The reflective tape offering of Heskins is becoming wider and wider. The vast majority of material is sold by our US sister company. Heskins LLC is one of the main American manufacturers of DOT approved conspicuity reflective tape, when it comes to custom DOT approved reflective tape (with a company logo etc) we are number one in North America. We have been asked many times by our valued resellers for SOLAS approved reflective tape but have always been reluctant as we have typically a backlog of products that require developing, producing and launching, all of this takes time. We decided that the conditions were right to revisit SOLAS reflective tape.

What is SOLAS reflective tape?

Let’s talk abbreviations first, as there is SOLAS and IMO. SOLAS stands for Safety Of Life At Sea, SOLAS regulations are governed by the IMO, the International Marine Organisation. SOLAS reflective tape performs a vital role in marine safety, protecting seafarers and passengers every single day, if you look at any lifejacket you will see patches of SOLAS reflective tape dotted around, on a life ring you will see strips in various segments, on most small crafts, especially lifeboats you will see lengths of it. SOLAS reflective tape is the bright, white flashing that you will commonly see.

SOLAS regulations are strictly governed by the IMO, rightly so. SOLAS reflective tape has to be indendently tested to provide superb reflective performance, over 1000 on the Candela rating is required, this means that the lifejacket can help to be seen at long distances even in rough seas. The tape must be highly durable; again, it is independently tested; the durability requirement uses an arc test, an old form of testing but still viable to this day. The tape must not delaminate, the tape would be pointless if it suffered a delamination and thus became two strips with neither working. The adhesive on the tape must be highly effective. Thankfully Heskins has the experience to work on all of the above stipulations.

What can Heskins offer for SOLAS?

Our H6672 is an approved SOLAS reflective tape. We have chosen the micro glass bead format of construction, we feel comfortable with this construction as micro glass bead reflective tapes, if produced correctly using quality components, allow for good reflective performance but they also have extreme durability, do not delaminate and allow for 360° reflective performance. An example of that 360° performance is to look at reflective testing machines, Heskins uses the laboratory norm rig of a calibrated RoadVista (as used by most of the certificating bodies), the calibration plates are coated with high quality micro glass bead, like Heskins is using on SOLAS, again to give solid, reliable results with 360° visual performance.

At this stage we are only offering in 50mmx50m rolls as we have never found a market for any other size but are happy to change this inn future. As you would imagine the SOLAS testing criteria ensures that a certified product has salt resistance.

As always with buying from Heskins we can provide technical data, samples and assistance. Hopefully we can help you!