“The Clim8® lab is unique”
We’ve created, in our French office, a research and test area, built with a strong international team of experts in thermophysiology, thermal comfort and smart textiles.
Our goal is to provide the best-in-class heating technologies. For that, our house of experts combines human physiology and thermal science to design and improve each product. Every design we make is backed with a strong science expertise, making the most of its collaborative process with institutes, universities and premium brands, to tailor products that will allow the user to live their best experience.
What makes the difference
We push conditions to the extreme to provide the most durable and qualified heated garments of the industries. For that we have found the perfect combination of the features of a climate chamber that can go down to -15°C, a wind turbine that can go up to 100km/h and a folding and twisting machine.
In our lab we run large numbers of thermal and durability tests to make sure our designs are durable and can provide a real benefit to the user. We want to guarantee the ultimate thermal comfort.
Inside the Clim8® lab
Now let’s have a look at what our experts do in order to develop our heating products, from conception to lab, and field testing.
Understanding
At Clim8, we work in close collaboration with premium brands from different industries, such as workwear, outdoor sports, motorcycling equipment and lifestyle to define the typical scenarios of use and which will be the perfect product to satisfy the user’s needs seamlessly.
In our lab we develop new industrial standards, such as thermal insulation, heating efficiency and field tests protocols to better represent the usage of every project we design.
Design
The next step is to turn research, ideas and experience into the very first digital sketches of the heating elements. As we work with many products, our e-textile managers first design the most suitable heating element for that product, so it will be in strategic zones for the optimal thermal comfort. Then they transform this design to a reality and go through the star machine of our lab “the embroiderer” in order to integrate the heating element into a fabric.
Conception
To get a feel of what the product will feel and look like, our prototypist is in charge of incorporating the heating element, which means embroidering, connecting the heating panel to the Clim8® PCB, attaching the heating panel to the branded product and making sure throughout the prototyping process that the heating system remains functional.
Lab test
As soon as the prototype is ready, our test engineers have to set up the test protocol, which will check the comfort, the performance and the durability of the products with the different machines at their disposal. Before any product goes to production, it is extensively tested, until our test engineers are fully satisfied.
Real world
The final and most important stage is to pass it to their ideal user to see how it performs out in the real world and to ensure even more durability of our products. We then collect data from our testers and with their feedback, the product is either approved for production, or they return to the development process to make whatever changes they feel are necessary.
The lab, a R&D and digital environment
We have a digital department that works closely with the lab. They are in charge of collecting the information about our users and their feedback. Thanks to this anonymously generated information, our R&D team is able to continuously improve the technology. And through the strong digital system that we’ve developed, these improvements can be made remotely via an update of the internal product system.
Working with different industries has allowed us to explore the best of each of them and become experts in the market.
We are now able to develop and enforce our new standards in our industry. From physiology & body mapping for optimized performance, to the consideration of environmental impact through lab and field testing, to the textile and fabrics properties for best-in-class insulation, to the seamless integration of dedicated electronics.