Alternate Fabrics for Distinctive Air Force Uniforms.

A study was conducted to evaluate the relative performance of commercially available fabrics and to relatively rate the performance of each of these fabrics to each other and to the 55 polyester45 wool fabric MIL-C-21115 Type III Class 3 presently used for the Distinctive Air Force uniform. Samples of 150 commercially available fabrics made of polyester, wool, polyesterwool blend, and other fiber blends were evaluated by physical testing to establish the relative properties and performance characteristics of these fabrics. The performance of each of these fabrics as judged against five performance criteria was determined. The performance criteria were Appearance, Durability, Comfort, Easy Care, and Cost. Several alternate overall performance ratings of each sample were obtained by combining the ratings for the various performance criteria with different emphasis placed on certain criteria. It was found that a number of fabrics representing several different fiber content groups have overall performance ratings equal to the current standard fabric.