Alternative Competitor to Dupont Coveralls
Introduction to Disposable Coveralls
If you wear those white, zip up disposable coveralls made by Dupont they are likely made from Dupont's Tyvek ® materials. Tyvek® is a registered trademark of Dupont that identifies the material they manufacture and sew into coveralls. This material is a high density polyethylene. For years I purchased Dupont's disposable coveralls and have been quite pleased with the performance of this garment.
What I Use Dupont Coveralls For
To put this article in the proper context, let me tell you what our company wears disposable coveralls for. We generally use this garment for two reasons 1) to block paint from getting onto employees and 2) Protect our product from loose skin, hair, dirt debris from falling off our employees and into the product we manufacture.
A better Picture of AlphaGuard Coveralls
What Competes With Tyvek Coveralls
There are a lot of different brands that complete with Dupont's Tyvek ® coveralls. I won't get into all of them but I've tried a number of them and might add to the list as I think of more.
The one brand I was particularly impressed with was a brand called Critical Cover ® coveralls. Critical Cover is a registered trademark coverall by Alpha Pro Tech. As of the date of this article they are a USA Made product with 3 manufacturers in the united states
The AlphaPro Tech coveralls (aka AlphaGuard) had some drawbacks but I felt that the cons outweighed the pros in most instances. I'll do a quick review on these below
Spunbound Polyethylene Poll
Do You Wear This Type Of Coverall At Work
AlphaPro Tech Vs Dupont Material Strength
First we checked to see if the Alpha ProTech / Alpha Guard coverall strength seemed comparable to Dupont's. I'll be honest with you, we did not do any tensile strength testing or any formal testing controlled by any particular ASTM standards or otherwise. Two of us did the test by sampling two coveralls of each manufacturer. We tested them three ways:
1. We attempted to tear the coveralls like you would a sheet of paper.
2. We attempted the pull the coveralls apart like you would in a tug of war
3. We attempted to slowly but very forcefully push a fist, then a finger through each coverall in order to get it to puncture.
What we found was both coveralls held up equally well.
Loose Strings, Thread, Sewing Quality
One thing I've noticed over the years is that occasionally you'll get a batch of Dupont coveralls that are a bit stringy. They have fine threads that hang off much like when you have a thread hanging off a shirt that you yank out.
In a more industrial or construction environment, how stringy a coverall is doesn't really matter. In a company with more sensitive products like ours the loose threads are problematic. Loose threads could fall into a product causing the product to be unsterile and not perform properly.
We each closely inspected a couple of coveralls of each brand. I found that the Alpha Pro Tech / AlphaGuard Critical Cover® coverall was of higher quality when it came to strings than the Dupont Tyvek ® coveralls. Again, this might be a non-issue if strings and threads are not a problem. I also have to say that it isn't as though Dupont's coveralls are a complete mess. They are far from it. The threads don't hang off like Mr. Snuffleupagus's fur. I just feel as the AlphaPro version is clearly sewn with more car
Outer Garment Work Poll
If You Wear Coveralls are They Disposable or Reusable
Heat, Temperature, How Hot is Dupont vs AlphaPro Tech?
This is where things became interesting. After AlphaPro Tech / Alpha Guard passed all of the initial tests indicating it was comparable to Dupont's version, we sent of couple of cases of Alpha Pro to our factory. We really wanted to see what the guys thought of these in a live, production environment.
Overall, the coveralls performed equally well in mobility, strength and the ability to keep minor ink spatter off the employees. They also performed well as a barrier protecting the product from loose skin, clothes, dirt, debris from the men going into the stuff we produce.
Where things got derailed a bit was how hot the coveralls felt. About half our shop staff felt as though the AlphaPro Tech felt too warm when they wore it. The other half felt it felt that it had equal breathability and suitable temperature
Is AlphaPro AlphaGuard Cheaper That Dupont?
If you want to know which is cheaper, AlphaPro Critical Cover ® or Dupont Tyvek® you might need to do some looking around. For me, I found the AlphaPro Critical Cover ® to be way less expensive (sometimes by a couple dollars per coverall) than the Dupont version.
If you scout and around I'm sure you'll find this the case too although I can not guarantee it. That said, in general when I price out AlphaPro and Dupont with local distributors that carry both, the Alpha Pro Critical Cover ® is less expensive.
Location of Alpha Pro Tech Manufacture Site
Learn More About Comparing Coveralls to Their Competition
I touched bases a bit on what we did to compare coveralls for strength, temperature and quality. Check out my post that gives a more detailed (but simple) explanation on how best to test coveralls to find the best one.
Buy AlphaPro Disposable Coveralls?
If you are interested in purchasing the critical care coveralls, you can check out the Amazon link I posted in this article above or purchase Alpha Pro here as well
Thanks For Checking Out Alpha Pro
I hope that this post helped to give you an idea that there are other coveralls out there besides Dupont. There are also coveralls by Kimberly Clark and other major manufactures. I just thought the AlphaPro / Alpha Guard was the most competitive in price and about equal in quality as the Dupont coverall.
Please be sure to check out some of my other posts if you get a chance. It is a pleasure to have you stop by my "Alternative Competitor to Dupont Coverall" post.