Beating the heat by design
At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge.
Goldilocks was hungry.
She tasted the porridge from the first bowl.
"This porridge is too hot!" she exclaimed.
So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl.
"This porridge is too cold," she said.
So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge.
"Ahhh, this porridge is just right," she said happily and she ate it all up."
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
According to bq magazine, Like Goldilocks, we all feel the urge from time to time for comfort and satisfaction. And nowhere does this urge manifest itself more than in our choice of clothing. Our selection of suitable attire is influenced by many different factors - our moods, our attitude to fashion, our size - but one of the most common reasons as to why we choose a particular garment are prevailing weather conditions.
The article reports that given this, modern textile manufacturers continuously strive to create new products that are not only comfortable and pleasing to the eye, but also have the added benefit of proper protection from differing weather conditions - particularly the more extreme ones, such as heat, cold, rain and snow. In recent years, the textile industry, through innovative approaches to design and technological advances in fabric production, have made great progress in developing and commercializing fabric that can adapt to these differing environments.
Crucial to this has been the production of fabric that has the capability to properly regulate body temperature through efficient response to different physical and external conditions. This includes thermal, mechanical, chemical, and electrical stimuli, and results in such fabrics finding appropriate and beneficial applications within a variety of differing clothing sectors. Notable examples are in sportswear, military apparel such as bulletproof and flak jackets, fire fighting wear, and many forms of safety wear for workers operating outdoors or in extreme conditions.
Working under the sun
Qatar has an arid desert climate characterized by unpleasantly hot summers. And given Qatar's rapidly expanding built environment - a process that has seen a massive increase in the numbers of construction workers in the nation over recent years - greater numbers of workers are being exposed to extreme temperatures that can lead to heat exhaustion, heatstroke or ultimately, death. As Rajib, a cleaning operative in Al-Wakrah states: “It’s very exhausting for me to work under this bright sun, but I don’t have any other way of working without doing it. So, to minimize the effect, I cover my face with clothes, and whenever I have a break, I drink lots of water and take my breaks in the shadows.”
It is a fact that, although summer temperatures in Qatar can exceed 40°C, outdoor workers do not possess work clothes that can protect them from such extreme degrees of heat. Designer Alia Khairat is particularly interested in the health and safety aspects of clothing design and technology, and their implications for the rapidly expanding workforce migrating to and working in Qatar. Her master’s degree thesis from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar focused on the subject and was titled “Not Another Space Suit - Fusing Technology and Indigenous Solutions To Facilitate Thermal Comfort.”
For more on this story visit bq magazines website.
