Warwick Mills was incorporated in the 1880s as one of the first textile mills in New Hampshire. From its origins as a family-owned cotton-based weaver, the company has emerged as a leading engineer and manufacturer of high-performance materials.

Throughout the years, Warwick’s products have been used for many unusually demanding applications — from the material used in the 1930s in the world record achieving stratospheric balloon Explorer II, to the inflatable floatation collars used in the Apollo missions in the 1960s, to the crash bags used to land NASA’s Mars exploration rovers Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity over the past decade. These days Warwick is bringing its expertise to the industrial safety market by manufacturing products that provide superior protection from cuts and punctures.

Matt Keenan, sales manager, sums up Warwick Mills’ business strategy: “[It is] to identify applications where our new technological advances in fabrics, coatings and laminations increase strength and flexibility, reduce weight and thickness, and generally provide the best solutions available.”

Lightweight & flexible

The company’s key products are marketed under the “TurtleSkin” name and include cut- and puncture-resistant gloves and sleeves in a light, flexible material. Thinner than leather, the material provides uniform protection from small penetrators such as hypodermic needles, glass, wire, metal, wood splinters and even small animal teeth (such as snake fangs).

“TurtleSkin products are tightly controlled and are not available in other brands of gloves, which helps to protect the integrity and stability of distribution channels,” notes Keenan.

An ISO-9001 certified company, Warwick Mills has extensive engineering experience working with the military, government as well as private enterprise and has utilized this experience to create new base materials, according to Keenan. “Our comprehensive range of technology, from yarn preparation, weaving, coating and lamination to end-product design and production, allows us to control each step of the process ensuring quality and reliability.”

Among the company’s safety glove products are: the TurtleSkin MultiGuard Glove, with four layers of high-strength aramid for maximum cut and puncture protection; the TurtleSkin Insider Gloves, cotton gloves that can be worn inside existing safety gloves to add cut and puncture protection; and TurtleSkin WorkWear Gloves, designed for tasks that require grip, dexterity, tactile sensitivity, and cut and puncture resistance.

High-value products

Warwick Mills supports its distribution network by providing product training, literature and leads from trade shows, national advertising campaigns and its Web site, www.warwickmills.com. The company also refers potential customers who are interested in TurtleSkin safety products to its distributors.

“We work with distributors who are accustomed to presenting and promoting high-value safety products and who will commit to stocking TurtleSkin so that they can most effectively service the leads that we provide to them,” says Keenan.

“Though relatively new, our distribution network is making strides in understanding the TurtleSkin product line and its applications and communicating that knowledge to the industrial safety market,” says Keenan. “We have also been developing and introducing new products for waste handling, recycling, wood handling and animal handling applications.”

Warwick Mills, www.warwickmills.com, 1-888-477-4675

Links

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