Coverall, frock or full-body suit - which cleanroom garment?

Coverall, frock or full-body suit - when to use which?

The garment style follows the cleanroom class. A frock covers the upper body and arms and is adequate for the less critical classes ISO 7 to ISO 8. A coverall (full-body suit with hood) encloses the whole body and becomes mandatory from ISO 5 upward.

The lower the ISO class - that is, the cleaner the environment - the more of the wearer's skin and clothing must be covered, because people are the largest particle source in a cleanroom. A frock leaves legs and neck exposed, whereas a coverall combined with a hood, overshoes and gloves forms a closed system.

Why polyester continuous filament instead of cotton?

Cleanroom garments are made of polyester continuous filament, usually with a conductive carbon thread woven in at roughly a 5 mm grid. Continuous filament does not fray and therefore releases almost no particles - unlike cotton or staple fibre, which constantly shed lint.

The densely woven filament acts as a particle barrier: a grid pitch of about 99 µm holds back body-borne particles yet stays breathable. The carbon thread makes the fabric dissipative, so it can double as ESD protective clothing to DIN EN 61340‑5‑1.

• Polyester continuous filament: low particle shedding, dimensionally stable, wash-resistant.
• Carbon grid (about 5 mm pitch): permanently dissipative, ESD-capable.
• Cleanroom-grade seams: outward-facing, folded or welded seams instead of open edges.
• Knitted cuffs at sleeves and legs for a tight closure.
• No cotton, no loose fibres, no open-edge outer pockets.

Sterilisability and wash cycles - what can the fabric take?

Cleanroom garments are not laundered privately but reprocessed in validated cleanroom laundries, dried, particle-tested and individually packed. A high-quality filament fabric typically survives 50 or more wash cycles before its dissipative resistance or barrier performance declines.

For sterile areas - such as pharmaceutical or medical production - the garment must be sterilisable. Common methods are steam sterilisation in an autoclave at 121 °C or gamma irradiation. Only fabrics released for these processes keep their dimensional stability and dissipative properties after sterilisation.

• Track each suit with a wash-cycle counter or chip.
• Re-test the dissipative resistance at defined intervals.
• Discard garments with damage or fibre breakage; never reuse them.

Frequently asked questions