Model set on fire, stabbing at fashion week

Agresearch super-fabrics unveiled

JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post

HOT FASHION: AgResearch's Peter Ingham tests one of the new super-fabrics, turning a blow torch on model Chris Peck who suffered nothing more than a couple of red blotches.

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A model was set on fire and a mannequin was viciously stabbed - all in the name of a fashion-world first.

AgResearch provided a sneak peek yesterday of the super-fabrics it has developed and which will be shown on the catwalk at Air New Zealand Fashion Week in Auckland on Friday.

It was the first time AgResearch had put its revolutionary stab- and flame-resistant fabric to the test on a person.

Sydney model Chris Peck, 20, who braved a blowtorch, admitted it was "pretty scary at first and got the heart racing" but said he had jumped at the opportunity.

"Not everyone gets set on fire with a blowtorch in the name of hot fashion.

"Initially I couldn't feel anything, then it got slightly warm, but there was no burning."

Peck would not reveal how much danger money he was paid but "it was enough".

AgResearch section manager Peter Ingham also energetically stabbed the fabric with a screwdriver and said that though the wearer would feel it - which is why it was demonstrated on a mannequin - there would be no penetration.

Similar in appearance to a Swanndri, the fabric is made from knitted Vectran-based fabric combined with short wool fibre.

Another world-first developed and demonstrated by AgResearch was a new textile-tracing system called Verifi TT, which can be used to detect fake designer garments.

Several ground-breaking fabrics invented by AgResearch, using wool as a main component, will feature in Friday's catwalk show, where it is hoped they will attract manufacturers to commercially produce and market them.

Kiwi designers - including Annah Stretton, Adrian Hailwood and Wellington brand twentysevennames - have used the fabric in their show garments.

* Stuff.co.nz will have full coverage of Fashion Week throughout the event. Keep checking back for stories and photos from each show.