RFI FOR LEATHER SOURCES FOR THE G-1 LEATHER JACKET

To promote early exchanges of information with Industry in accordance with FAR Subpart 15.2, Naval Air Systems Command, Aircrew Systems (NAVAIR PMA202) of Patuxent River, Maryland is issuing this Request for Information (RFI). NAVAIR is requesting information to identify qualified sources to provide leather for use in manufacturing the G-1 Intermediate Flyer's Jacket, made in accordance with MIL-DTL-7823F. The requirements for the leather are provided below. The leather shall be either full grain cattlehide with a goatskin grain finish or goatskin leather. Interested parties are invited to describe their capabilities to provide the product as described herein. The leather submitted in response to this RFI will be evaluated for the capability to meet the performance requirements listed below and the required brown Navy Shade 3756. A sample piece of leather for shade matching will be provided to interested parties upon request. The Navy plans to approve and certify suppliers as sources for procurements of the G-1 jacket by DLA Troop Support. Hides of samples meeting the shade standard will also be purchased to provide leather for future shade reference. Multiple sources could be approved if found to be acceptable. Requirements The leather shall be full grain cattlehide or goatskin. The flesh side of the leather shall be smooth and free of loose flesh. The leather shall meet the following requirements listed in the table when tested in accordance with the listed test method. CHARACTERISTIC REQUIREMENT TEST METHOD Thickness 2-1/2 (+ ) ounces ASTM D1813 Shade The leather shall match Navy Shade 3756. AATCC Evaluation Procedure 9, Option C when viewed under filtered tungsten lamps which approximate artificial daylight D75 illuminant having a correlated color temperature of 7500K ( 200 K) with illumination of 100 ( 20) foot- candles, and shall be a good match to the standard sample under incandescent lamplight at 2850 K ( 100 K). Drum dyed The leather shall be drum dyed and the dye shall completely penetrate the leather from grain to flesh side. The color shall be a good match to the shade of the leather prior to application of the finish. The leather shall be examined to verify the color is a good match to the shade standard prior to application of the finish. The sample shall be prepared by abrading the top finish off the leather sample using a rotary platform double head abrader as specified in ASTM D3884. The abrader shall be cycled until the leather under the finish is visible, approximately 500 cycles. The color under the finish shall be compared to the standard sample using the procedure for shade matching and shall be a good match. Five (5) samples shall be examined. Finish The leather shall have a light application of finish and dye containing only sufficient pigment to assist in making the color uniform. Cattlehide leather shall have a goatskin finish. Visual. Finish stability The finish shall not crack, flake, part from the leather or become tacky and shall be free from surface adhesion (blocking). Either (a) or (b) in addition to testing for blocking. (a) ASTM D6182 (the grain surface of the folded specimen shall be rubbed together under moderate pressure. The duration of the rubbing shall be 30 seconds. (b) One (1) 4 by 1-inches test specimen shall be used. The test specimen shall be placed in a circulating air oven set at 110'F - 5'F for a period of 24 hours. After 24 hours, remove the specimen from the oven and place in desiccator at room temperature containing calcium chloride for 2 hours. After removing from desiccator, fold the specimen sharply by hand at an 180 angle with the finish side on the inside of the bend, pressing tightly together with the fingers and rolling back and forth for three (3) complete cycles. The bend shall be visually examined and the presence of finish cracking, flaking and looseness or parting of finish from the leather shall be reported. ASTM D6116 Finish appearance (cattlehide) The cattlehide leather shall have a goatskin finish. Visual Stitch Tear Strength, lbs. (min) 17.0 ASTM D4705 Shrinkage temperature (Celsius) (min.) >97 ASTM D6076 Elongation % at a load of 25 pounds 25 - 60 ASTM D2211 Resistance to staining (bleeding) (min) 4.0 ASTM D6012; Evaluated using AATCC EP9 - Evaluation Procedure for AATCC 9-Step Chromatic Transference Scale Colorfastness to crocking (min) Dry Wet 4 3.5 ASTM D5053; Evaluated using AATCC EP8 - Evaluation Procedure for AATCC 9-Step Chromatic Transference Scale Cracking, low temperature No cracking or parting of the grain surface or finish from the leather ASTM D6075. The leather shall be tested for cracking in accordance with ASTM D6075 except that the specimen size shall be 4 by 1-inches rectangle of leather. The specimen shall be folded twice upon itself by folding the specimen along the length dimension with the flesh side in and then folding again at right angles to the original fold. The specimen shall be observed with the naked eye and the presence of cracking or parting of the finish from the leather shall be reported. The diameter of the mandrels shall be 1/8 inch. Hexane soluble material, percent (max) (calculated on a moisture free basis) 25 ASTM D3495 Fungicide: Treated with one of the following present within the given range: TCMTB OPP DIMPTS 100 - 400 ppm 540 - 2580 ppm 300 - 2000 ppm ISO 13365-1 When testing DIMPTS use and HPLC analytical standard to measure the concentration of DIMPTS in accordance with ISO 13365-1. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for request for this request for information are 316110, 315240, and 315280.