ABOUT... Benchmark is the result, and unlikely marriage of engineering to design
which was influenced by fire fighting and safety. It’s a combination of
technical and creative skills but one that has yielded a product which
stands alone, and stands out. When Benchmark was started in 2002, John &
Erin knew they wanted to be around in 20 years; it’s this commitment to
the “long haul” that has given Benchmark the motivation to do things
differently. It is an absolute commitment to being innovative that has
brought Benchmark FR to be known for its product performance, compliance
and exceptional comfort.
Benchmark’s approach to flame resistant garments is not a covert
mission, its simple… be innovative, don’t be afraid to be different and
never compromise on comfort. Our goal is to be a brand people choose
because of quality, and not because of advertising. In the end we want
people to wear Benchmark FR because they like our products; as opposed
to wearing flame resistant garments because they have no choice. Yet, it
is this idea that “FR is required” which our competitors try to trade
on. We are not going to scare you; we are going to protect you. We
realize that if we are going to be here in another 20 years we have to
protect our customers with the safest garments and give them something
they appreciate.
INNOVATION… We are about meaning and not marketing; you have known
Benchmark as brand that relies on innovation and word of mouth
advertising. We would rather put it back into our products than run
expensive advertising campaigns. You will only find Benchmark being sold
through distributors who have an understanding about the threats they
are selling products to protect against. We actively avoid companies who
try and simply sell HRC 2 to electricians or a non-certified garment to
the hard working people in the oil industry. Like I mentioned earlier we
have a vested interest in keeping our customers safe.
PRIDE… We know who we are, we know our competition and we like being us!
Benchmark is proud to stand for something that matters in so many lives,
so we voluntarily keep formaldehyde, carcinogens and toxins out of our
process. We wanted to improve on the status-quo so we sought out what we
considered to be a perfect process; this means you can sweat in our
products, not absorb toxins and this also means that Benchmark FR is
flame resistant for the life of the garment.
OUR WEAK SPOT… Some still think what we do is impossible… how can it be
safer, more comfortable, and durable? Well the answer is you don’t get
something for nothing. We are safe, nontoxic and comfortable however our
process is slow, that right, our Achilles heel is that it takes much
more time to process our fabrics. We could speed things up by using
aggressive catalyst and curing agents but we choose to take the long
road and make the customers experience a better safer experience. Don’t
worry it’s our problem and not yours; we stock thousands of finished
garments in Southern California so you don’t have to wait!
AUTHENTIC… We don’t sell our fabric because the cost of the end product
would be prohibitively expensive. Instead we use our process on
authentic Benchmark FR products. So there will never be someone else out
there selling you something similar, if it’s doesn’t have our
“BENCHMARK®” logo on it then it’s not an authentic Benchmark product.
VERTICAL MANUFACTURER… We have an internal standard of measure: we
oversee the entire manufacturing process from start to finish. That is,
we are a “vertical manufacturer.” This means that we process our
fabrics, impart them with flame resistant properties, and then carefully
construct the finished garments for a comfortable, lasting fit. In fact,
the only outsourcing we allocate is for materials testing which is
performed by independent laboratories. All Benchmark FR materials are
evaluated by third party laboratories to ensure unbiased and accurate
test results.
COMMITMENT… We feel that being a vertical manufacturer shows a
commitment to both the market and products. Most of our competitors are
known as “cut & sew” manufacturers because they simply purchase treated
material from a mill and cut and sew the fabric into garments. As a
result cut & sew manufacturers are forced to minimize fabric usage which
compromises fit and construction. Simply stated, cut & sew manufacturing
does not lend itself to innovation or product quality.
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