Our Fabric

Newlife™ is a range of fabrics created using sustainable production methods that are kind to the environment and recycled PET plastics source from local European recycling centres for its core yarn that carries the same performance characteristics as our standard high-performance micro-fibre. Lookfly has put a considerably amount of time and research into perfecting this range of fabrics and is excited to bring this new level of eco-friendly gear to our customers.

Look for these symbols for garments in our range made from our newest NewLife™ Microsilk range of fabric. This is a performance fabric designed to maximise comfort by reducing our dual layer performance fabric to a fine silky finish which also maximises the benefits of sublimation printing. It is very lightweight (120gsm) has a lush smooth finish, next-to-skin appeal and gives a striking clarity to all print methods including our full colour sublimation artwork. It's without questions the highest quality of fabric Lookfly have produced to date and, being it's NewLife™, it's made from recycled bottles and other PET plastics, and can also be recycled along with your household plastics. Do you want an easy way to be look great, feel great and know you're being green in the process. Lookfly is the way forward!

The Technology

Moisture management and temperature control are the fundamental design characteristics of all Lookfly technical fabrics.

The Body

The body does most of the work for us through its own mechanisms for temperature control. If we're cold, the body limits circulation through the arms and legs in order the reduce the heat exchange with the surrounding colder atmosphere. If we're too warm, the body increases circulation and causes us to sweat. This leads us to cool down via the endothermic process of evaporation.

The Clothing

Wearing clothing is meant to protect us. It can however disrupt the body's natural body regulation. A garment that absorbs our sweat but does not transport and distribute it for evaporation will only make us warmer and sweat even more. After exercise, if the garment has not done its job and is still wet after we have ceased activity, it will still try to evaporate the moisture, making us too cold.

The Answer

Performance clothing has a singular high priority. That priority is not to last a lifetime, nor is it to maximise our comfort through silky softness. The number one goal of performance wear is to make sure we perform at our highest levels by NOT inhibiting our body's natural ability to regulate our temperature. It does this in three ways:

Transporting body humidity (sweat) to the surface of the garment as fast as possible.

This is accomplished by using micro-fiber yarns and the associated capillary action. The smaller the fibres, the better the "wicking" or transport.

Encourage rapid evaporation.

Moisture distribution is key. This can be via the breakdown of surface tension using a variety of fabric treatments or via surface area disparity. Some multi-layer fabrics like NewLife and 4ACTIVE introduce a differential between the next-to-skin surface area and the next-to-air surface area which spreads the moisture thinly and evaporates significantly quicker.

Keep the skin/wearer feeling dry.

Contrary to what you might expect, cotton can absorb a lot of moisture without feeling damp. It does however take significantly longer to dry. Synthetics like polyester do perform better but will feel wet after even small amounts of humidity are absorbed. This is why, although a simple polyester shirt may be sold as a performance garment, it can easily disappoint if it has not been designed with the previous two points in mind.