The toughest fabric you could put between a dock and a truck!

When you put a seal or shelter between a loading dock and a truck, you know it's going to take a lot of abuse. From the inside, it's getting hit by pallets and fork lifts. From the outside it's getting abused by everything from rough weather to sharp truck edges and projections. So it's no wonder that before long, most dock seals and shelters tend to show a little wear and tear. To remedy this situation, you basically have two choices. You can buy a replacement unit every few years, or you can buy a Fairborn dock seal or shelter made of Dynalon, the exclusive fabric that's built to take more abuse and last longer than any other seal or shelter fabric now available. Dynalon's unique combination of features provides superior resistance to tears and abrasion while standing up to every kind of weather.

What's so special about Dynalon? Dynalon is a superior performance fabric that Fairborn created specifically for the demands of dock seals and shelters. We performed extensive research to identify the points where damage was most likely to occur. Our studies proved that the exposed surfaces of a fabric were considerably more vulnerable to damage than interior surfaces, due to their increased exposure to abrasive contact. We developed Dynalon to provide maximum protection. To achieve this, we started with the strongest base fabric we could find, to prevent tearing, then coated it with an exclusive compound in a unique way to guarantee superior wearability. We apply 85% of the Dynalon coating on the exposed surfaces, where it's needed most, and 15% on the interior surfaces. By contrast, other seal and shelter fabrics use a 50/50 coating, putting more coating than needed on the interior surfaces and not enough on the exterior. Additionally, the base fabric incorporated in the construction of Dynalon has a tear strength far greater than any material utilized in today’s dock seal or shelter market. How does Dynalon compare to the fabric I'm using now? When put to the test of federally certified laboratories, plus three decades of in-field use, Fairborn's Dynalon outperformed every other popular seal and shelter fabric now being used, regardless of the other fabric's weight. Using a Federal test specification that is accepted industry wide (Federal Standard 191), Fairborn undertook a comparison between Dynalon and Dynaflex to the other fabrics typically used in the manufacture of dock seals and shelters. As you can see, Dynalon was far and away the winner. It offers 5 times greater resistance to tearing and up to 20 times more resistance to abrasion. So fabric weight doesn't really measure fabric strength? Absolutely not! That's why you should insist on a material performance standard, not just a fabric weight, when you specify your building's dock seals and shelters. Here's how a performance based specification would be written: FABRIC: Dock seal or shelter shall incorporate a Dynalon cover having the characteristics listed above. All bidders must submit certified test results with bid. The manufacturer shall state the characteristics of the fabric offered and that all tests are done in accordance with Federal Standard 191 and the specific method as listed above. Wear characteristics of any substitute material shall meet or exceed performance specifications. You now have the means to specify a material that possesses the strength, durability and weather-ability you require, with a technical specification based upon a defensible Federal Standard. Specifying the exact tongue tear, abrasion resistance, grab tensile strength and cold test, per Federal Standard 191, guarantees that you or your customers will get the very best material available. Dynalon. OK ... but how much does it cost? Since Dynalon can last up to eight times longer than traditional fabrics, you’d probably expect Fairborn’s dock seals and shelters to be expensive. But in fact, a Fairborn unit constructed of Dynalon, costs about the same as other dock seals or shelters made with fabrics having substantially less property values. When you consider how much longer a Fairborn seal or shelter will last before you’ll ever need to replace it, a Fairborn unit will actually end up costing far, far less.