A letter was recently published in various South African newspapers broadly claiming that the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) do not check each and every single product and that they issue UPF swing tags on a donation basis and not because the product works.
In the letter Emthunzini hats was mentioned, which of course started a serious investigation on our part with CANSA and Medical University of Southern Africa (MEDUNSA) who independently test our hats.
MEDUNSA clearly explains the testing procedure in their reply below:
"The holes in the fabric will make a difference depending on whether the fabric absorbs or scatters the UVR. It is difficult to tell how protective clothing is by looking at it or holding it up to the light because the human eye responds to visible radiation and not to UVR, and the transmission of fabrics in the visible range is often higher than in the UVR range. Laboratory UPF testing simulates a worst case situation, where the UVR is incident at right angles to the fabric and transmission is therefore maximal. In general wear situations, clothing often provides protection in excess of the UPF rating because the incoming UVR will be at a range of different angles and only at right angles a fraction of the time. Thus, when consumers see a UPF label on an item of clothing, they can be confident about the listed level of protection."
The below Right of Reply response by Lucy Balona (CANSA Head Marketing and Communications) was published in the Ask Georgie column of the Pretoria News to further rectify the situation.
Both these reports confirm that our Emthunzini hats conform to stringent testing.