As windproof jackets have become a "treasure item" in the fashion industry, more and more consumers have also paid attention to the functional aspects of windproof jackets. On April 1st, the new version of the "Outdoor Sports Clothing - Windproof Jackets" national standard (GB-T 32614-2023) was officially implemented. Compared with the previous version, the new standard has made adjustments in important indicators such as safety, moisture permeability, and wear resistance, providing better protection for consumers when choosing windproof jackets.
The new standard has been officially implemented.
The waterproof jackets that achieved a significant sales increase last year continued to enjoy high sales momentum after the temperature rose this year. According to the Tmall list, the sales volume of North Face and Trekker's waterproof jackets on the platform within the past 7 days has exceeded 2,000 pieces each, and the sales volume of Camel's three-in-one waterproof jacket within the same period has even exceeded 6,000 pieces.
However, the popularity of windbreakers in the market has also drawn the attention of more and more consumers to the quality issues of these functional clothing items. Problems such as severe color fading after washing, poor water resistance, and poor breathability... As of April 2nd, there were as many as 3,219 consumer complaints related to windbreakers on the Black Cat Complaints platform, with the majority of these complaints being related to product quality issues and the implementation standards of tags.
In order to further regulate the industry and market of windproof clothing, relevant departments have revised the original national standards based on the prominent issues regarding the performance and quality of windproof clothing. The new "Outdoor Sports Clothing - Windproof Clothing" national standard (GB-T 32614-2023) was released in September 2023 and will come into effect officially on April 1, 2024, completely replacing the old standard GB-T 32614-2016.
It is known that this new standard is supervised by the China Textile Industry Association and is implemented by the Sports Garment Branch of the National Sports Products Standardization Technical Committee. Companies such as Terao, Li Ning, Kelaosu, and Bosideng have all participated in the revision work.
"Improvement" and "Addition"
Compared with the old standards implemented since 2017, the changes in the new national standards for windproof clothing mainly lie in "improvement" and "addition". The former mainly raises the requirements for indicators such as water permeability, wear resistance, and color fastness, while the latter adds or clarifies indicators such as safety, color difference, and static water pressure.
In the new national standard, the standard definition of a windproof jacket is "a garment made by processing waterproof and moisture-permeable fabric for outdoor sports, which has the functions of waterproofing and moisture-permeability." From this definition, it can be seen that the moisture-permeability is an important indicator for evaluating the functionality of a windproof jacket. In actual use, moisture-permeability is crucial for the comfort and temperature regulation of the wearer during outdoor activities. However, in the old standard, moisture-permeability was differentiated between before and after washing, and the requirements after washing were relatively lower.
In view of this, the new national standard has raised the requirements for moisture permeability: For level I waterproof jackets, the moisture permeability rate has been increased from ≥5000 before washing and ≥4000 after washing to ≥6000 both before and after washing; for level II waterproof jackets, the moisture permeability rate has been raised from ≥3000 before washing and ≥2000 after washing to ≥4000 both before and after washing.
In terms of the wear resistance of the outer fabric of the windproof clothing, the new national standard has adjusted the requirement from the old standard of ≥10,000 times for both the upper and lower parts of the garment to ≥10,000 times for the upper part and ≥15,000 times for the lower part. Regarding the ability of the fabric to maintain its color after exposure to sunlight, the new standard has raised the color fastness to light index for dark colors by half a grade, from grade 3 to grade 3-4.
In the "new addition" section, to promote the environmental friendliness of the products, the new standard has also added tests for fabrics that claim to use fluorine-free finishing processes, ensuring the safety of the fabrics of related products; for the issue frequently mentioned by consumers, "severe color fading after washing", the new standard has added requirements for color difference, stipulating that the color difference after washing should be ≥ 4 grades; in addition, the old standard only stipulated the requirements for ropes and belts for children's clothing, while the new standard stipulates that children's clothing should comply with the national mandatory standard "Technical Specifications for Safety of Textiles for Infants and Children", comprehensively improving the safety of children's products.
Furthermore, for testing institutions, the new standard has added the requirement of conducting tests on elastic fabrics combined with metal meshes in the static water pressure test, making the test data more stable and reasonable.
Recommend that enterprises implement in accordance with the new standards.
After the new national standard is officially implemented, what should be done with the down jackets produced before the implementation date?
In response to this, China Business News reporter called the Sports Goods Standardization Technical Committee of the National Sports Clothing Sub-Committee. The relevant person in charge stated that "Outdoor Sports Clothing - Ripstop Clothing" does not set a transitional period for the new and old standards. According to the explanation of the National Standardization Administration Committee, after the new standard is officially implemented, it is recommended that enterprises follow the new version of the standard.
Based on the situation in the first two days after the new standard came into effect, some brand-name jackets have already started manufacturing their products in accordance with the new standards. The customer service representative of the Borchia Tmall flagship store told us that the jackets currently on sale in the brand include both new and old batches. The old batches were all produced before the implementation of the new standards, and the jackets produced in accordance with the new standards will not have their prices raised.
Industry insiders believe that with the increasing sales of windproof jackets in recent years, the official implementation of this new standard will be conducive to further standardizing the existing windproof jacket market and guiding the transformation and upgrading of industry quality.
It is worth noting that, prior to this, apart from failing to meet the quality inspection standards, false advertising was also a common "trap" in the market of windproof jackets. On the complaint platform, many consumers also reported that certain brands and merchants claimed their products as "windproof jackets", but the textile industry standards applied on the tags were for jackets.
In response to this, industry experts suggest that for products with functional properties such as waterproof jackets, brands and merchants have the responsibility to accurately, comprehensively and truthfully label the relevant performance and parameters of the products during the sales process.
