Today's hot summer, the hottest day of the year has come, and there are more young women wearing colorful sun protection clothes on the street. The reporter saw on Taobao, JD.com and other websites that the number of sunscreen clothing-related commodities reached more than one million, with prices ranging from a minimum of 8.8 yuan to several thousand yuan.
Real sunscreens are not mass produced
Professor Tao Hui, deputy dean of the School of Clothing Technology of Wuhan Textile University, pointed out that most of the sun protection clothes on the market are the concepts being played by merchants. It only covers the skin from the sun.
The principle of real sun protection clothing is to thicken the fabric to reduce the light transmittance of the fabric, and then add sun protection additives to the coating on the surface of the fabric. Manufacturers of formal sun protection clothing have to process fabrics with high technology. This process is very expensive. So far, this clothing has not been mass-produced and only used in certain special industries. Regarding the sunscreen coatings used in sunscreens, this reporter found that this is a chemical raw material. At present, Clariant Chemical Group produces the most common application in the world. The company will issue the "Clariant" logo to the commodities applying its coatings.
There is no national standard for sun protection clothing
Cai En, an economist of the Consumer Guidance and Social Supervision Department of the Municipal Consumer Protection Commission, said that although there is no national standard for sun protection clothing, there is a certification standard for UV protection performance for clothing and other textiles. In 2010, China began to implement GB / T18890-2009 "Evaluation of UV Protection Performance of Textiles". The labels of UV protection products should be marked with three basic contents: numerical value, national standard number and prompt. When the UV protection factor UPF is greater than 40, and the UV transmittance of sunlight is less than 5%, it can be called "UV protection product".
The so-called ultraviolet protection coefficient refers to the ratio of the average effect of ultraviolet radiation when the skin is not protected, and the average effect of ultraviolet radiation when the skin is protected by the fabric.
Once the certification standard for UV protection performance is implemented, it can only be determined that the product belongs to ordinary textile and clothing, and cannot be counted as sun protection clothing. Cai En said that this is also the reason why online stores and small shops directly sell sunscreen clothing, and big malls can only say that it is "clothes with sunscreen function".
Only a few foreign companies can do UPF testing
The reporter purchased 4 sun protection clothing in online stores, Dimei, and roadside shops. One of the signs has been cut off, and the other three brands have been identified as Afanlin, Yuanmai, and Chanel Baibu. On their signs, none of the reporters found a UPF coefficient.
So, is there any relevant organization that can test the two coefficients of UPF and solar projection ratio? No one has tested this coefficient. The reporter also consulted several textile testing institutions in the city, and the other party said that they would not do UPF testing.
After investigation, it is found that the main foreign companies that can do UPF testing in Shanghai are a few foreign companies. The price is very high, and the cost of single-piece testing is about 800 yuan.
■ Comparison of anti-ultraviolet effect
Sun protection clothing
The Municipal Consumer Protection Commission purchased a total of 32 pieces of sun protection clothing from the Internet and shopping malls, with prices ranging from 62 yuan to 483 yuan, and commissioned foreign companies to conduct special tests. The test found that 29 of the 32 samples had UV protection coefficients of less than 15 and far below the passing line of 40. Only 1 of them met the national standard for UV protection with a price of 228 yuan, and the compliance rate was only 3.13%.
Black cotton short-sleeved knitted T-shirt
In order to verify the difference in UV protection performance between UV protection clothing and ordinary clothing, the Consumer Protection Committee randomly purchased an ordinary black cotton short-sleeved knitted T-shirt for comparative testing. After testing, the UV protection coefficient is more than 50, and the sunlight UV transmittance is less than 5%, reaching the national standard for UV protection.
■ How to buy clothes if you want sun protection?
Pay attention to the UV protection factor
Consumers should pay attention to the fact that when purchasing sun protection clothing or UV protection clothing products, the products must at least reach the level of UV protection factor (UPF) of 40 or more to have UV protection. Ordinary clothing also has UV protection.
The ultraviolet protection performance of the same clothing is darker than lighter, thicker than thinner, tightly structured than loose, and synthetic fibers such as polyester are better than natural fibers such as cotton and silk.