To describe the summer in Xi'an in four words, "hot and hot" is very appropriate. Before June, the temperature in Xi'an reached 30°C+ and the maximum UV index reached 10 (very high).
If a person's skin is exposed to ultraviolet rays for a long time, it can become sensitive and fragile, which can cause wrinkles, pigmentation and even skin cancer. In recent years, people have become more aware of the importance of sun protection, and accordingly, a wide variety of sun protection products have been popularized. In particular, sun-protective clothing has become the "standard" for many people to go out in summer.
But some people feel that sun-protective clothing is no obvious difference compared with ordinary long-sleeved jackets, or even thinner, how can they be "sunscreen"? I feel that sun-protective clothing is an IQ tax. There are also people who believe that sunscreen clothing is useful to wear, but when they open the online shopping platform, they find that sunscreen clothing is varied, with prices ranging from tens of yuan to hundreds of yuan and thousands of yuan, and how to buy a suitable sunscreen clothing has become a headache.
Is it an IQ tax? Is the more expensive the sunscreen clothing, the better the sun protection? Recently, a reporter from Huashang Daily Gale News bought 7 sunscreen clothing of different brands and different prices in shopping malls and online, and sent them to textile and garment testing institutions for inspection as they were.
Shop for sun-protective clothing
There are all kinds of online and offline sunscreen clothing sold on the market more and more "rolled"
In April, the reporter first came to a large shopping mall in the south of Xi'an to buy sunscreen clothing as a sample for the test.
In the mall, a brand store specializing in sunscreen products is full of customers. Many outdoor brand stores, sports brand stores and even down jacket brand stores also use sunscreen clothing as the main promotion.
The reporter randomly entered more than a dozen stores, and the clerks recommended all kinds of sunscreen clothing, which were more "rolled" than one in terms of sunscreen performance, appearance, and lightness, and the price difference was also large.
In a well-known outdoor brand store, the clerk took out a men's sunscreen clothing priced at 1590 yuan, saying that this sunscreen clothing is made of imported fabrics, original yarn sunscreen UPF100+, with a cool feeling and washability, and multiple washes do not affect the sunscreen effect. On the tag, the garment is called a knitted sports top, with a special sun protection logo and the words "through specially treated yarn or fabric organization".
Among the more than 10 stores visited, the price of sunscreen clothing sold in outdoor brand stores was higher than that of other types of brand stores. In some sports brand stores, some of the "sun-protective clothing" tags recommended by the clerk do not have UV protection logos on them.
There are two stores, it seems that the sunscreen is very professional, the store sells a full range of sunscreen products, including sunscreen clothing, sunscreen masks, sunscreen hats, etc., these two stores have similar brand names, and have been quite popular with consumers in recent years.
Upstairs, a brand that started as underwear, the clerk introduced that their sunscreen clothing has multiple series of high-end and cool skin, but the sun protection index is the same, all of which are UPF100+. The high-end series has a vest and is quite outdoor-style, priced at 699 yuan. There are many styles and colors of the cool skin series, and the price is more than 600 yuan and 300 yuan. As for the principle of sunscreen, it is the original yarn sunscreen, adding titanium dioxide particles to the yarn to reflect and absorb the ultraviolet rays in the sun, prevent sunburn, and still maintain the sunscreen ability after washing.
A brand downstairs that started with a sunscreen umbrella once called it a leading brand of sunscreen clothing in China. The shelves in the store are lined with fashionable sun-protective clothing, and women wear loose, slim, capes and other styles. The reporter randomly selected a women's sunscreen clothing, and the clerk said that according to the national standard, the UPF50+ on the clothing tag is required, and the sunscreen index of the clothes can actually reach UPF1000~1200.
Unexpectedly, a domestic brand of down jackets also sells sunscreen clothing. The clerk recommended to the reporter a star of the same style, with a price of 299 yuan, UPF100+, and the same use of original yarn technology sunscreen and wash-resistant.
In the end, the reporter bought a sunscreen clothing in each of the last three stores, and the prices were 355 yuan, 299 yuan, and 284 yuan respectively. In another shopping mall, the reporter bought a children's sunscreen clothing with a price of 149 yuan from a Japanese fast-moving clothing brand, and the tag was marked UPF50+.
In addition to physical stores, buying sunscreen clothing online has also become a major choice for consumers. There are more brands to choose from online, and the prices are more diverse. In order to make the experiment more comparative, the reporter then bought 3 pieces of sunscreen clothing from different stores online, and the actual prices were 22.93 yuan (sales of 100,000), ➕ 66 yuan (sold 2,000➕), and 169 yuan (sold 5,000➕).
It is worth mentioning that after getting the sunscreen clothing of 22.93 yuan and 66 yuan, the new clothes have washing labels, but there are no tags.
Authoritative testing
The UV protection performance of 7 sunscreen clothing has reached UPF100+, and there is no difference between more than 20 pieces and hundreds of pieces?
In late April, a reporter from Huashang Daily Gale News sent 7 pieces of sunscreen clothing to Shaanxi Textile Standard Testing and Certification Co., Ltd. located in West Street, Xi'an Textile City. This company was formerly the Shaanxi Provincial Textile Product Quality Inspection and Testing Center, and is a third-party provincial inspection and testing organization authorized and certified by the Shaanxi Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau. After learning that the inspection was based on the report and was a public welfare nature, Shaanxi Textile Standard Testing and Certification Co., Ltd. also strongly supported it, and the whole process of testing was free of charge.
Before sending it to the laboratory, we first numbered 7 pieces of sunscreen clothing in turn, and the 3 pieces purchased online were numbered as No. 1 (payment of 22.93 yuan, hot sales of 100,000 +), No. 2 (payment of 66 yuan, sold 2000+), No. 3 (payment of 169 yuan, sold 5000+), 4 pieces bought in physical stores were numbered as No. 4 (payment of 355 yuan, brand of underwear), No. 5 (payment of 299 yuan, brand of sunscreen umbrella), No. 6 (payment of 284 yuan, domestic down jacket brand), No. 7 (payment of 149 yuan, Japanese fast-moving clothing brand).
There are two types of inspection items in this test: ultraviolet protection performance and fiber content. The inspection is based on the national standard GB/T 18830-2009 "Evaluation of the anti-ultraviolet performance of textiles" and the national standard GB/T 29862-2013 "Marking of Textile Fiber Content".
Test Method:
Anti-ultraviolet performance - the experimenter cut 7 samples into 3 parts and put them into the YG(B)912E textile anti-ultraviolet performance tester in turn, and tested them in accordance with the standard of GB/T 18830-2009 "Evaluation of Ultraviolet Resistance of Textiles".
The test begins, and the first step is to check the irradiance of the UV rays produced by the light source when there is no specimen occlusion, remove the specimen and remove all occlusion from the light source to the integrating sphere, and then start the test.
The second step is to detect the irradiance of UV rays of the same wavelength and intensity as the previous step after passing through the sample, load the sample, and continue the test.
Li Yingxin, a testing experimenter, demonstrated that after starting the test, the three samples of each sample will carry out the second step in turn, during which the computer system will get a set of data, namely UVA transmittance (%), UVB transmittance (%), and protection factor (UPF). After the test of the 3 samples is completed, the computer system automatically calculates and will obtain the UPF value of the sample
T(UVA)av值。
According to the provisions of the national standard GB/T 18830-2009 "Evaluation of UV Resistance Performance of Textiles", "UV-resistant textiles must reach UPF>40 and UVA transmittance of <5% before they can be called UV-resistant products". If the test sample meets the technical requirements of the national standard, the computer system will directly evaluate it as an anti-ultraviolet product.
After the UV protection performance test of 7 samples, the fiber content was tested in accordance with the national standard GB/T 29862-2013 "Identification of Textile Fiber Content".
Test Results:
For the UV protection performance project, 7 pieces of sunscreen clothing of different brands and different prices all meet the technical requirements of the national standard GB/T 18830-2009 "Evaluation of UV Protection Performance of Textiles", and are all UV protection products, with UPF values of 100+ and slight differences in T (UVA) av values.
For the fiber content item, the fiber content of sample 1 (payment of 22.93 yuan, sunscreen clothing sold by an online shopping platform with 100,000+) does not meet the technical requirements of the GB/T 29862-2013 "Identification of Textile Fiber Content" standard. The other 6 samples were all compliant.
The results of the test are presented graphically:
If the UPF value of more than 20 sunscreen clothing reaches 100+, can I buy it?
The answer is "not recommended".
The more than 20 yuan sunscreen clothing used for the test, the first problem is that there is no tag, and secondly, it is suspected that "the goods are not the version", and the washing label of the clothes indicates that 88% of the fabric is nylon, and the actual test found that the main component of the fabric is polyester fiber.
An industry insider said that nylon is stronger and more wear-resistant than polyester fiber, and as far as he knows, the cost price of ordinary polyester fiber is lower than that of nylon.
In addition, the merchant introduced that this sunscreen clothing of more than 20 yuan was made of original yarn cooling fabric with sunscreen function, but there was no relevant introduction on the product detail page. Among the 4 sunscreen clothing bought by the reporter in the physical store, two of them also advertised the use of cool sunscreen technology, original yarn technology sunscreen, and there were logos and explanations on the clothing tags.
It is reported that "raw yarn sunscreen" is a popular technology in the sunscreen clothing industry in recent years, but some brands do not provide relevant test reports when promoting the use of this technology. If the product does use raw yarn technology, it must be tested for wash resistance and at least reported on the product page.
According to industry insiders, although sunscreen clothing has sunscreen functions, there will be differences in sunscreen technology. The sunscreen process has a great impact on the price and durability of sunscreen clothing. On the market, common sunscreen fabrics include raw yarn sunscreen fabrics, coated sunscreen fabrics, and dyeing aid-type sunscreen fabrics.
Compared with coated and dyeing aid-based sunscreen fabrics, raw yarn sunscreen fabrics are more breathable and skin-friendly, but the price is relatively higher. The original yarn type sunscreen fabric is a kind of sunscreen fabric manufactured by the original yarn type process, this fabric will be mixed with microparticle titanium dioxide, zinc oxide or other raw materials that can absorb or scatter ultraviolet rays before spinning with polymers, and then spinning, the fiber fabric produced by this process originally has the function of anti-ultraviolet rays, without adding coatings and dyeing aids, and is more durable and washable. If the sunscreen clothing is made of raw yarn sunscreen, the sunscreen effect is better, and it can reduce the decline of the sunscreen effect of washing, and the corresponding cost will be high.
Is sunscreen clothing an IQ tax?
According to reports, the larger the UPF value and the smaller the UVA transmittance, the better the anti-ultraviolet performance of textiles. However, there is no need to blindly pursue a high UPF value, a UPF value of 50 can achieve high UV protection performance, and a higher UPF value is of little significance to improve the UV protection performance of textiles. Compared with ordinary clothes, sunscreen clothing has a high UPF value and better sun protection effect.
How to choose sun-protective clothing?
1. Look at the label to choose
When consumers buy sun-protective clothing, check the implementation standards and relevant data on the product tag or promotional page to determine whether the sunscreen effect of the clothing meets the requirements. UPF>40，T(UVA)av
2. Upper body experience comfort
In the hot summer, sunscreen clothing with poor breathability will feel stuffy when worn. When buying sun-protective clothing, try to choose sun-protective clothing that feels comfortable to the hand and has a breathable design, such as some sun-protective clothing with perforated fabrics in the armpits and other parts to increase breathability. In addition, professional sunscreen clothing can provide enough effective UV protection function, at this time, the color of the clothing is not the most critical UV protection factor, so there is no need to worry too much about whether to buy dark colors for more sun protection.
3. Pay attention to the fabric process
Under the premise that the sunscreen function is up to standard, the nylon fabric is more "breathable", and the original yarn process is more "washable". If you buy coated or dyeing auxiliaries type sunscreen clothing, you need to pay attention to reducing the number of washing of sunscreen clothing, act gently to avoid stretching during washing, and avoid wearing and storing sunscreen clothing in a humid environment.
Huashang Daily Gale News reporter found during the visit that the price of sunscreen clothing on the market ranges from tens of yuan to thousands of yuan, from the cost of fabrics, design and craftsmanship to consider as a whole, more than 100 yuan, and in line with the national standard sunscreen clothing can be preferentially selected to buy, the purchase of too cheap sunscreen clothing may encounter no tag, "the goods are not right" situation, thousands of yuan of sunscreen clothing is not lacking in brand premium, it is recommended that you buy on demand.
Huashang Daily Gale News reporter Chang Pengduo/text Zhao Bin/picture
Source: Huashang Net-Huashang Daily