IVX-400 gives the wearer the advantage of garment and wearer grounding without the need of a cumbersome wrist strap. IVX-400 is available in White, Black, Royal Blue, Green, NASA Blue, Teal and Burgundy. Click here to see available colors.
ECX-500 fabric is the best choice for effective yet economical static shielding garments. ECX-500 is used exclusively in the manufacturing of Econo$hield™ garments, which are designed to give static control protection in areas where ESD sensitivity is important and when handling products with a sensitivity threshold above 2,000 volts. It is strongly recommended that when handling products below this level that the garment be grounded (OFX-100 or IVX-400). ECX-500 is available in White, Blue and a “Stars & Stripes” pattern. Click here to see available colors.
Nylostat™ is a very durable woven fabric that works well for protecting personal clothing from heavy solder and soil, and where static discharge needs to be controlled. While Nylostat is composed of 34% cotton, its heavy weave can be warm in workplaces without air conditioning. We recommend Nylostat for heavy industry and for less ESD-sensitive applications. Click here to see available colors.
| 1st Digit: Style of the Garment | |||
| V – V-Neck | L – Traditional (Lapel-Collar) | H – Hallmark | S – Sterling |
| 2nd Digit: Fabric Selection | |||
| O – OFX-100 | I – IVX-400 | N – Nylostat | E – ECX-500 |
| 3rd Digit: Garment Length | |||
| C – Coat Length | J – Jacket Length | Q – 3/4-length | |
| 4th Digit: Color Selection (click here to see these colors.) | |||
| OFX-100 | IVX-400 | Nylostat | ECX-500 |
| 1 – White | 1 – White | 1 – White | 1 – White |
| 2 – Blue | 3 – Burgundy | 4 – Royal Blue | 4 -Diamond Blue |
| 3 – Burgundy | 4 – Royal Blue | 6 – NASA Blue | F – US Flag Pattern |
| 7 – Pink | 5 – Green | 9 – Black | |
| 8 – Teal | 6 – NASA Blue | ||
| 9 – Black | 8 – Teal | ||
| D – DigiCamo Pattern | 9 – Black | ||
| 5th Digit: Pocket Configuration | |||
| 3 – Standard 3-pocket | |||
| 0 – No Pockets | |||
| 1 – Breast Pocket Only | |||
| 6th Position: Sleeve Termination | |||
| C – ESD Grid-Knit Cuffs | |||
| Key – Wrist-strap-compatible Key Option | |||
| SS – Short-sleeve | |||
| (Skip this digit if ordering the standard sleeve hem, with snap adjusters.) | |||
| 7th Position: Size | |||
| XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL…. | |||
| HOJ-23C-L | |||
| Hallmark OFX-100 Jacket – 2(Blue) 3Pockets w/ Cuffs – Large | |||
Please contact one of our helpful distributors for pricing.
Sleeve-to-sleeve has become the abbreviated term referring to the resistance measurement from one sleeve to the other on a static control garment. The less resistance across a static shielding garment’s seams and fabric, the more evenly it will dissipate charge imbalances; more crucially in the case of groundable garments, the more surely the body and garment are both completely grounded. The method for testing a garment’s sleeve-to-sleeve conductivity is fully described in the National ESD Association’s STM2.1-1997 for the Protection of Electrostatic Discharge Susceptible Items Garments.
A hot soldering iron or a large drop of solder will cause some melting damage to these fabrics, but they will not support a flame. Due to its dense weave of polyester and cotton, Nylostat tends to stand up to hot solder drops.
Tech Wear static control garments can be laundered at home or by a commercial laundry service provider with excellent results. Laundering instructions are printed on the size label at the back of the neck of each garment. The laundering instructions of each fabric are listed at the bottom of their respective pages.
All snaps on the front of the garment should be snapped to prevent exposure of static generating personal garments to sensitive products. The snap located at the neckline can be left unsnapped for comfort, if it is determined that products will not be exposed to static generating personal garments at that height. Long sleeves of personal garments worn underneath an ESD garment should be pushed up or rolled up above the elbow to assure that they will remain under the sleeve of the ESD garment. The adjusting snaps on the ESD garment sleeve hems can be used to help prevent exposure of personal garments to sensitive products. The sleeves of the ESD garment should always remain extended to the wrist area to prevent the exposure of excessive arm hair which can generate static.
Even better! While a single wrist-strap is adequate for grounding a body, a grounded Tech Wear garment forms a conductive contact patch on both wrists. Even more significantly, wrist straps, heel grounders, and other items that ground the body do little or nothing to protect from the static charges caused by the turbocharging of personal clothing. A human body grounded with a wrist strap wearing common street clothes becomes in this case, the grounded eye of an electrostatic storm. If you’re already using wrist straps and cost is an issue, check out our Key Option garments, which use existing wrist straps to ground both the body and the garment. In addition to the benefit of freeing the operator’s hands from the ground cord, grounding the body through the garment also means fewer disconnects: an operator’s trunk is almost always less dynamic than his hands and the garment affords some “give” rather than disconnecting from the ground cord.
X2 Garments like the X2-HOJ-23C are used with Ground Monitors that sound an alarm whenever the operator’s body is no longer connected to ground. (Click here to learn more about the patented X2.)Your Content Goes Here