Fabric and Design
Download Technical
Information Sheet
Fabric
Our fleece garments are made of high performance woven polyester Polartec® 200 fleece – the grade and quality found in advanced technical mountaineering wear. You can download the Polartec® Technical Information Sheet on the right.
Fleece is undoubtedly the best wicking medium and it is this wicking action which continually blocks rain while still breathing away excess heat and moisture. It’s much warmer and more durable than wool and thermal cotton.
All of our fleece wear is machine washable, tumble dries, and won’t shrink, stretch or fade. Soft to wear, it’s also silent – no rustling exercise sheets on young horses on windy days, or restrictive rigid coats on small dogs.
Non-absorbent, the fleece doesn’t force a wet animal to sit in a damp garment, nor does it absorb smells, so after every wash it’s as fresh and friendly as when you bought it.
It is worth noting, however, that Polartec fleece is not like neoprene and cannot be used for swimming in, it would be much like a person swimming in a fleece, getting heavy and stretching permanently out of shape.
Our fleece comprises at least 85% recycled content, so it has great environmental credentials too. To date, Polartec® have recycled over 1.3 billion plastic bottles into fleece, and more than 85% of the water they use during production is recycled.
We also upcycle fleece offcuts into our popular Dog Not dog toys.
Design
Our fleecewear is designed to beat the worst of British weather (no mean feat!) and caters for all dogs, tiny terrier to Great Dane, using the incredible versatility of top quality fleece to the maximum, all the while looking for style rather than fashion.
Uses include outdoor wear, rest and recovery for working dogs, winter wear for aged and fine coated dogs, post operative warmth and protection, drying off after hydrotherapy, swimming and exercise in lousy weather, and in the case of the high visibility fleece, aiding accident prevention.
Our high visibility fleece products for dogs have the added feature of being designed to aid accident prevention as well as offering ultimate in weather protection. In addition some garments, including the simple and highly effective Spot the Dog slip-on collar, have retroreflective strips adding extra visibility in low light conditions as the wearer nears a light source. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the British Horse Society have both appealed for road users to wear fluorescent garments.
None of us should have to choose between comfort and safety, either for ourselves or our animals. In daylight hours or murky conditions fluorescent materials have been shown to be superior to simply reflective materials in providing increased visibility, vital for road safety.
As with all our fleece, when worn next to the skin it both keeps the weather out and allows excess body heat to escape giving the ultimate in comfort to any dog.
Our dog wear is used and recommended by hydrotherapists, vets, dog handlers in both the working and showing world, caring pet owners and shown off by the dogs themselves. Animals which have previously resented clothing welcome the Equafleece garment because it is made primarily with the dog in mind.
The Dog T-Shirts have been hailed revolutionary by canine therapists as a means of easing the anxiety of dogs suffering from any number of stress related conditions. The t-shirts are also used by our customers to combat contact allergies and photosensitivity, and soaked in cold water before wearing, act as extremely effective cooling vests taking up to four hours to fully dry while the evaporating water lowers the dog’s body temperature – great for hot days.
Washing Equafleece® Garments
All the fleece garments machine wash really well on a gentle 30°C or 40°C cycle, and because the water-repellent nature of fleece is innate, there is no need to re-proof your Equafleece® – ever!
But BEWARE! Don't use fabric softeners, 2-in-1 detergents or any special detergents. The best detergent to use is a regular non-bio.
Also BEWARE! Don't wash your fleeces with light coloured towels or linen as they often shed lint particles when washed, and fleece is brilliant at picking up lint (in rare cases, lint has been deposited in a machine from a previous wash). The result is that your lovely fleece can come out of the machine looking like it has dandruff. The only way to get rid of those particles is to then brush the fleece carefully with a nail brush. Equafleece is in no way liable for the adhesion of lint or how a customer washes their garments.
The fluorescent garments should be washed separately or with whites to ensure they come up glaringly bright after every wash.
