ESD polo shirt short sleeve black, 180 gsm piqué with conductive yarn - A1-ESD

Anyone running an EPA has to control personnel dissipation as carefully as flooring, chairs and work surfaces. Around 100 volts is enough to damage a sensitive semiconductor structure for good, and every step in miniaturisation lowers that threshold further. Garments cover one defined part of the job: they keep the wearer's charge on a controlled path instead of on a private fleece pullover.

Black is the colour for benches where something rubs off. Flux residue at the iron, grease from mechanical assembly, toner dust in device service, cleaning alcohol carrying dissolved deposits. Dark piqué hides all of it through a full shift, so a technician who started at six still looks presentable at the customer site after lunch.

The black stays black rather than fading to grey after twenty washes because the fabric is reactive dyed. The dye forms a chemical bond with the cotton fibre instead of merely sitting on it.

Your benefits

• Conductive rib knit collar: The collar is knitted with conductive yarn, so it stays part of the dissipation path exactly where the shirt sits against bare skin at the neck and moves whenever the wearer leans over a board.
• 180 gsm fine piqué: Heavier than a T-shirt jersey yet still light to wear. The waffle structure traps a layer of air and does not cling to the skin after eight hours at a warm soldering bench.
• 96 % cotton, 4 % conductive yarn: Compact cotton sheds very little lint and charges far less than synthetics. The conductive yarn sits in the knit itself, not in a finish that washing can remove.
• Measured 10⁵ to 10⁸ ohms: STFI took the surface resistance at 23 °C and 25 % relative humidity, the dry conditions in which people pick up the highest charge during the heating season.
• Left chest pocket: A test probe, a small driver or the site badge stays within reach, with nothing in a trouser pocket pressing against the edge of the bench.
• ESD logo on the left sleeve: During a walkthrough or a customer audit it is visible without asking that the person is dressed for the EPA, which shortens discussions at the zone boundary.
• Twelve sizes from 3XS to 6XL: Apprentices and larger colleagues come out of the same production run, so colour, cut and handle stay identical across the fleet and across repeat orders.

Material and fabric

The knit is compact cotton spun on ring spinning machines. That is where the smooth surface comes from: ring spun yarn has fewer protruding fibre ends than rotor yarn, sheds less lint and holds its shape instead of distorting at collar and hem after the third wash. Ninety six per cent of that cotton is joined by 4 % conductive yarn knitted straight into the fabric.

The piqué structure forms a fine waffle that holds air between skin and cloth. At 180 gsm the result has more substance than a light jersey but does not lie flat against the body at a warm workstation. Cotton absorbs moisture rather than leaving it on the surface, and it smells markedly less sharp at the end of a shift than a polyester knit.

• 96 % cotton, 4 % conductive yarn
• Fabric weight 180 gsm
• Fine piqué from ring spun yarn
• Reactive dyed for colour that survives repeated laundering
• Low lint and therefore low particle load for EPA areas

Construction in detail

The collar is not an applied strip but a rib knit made from conductive yarn. It follows the neck, springs back after being opened and does not lose shape while the shirt waits in the laundry basket. The three button placket opens far enough to pull the polo over the head without stretching the collar, and closes far enough for a customer meeting.

Inside, a colour matched neck tape finishes the shoulder seam. It stops the neckline from widening as the shirt is pulled on and off and lifts the seam away from the nape, which matters on a shift spent leaning over a microscope. The ESD logo sits on the left sleeve, the patch pocket on the left chest.

• Conductive rib knit collar
• Three button placket with colour matched buttons
• Colour matched neck tape over the shoulder seam
• Patch pocket on the left chest
• ESD logo on the left sleeve

Dissipation that outlives the laundry cycle

The conductive yarn is a silver yarn processed in a method developed specifically for this fabric. What matters for purchasing is the consequence: dissipation belongs to the fibre inside the knit, not to a coating that thins out in the wash water. Conductivity is retained after repeated washing and wear.

That is the difference between a shirt that measures correctly in its first year and one that still measures correctly in its third. Where personnel garments are checked regularly as part of the EPA programme, the interval between rejection and replacement grows noticeably longer.

Fit and size range

The polo runs in twelve sizes from 3XS to 6XL, which covers a whole department from a slim inspector to a colleague in an outsize fit without splitting the team across two different cuts. Colour, cut and handle stay identical across the whole run, which matters when a second batch is ordered a year later.

The binding size chart is available as a PDF in the Downloads tab of this product page. Before a first rollout it pays to try a sample in M and in L and to scale the order from there. A polo that pulls across the shoulders rides up over the bench and loses skin contact at the neck, which is exactly where the collar is supposed to work.

Black on the shop floor

Black is the pragmatic choice for rework, repair and field service. Solder fume residue, flux spatter, toner and lubricant barely show on dark piqué, and a shirt that still looks clean at midday gets worn on instead of swapped. In plants where white garments are reserved for cleanroom adjacent areas, black also works as a plain visual separation between zones.

Technical data

Applications

• Soldering and rework benches in electronics manufacturing
• Repair and test positions handling open assemblies
• Field service at customer sites, including device and printer service
• Incoming inspection and component stores
• Maintenance and prototype shops with grease and adhesive around

Care and service life

The polo is built for commercial laundering. Ring spun yarn and the piqué structure keep collar and hem in shape, while reactive dyeing holds the colour through frequent wash cycles. The conductivity of the conductive yarn is retained over many washing and wearing cycles. The binding care instructions are on the sewn in label.

Finishing and custom versions

The fabric takes print up to 160 °C and suits embroidery, with a sample print recommended first. Decoration is carried out in Germany. Sleeves with conductive knitted cuffs, a contrast execution, the long sleeve version with conductive rib cuffs and colours outside the catalogue are all available on request. Talk to us and we will quote.

Standards and testing

STFI tested this polo for dissipation and surface resistance to DIN EN 61340-5-1:2016 and the test was passed. The measured value is 10⁵ to 10⁸ ohms at 23 +/- 1 °C and 25 +/- 5 % relative humidity. No testing or certification to any further ESD standard exists for this model, and none is claimed.