A Failed Project
At least I can share the failures
About 1 in 5 projects, in which I actually start work, end in complete disaster and no one ever gets to see them. Usually this is due to me screwing something up royally during construction like ripping a hole in the fabric or messing the fit up entirely from the onset. Todays project failed in a slightly different way, before any work was even done (but not before I had ordered the materials š¢).
The idea was to create a garment, most likely pants, from old worn our firefighter shells. I was going to take these shells apart and repurpose the worn materials to make something entirely new. Not in a stolen valor kind of way but in a very cool way youāll just have to trust me. I was excited for this project because it was reusing old materials, using interesting technical materials that are usually not available, and the materials had lots of attractive grime (Iām gonna miss the grime).
I bought 5 pairs of old firefighter pants on eBay and was about to start tearing them apart, the construction being subtly different from a normal pair of pants interestingly, when I got curious about what exactly the pants were made of. A 1 a.m. internet rabbit hole lead me to discover they are made from mostly Kevlar and/or Nomex which helps the pants resist fire and wear/tear. However in the fine print I noticed something concerning. These pants are drenched in PFAS or āforever chemicalsā (the pants even have a weird chemically feel to them). The same PFAS which are now the boogeyman of consumer products because they never degrade and may cause serious health side effects are heavily used in most firefighter gear. Apparel has been know to contain PFAS, they are even used in most rain jackets for water proofing, but firefighter gear is a league above the rest. Which makes sense considering the extreme conditions these items have to operate in. The levels of PFAS have to be high enough to retard any flammable liquid or oil that may come in contact with the fabric.
This creates all kinds of issue, the least of which were my thoughts around whether to risk the side effects and create this project. During my late night research I read maybe a dozen fire fighter forums where firefights are arguing back and forth about what the real risk of these chemicals are. Most of these chains ended in people throwing up there hands and stating everything causes cancer. I was also unaware, although it makes sense, that cancer is a huge risk among firefighters given the environments they work in. In these forums people like to point to this study as proof that the PFAS are a real issue. Concearningly this study shows higher levels in worn equipment than new equipment as the PFAS can be released with wear š¬. Some municipalities even discourage their firefighters from wearing the ābunker gearā unless absolutely necessary.
Ultimately this was too much for me at 2 a.m. and despite really looking froward to this project the PFAS were too suspect and I decided to return the pants (thankfully the eBay seller takes returns). Even if I were to wash these pants that would have a marginal impact on the forever chemical levels and they would then be released into the water supply for everyone to enjoy. The ultimate irony here is my poor sleep probably puts me at a higher risk of cancer than these pants ever will but still better safe than sorry as many of the online firemen liked to say.
*Cat unfazed by the chemicals