03/30/2026
I would like to draw your attention to an alarming trend in cloth manufacturing (pic related). As some of you know, our lead times on jackets and clothing gets stretched out quite a bit. We have had our fair share of challenges, but this is an alarming trend that we see at Zen from some suppliers.
In the image above, you will see four cloth swatches. The upper left and lower left are two samples requested of cloth that we have used historically for jackets...12+Oz bull denim and 12+Oz cotton canvas. These are, historically, cloth types that are tough as nails and punch test at over 400N when tested internally at Zen before use in clothing. These tested under half that.
Why are we posting this? For a few reasons...
- because we want to point out that we actually invested in Newton testers rated for up to 1000N, we use an 8mm sharp conical tip and we punch test every batch of cloth that we get multiple times throughout that batch's life cycle to verify that the 350N minimum puncture resistance that we claim is, in fact, true.
- because we know not everyone buys from us and because we know that some medieval groups craft their own gear. This is a heads up... manufacturers are cutting corners and we see it because we actually test things before we sell it. The trust of "X layers of Y fabric" cannot be trusted any more than the often misused home made punch testers that people carry around. If you make gear for others or if you make your own, buy a reputable, certified accurate tester if you make gear. Test often. What you are being sold is not what you used to get.
-selfishly, we made this post to inform anyone that wonders about delays. We care about the people that wear our gear. We refuse to send you out to protect yourself or your loved ones with jackets that we wouldn't trust or wear ourselves. And sometimes that means delays because our suppliers sent substandard materials that are just not what they were supposed to be.
Thank you for your time in reading this. We won't apologize for taking the time to get things right and keep you safe. We have delayed orders for this before, and we will continue to do so when we receive this type of garbage. We have not sent out items made of this substandard cloth because we have standards in place to catch this, as illustrated above. We are currently working with manufacturers who have helped us identify this trend. More on that as time and agreements allow.
We won't sacrifice your safety for money. We test our stuff. We are warning you to check your stuff if you make your own gear.
Oh and if you'll note...
The other two on the right are cloth samples we sought out for some neat things we were looking to do after speaking with the manufacturer. Note the 400+N test results. Not all cloth out there is bad.
