Oskar Hollenstein, Project Manager MBAS, Competence sector Purchasing + Cooperation

The modular clothing and equipment system MBAS comprises some 100 components and is divided into subsystems: combat clothing, supporting system, hydration pack and personal ballistic protection. All fabrics with camouflage print are procured by armasuisse, temporarily stored in a warehouse in Seftigen and supplied to the firms manufacturing the items of clothing and equipment.

All sorts of fabric are printed with the camouflage pattern. Some are mixtures of cotton and polyester fibres, others are made of pure polyamide fibres. Processing the fabric from its raw state when it emerges from the weaving plant into printed material ready to use is known as finishing and involves a large number of different stages. Here is a brief description of what happens:

Cotton in its natural state contains all sorts of impurities After spinning and weaving the fabric also still contains oils. These first have to be removed, so the application of the dyes is not affected and the fabric absorbs them evenly. These requires several washing processes, depending on the type of fabric. The pre-treated fabric is then dried.

Each colour is printed separately. Separate categories of dye have to be used for each type of fibre. Cotton is printed with vat dyes, polyester with dispersion dyes and polyamide with metal complex dyes. The colour formulations to produce each shade consist of blends of at least two dyes. The plant printing the fabric mixes the dyes itself and can adjust the blends depending on the result. Camouflage print consists of four different shades (light beige, dark beige, brown and green). After printing the dye is fixed (with hot steam, for example) so the dye molecules are firmly attached to the fibres. Any remaining dye left on the surface of the fibre is washed off and the fabric is then dried again.

The skill in textile printing lies in the colour formulation, the printing process and fixing and washing the fabric in such a way that the camouflage pattern on the different types and batches of fabric always have the same design and shade.

The printed material is given different chemical and mechanical treatments, depending on its intended use. For example, it can be made water-resistant and crease-resistant; it can even be made easier to sew. Water-resistant materials for rainwear have a thin membrane bonded on. The membrane is so thin that drops of water cannot penetrate it, but water vapour can.

Textile finishing processes requires large quantities of water, energy and chemicals. We therefore attach great importance to suppliers having extensive chemical management processes in place and using modern equipment and efficient processes.