Nascar type Firesuit

[sschroed2]

I have a new (possible) customer that has a firesuit that they want embroidery work done on. My thought is that if I embroider through it will ruin the intregrity of the firesuit. Has anyone had experience with this before?
Sue
All custom Embroidery

[HERB]

Real touchy ground here as far as liability goes. All fire suits that you have seen (TV) are embelished prior to being sewn together. If they are multi-layer when you look at them you will see a "quilting" pattern to them. This is just a part of their fire protective nature. When you compress, alter the way the suit is manufactured you destroy the "rating" of the suit. If you use poly thread you run the risk of melting this to the wearer in case of fire. If you use rayon, it will not stand up to the abuse. There are NOMEX threads available for the embroidery but they are in limited colors and are expensive. I have been a crew member for a touring Super Late Model team for several years and have been aproached several times for this, my gut feelings remain the same. If you provide the OUTER layer of your suit I will be happy to. Most suit manufactures will send you the panels prior to assembly. Other than that, thanks but no thanks.

[Dorothy Compton]

I was once told that the powers that be won't let a driver race if the suit is compromised for its fire protection qualities! Even using the Nomex thread would be needle punctures in the suit. Have them ask a race official about it? My 2 cents for what its worth (probably less than 1!).

Dorothy Compton, Owner
Bee Embroidered
www.BeeEmbroidered.com
(916) 635-7467

[Dorothy Compton]

Forgot to add....suggest an iron-on patch. You can get blank patches with the iron-on already on and as long as you don't cover the whole back with stitches, you can iron it on!

Dorothy

[Judy]

I did one once. On the NECK, where there is no flame retardant stuff...just fabric. For other areas, I made a patch using the flame resistant thread and the suit owner affixed it with glue.

[signman]

I supplied lanyards to a company that made up some sort of medical info 'computer card' that went into a fireproof sleeve and the lanyards had to be 100% cotton so that it couldn't 'melt' into the person in a car fire. Very fussy people!
Now a days the medics can carry the entire attending drivers and crew medic info on one memory stick...
and I have embroidered on the fireproof suit for a local tracke-not Nascar-and told them about the fire ratings stuff and they said everyone else there has embroidery that goes right through the suit. This track evidently isn't that fussy about rules...but I'd still check with the track officials/owners and get the scoop. If you have to, sew it as a patch, then sew the patch on as an applique with the Nomex thread if they allow it.

[Dorothy Compton]

I did a race suit for gal who was doing racing without the requirement for a fireproof suit. In addition to her name I embroidered her blood type!

Dorothy

[KNC Designs]

Contact www.sfifoundation.com for the correct info about fire suits all classes of cars have different fire ratings. Some tracks are sanctioned while others are not and do not have as strict of policies that other tracks may have.

Curtis

[Aaron]

Beleive it or not I have done my fair share of driving suits (sorry, no pictures on this one). Around here there are no major races so the people I do them for have the fire protection more for personal safety. SOme circuits require a certain amount of fireproofing, some more than others. I always tell them about the issues of the poly thread could melt onto them, it will no longer be fireproof in the areas of the embroidery and in no way whatsoever will I guarantee anything that should, coould, or would happen to them if the car catches fire. Most people tell me if they get in a crash and the fire is bad enough to melt the thread into their skin thats probably going to be the least of their worries.

I race Go Karts (maybe some pictures soon) and I did my friend that I got the Kart from's suit and after that the advertising from him got me 4 or 5 more jobs like the Snap On guy had to have it on his suit (had the logo already) and the owner of the 7-11 needed 7-11 logo on his sut. No sanctions on us cause we are small. I actually only raced one race last year but I plan to make all the races this year and going to buy a suit so I can be a walking advertisement. I was thinking of naming my race team (team is me and my friend Bo) Half Fast Racing cause if you say it fast it sounds like Half Assed racing which pretty much describes my racing abilities.

Anyways, make sure they find out their liabilities as far as fire proof and go from there. Don't be scared of it but do be educated before doing and make sure your customer understands any imoprtant parts of what it will do.

[sschroed2]

Thank you to all that responded to my question. I value your opionions and experience.

I did call Simpson, and they validated my thoughts as well about the needle pentration.

This is a new customer being referred by someone else and I made the suggestion of patches as an alternative and I'm waiting to here back.
Thanks again.
Sue