BUFF® Original EcoStretch Guide

The BUFF® Original EcoStretch in a Nutshell

The BUFF® Original EcoStretch is the foundation of the Buff® success story. It’s the successor of the “Original BUFF®” and is now made using Repreve® recycled performance microfibre as base material.

Heat, Cold, Wind & Rain? You will find comfort as the multifunctional headwear / neckwear concept of a tube allows you to wear it in 10 different ways.

It incorporates the latest technologies in performance headwear.

The Original Buff® is a tube knitted out of technical microfibre
  • A 51 cm long, knitted tube of special Buff® microfibre
  • Popular in all Weather / all Activities
  • Replaces 10 different types of head wear
  • Chill Protection – Fills the gap between nothing & too warm
  • Heat Relief – Takes the heat off using your sweat
  • Comfort – Very comfy even when wet
  • Ultra thin – Fits nicely under any helmet
  • Free of Harmful Substances – Certified
  • Lasts several years of daily use
  • Fits Adults with a head circumference 53-62 cm
  • Weighs 35 gr (1.234 oz)

The most popular ways of using a Buff® Original Ecostretch

The ways to use a Buff® Original are only limited by your imagination.

Here is a compilation of how I see the Buff® Original worn the most when browsing the internet or meeting others out and about.

Just click on “Read More” and you will get more details like Youtube tutorials on how to create this particular style among other things. If you don’t find what you’re looking for or have any questions please drop me a comment at the end of the page.

Comfort Scarf for Adventurous Women

Want comfort on your adventures? The Original Buff® as comfort scarf is the nb. 1 choice among women. (www.amazonheart.org) The number 1 use on adventures. A comfort scarf if you’re a little bit out of your comfort zone. In this

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A side landscape shot of a woman and a man hiking in a gorge. Both are wearing Original Buff® as neck cooler. The woman to the front right is looking over her left shoulder into the camera. The man in the background seems distracted. The scene looks warm. Both are wearing summer hiking gear. Source: buff.eu © distributed for the promotion of the Original Buff® in hiking / trekking

Heat Relief on a Hiking Trip

It’s warm, it’s stuffy. You are trekking and wouldn’t mind some heat relief. Just wear the Original Buff® loose around your neck as neck cooler. Make it a bit moist to enhance the effect. This is way better than having

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This landscape selfie shows Roger Chao holding up the Australia Geographic Society Flag in the middle of the Greenland ice sheet. He is wearing specialist expedition gear. He later told me that he was wearing a Original Buff® as liner and he loved it. Soure: Roger Chao www.steppebysteppe.com.au © Permission to use on our websites

Rash Free Expeditions

You’re heading into extreme cold.Your gear is specialised survival gear. As it turns out it’s not perfect. Welded, tough seems can cause rashes among other things. That’s when you use the Original Buff® as a balaclava / liner around your

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A landscape shot of a person lying on the ground in a sleeping bag. His entire head is covered with a Original Buff®. Another person is kneeling beside his head. He has put sunglasses on the sleeping persons face and is holding up the MDS event number 552. The photo was shot during the 2004 Marathon Des Sables. This is one way how to keept spiders and scorpions out during your sleep. Source: buff.eu © Distributed for the promotion of the Original Buff®

Stops Swallowing Bugs in your Sleep

So you fear swallowing spiders or scorpions in your sleep. Just wear your Original Buff® as shown in the picture. I recommend the Original Buff® for this as the High UV Buff® is a little bit too restrictive for my

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A landscape frontal shot of a joung XC skiing athlete before a race. It's Ben Sim smiling into the camera during the 2009 World Championships. He is wearing a Australian Flag Original Buff® as warming scarf. This way sweat doesn't cause any chill around the neck. Source: Finn Marsland © permission to use on our websites for the promotion of the Original Buff® in cross country skiing

Sweaty, Cold Necks gone in XC Skiing

It’s cold & you are sweating. Pretty standard situation in XC ski races. The Original Buff® can fix this. Here we have Ben Sim wearing the Original Buff® as neck warmer. Ben is a member of the 2008/09 Australian National

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A side landscape shot of a woman in motorcycle leather gear. Kath is wearing a Original Buff® as scarf and smiling into the camera. I took the photo because I was amazed how straight and nice her hair was after having the helmet on for hours. She had the Original Buff® on as hair cover whilst wearing the helmet. The background shows the 2004 Gold Coast Bike Week with marquees and people leisurely walking around. Source: Edward Copyright: ©2004 Buff Downunder Pty Ltd

No Helmet Hair for Professional Bikers

Looking like a broom after taking your helmet off? Just put your Original Buff® as hair cover over your head. It will come out looking like Kath’s on the image. Kath is a motorcycle driving instructor, drag racer, postie biker

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A side landscape shot of a man sitting on his touring motorcycle. It is the Norwegian Buff® distributor on a tour through Norway. He wear full motorycle touring gear and a blue Original Buff®. Look closer and you can see the Buff® as scarf around the neck with the top pulled up over the chin. The weather looks like Norwegian Summer. Nice but on the cooler side. Source: buff.eu Copyright: Distributed for the promotion of the Original Buff® in motocycle touring

Cold Chin Eased on Motorcycle Tour

You’re on tour and your chin starts getting cold. Just pull your Original Buff® a bit up. It doesn’t have to stop at the chin. You decide. That’s the beauty of tubular headwear. It’s just the cold bite that lowers

Read More »
A side landscape shot of a man in the dark securing a hand torch with a Buff®. The man is wearing a polo shirt, a baseball cap and a Long Way Down Original Buff®. The Buff® is wrapped up tight around the cap and holds a hand torch in place. This way the man has both hands free for packing a bag. The photo was taken during a motorcycle tour so I assume they arrived their camp site in the the dark and have to set up camp in the dark. Source: buff.eu Copyright: Distributed for the promotion of the Original Buff® in motorcycle touring

Free Up Both Hands in the Dark

You arrive at your camp site in the dark. You need light and you’ve only got a hand torch. Just wrap your Original Buff® up in many layers to make it very firm. On as headband and the torch tucked

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The landscape photo show a side shot of 2007 UCI World Marathon Champion Ralf Naef. Only his head and the top of his shoulders are visible. He is looking into the camera. He is wearing a Original Buff® as ear warmer under his mountain bike helmet. His face reveals that the race is soon to start. He looks anxious and concentrated at the same time. Source: buff.eu Copyright: Distributed for the promotion of the Original Buff® in cycling

Cold Ears Warmed on Early Morning Race

It’s freezing cold. The race is about to start. The Original Buff® as ear warmer gets you back into the comfort zone. Normal ear warmers are too bulky under the helmet. The Original Buff® molds itself around all nooks and

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Key Features a Buff® Original EcoStretch

It’s technical features that make a Buff® Original so popular and set it apart from other head or neckwear.

Here are the most important ones.

Photomontage: Left image Cutout of a man with a severely sunburned face. © Jonny Hunter, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0), https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnyhunter/3565036940/in/photostream/ Right image A flyfisher proudly displaying his catch. He is standing waist deep in salt water and he is wearing a High Uv Buff® as face mask. © Pat Ford

UV/Sun Protection

Ouch. That must hurt. The Buff® fabrics protect. (Jonny Butler / Pat Ford) Sunburns hurt. Skin cancer can kill. The Original EcoStretch and the Coolnet UV fabric give you UPF50 excellent protection (98% UV/Sun protection). This is an example of

Read More »

Cooling, Warming & Chill-Protection

The Original Buff® is the only tube that can provide cooling, warming and chill protection in one product. How so? Cooling This is were 20 years of continuous improvement and a premium micro-fibre yarn come into effect. For cooling the

Read More »
Photomontage Left image Stock photo. A grey t-shirt with sweat stains under sleeves and through the torso. Copyright: mjdphotography / 123RF Stock Photo Right Image A participant of an Adventure Race in Patagonia hikes up a mountain in full alpine gear. He is wearing an Original Buff® as beanie. You can see sweat on his face but the Buff® looks dry. © Unknown. Released by Original Buff S.A for the promotion of Buff® products.

Moisture Management

A wet T-shirt in the cold is so nasty. Moisture managed fabrics like Buff® keep you comfortable (123rf.com / buff.eu) Cotton is horrible when wet. It gets heavy, feels wet and clings. Add cold weather and your wellbeing goes south.

Read More »

Product Details of a Buff® Original EcoStretch

Want more details? Just post a comment and I will answer.

It's not for you if...

The Buff® Original is designed to smoothen the edges of the cold and the heat. This makes it great if you don’t know what weather to expect.

But then of course there are reasons to go for a different fabric. Here are reasons to have a look at different products.

You feel hot & sweaty most of the time. The Coolnet UV+ Buff® will suit you better.

You feel cold most of the time. The Wool Buff® will suit you better.

Design Collection

We have designs for men, women, runners, bikers, …

Below are the 6 popular designs. For all designs click here

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Only Non-Toxic and Non-Itchy Ingredients – Oekotex Certified

The most dangerous way for a toxin to enter the body is not through the digestive system, but through the skin

A toddler wearing a Baby Buff® as a face mask. The toddler looks happy. Source: buff.eu
A Buff® passes the most stringent test for fabrics. Free of anything irritating or harmful for babies.

Did you know that fabric ingredients are grouped into toxic or safe and non-itchy?

The difference in costs is huge.

This article shows you how to spot the safe products and why Buff® headwear ticks the right boxes

What makes you itch?

There are 2 main reasons for fabrics itching.

The first is bacteria. Call it bad hygiene or simply fabrics that make you sweat and breed bacteria (cheap polyester beanie hat for example).

The second is toxic and irritating ingredients in making the fabric.

There are ingredients available that can not only make you itch but also severely impact your health.
These ingredients are on a list and banned in most 1st world countries.

How safe are we in Australia?

Not at all, unfortunately.

Australia has no tests or regulations regarding safe textile ingredients. You can import into Australia whatever you like.

This leads to Australia being the only 1st world country supplied with 3rd world quality clothing.
Whenever we mentioned in China that we are from Australia and want headwear that passes the Oekotex test, we heard something like, “Why do you want to waste money on Oekotex. You are from Australia. You do not need this …”.
We were quite shocked at first but got used to hearing it all the time.

Here is a nice article from Choice that goes into more detail
https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/everyday-shopping/clothing/articles/chemicals-in-clothing
My favourite quote is

Products that are made in China for the Australian market could not even be sent back to China, as many of them would not meet the Chinese product safety standards but are acceptable here.

How do you find safe and non-itchy clothing in Australia?

You look for the Oekotex® certificate.

Oekotex® is a worldwide testing standard for classifying the safety of clothing.

Just look out for something like the logo below. If you spend more money to make your product safe, you will have it tested. If you can’t find it, assume the worst.
Especially if it’s our beloved “The same, just cheaper…” products.

The logo of the Oekotex® 100 certification for babies (class1). Source: buff.eu
The logo of the Oekotex® 100 certification for babies (class1)

You can always go to the AITEX website and enter the test number. That will give you all the details of the test.

So what are Buff® tested to?

The more intensive the skin contact of a product and the more sensitive the skin, the stricter the human-ecological requirements that need to be complied with.

All adult products are rated to class 2. This is the class for adults close to the skin clothing (underwear, socks, headwear,…)

All baby products are rated to class 1. The most stringent class.

You can find the logo of the Oekotex® 100 certification on the back of the Original Buff® packaging. Source: buff.eu
The logo of the Oekotex® Certification on the Original Buff®

Sources

UV/Sun Protection

Photomontage: Left image Cutout of a man with a severely sunburned face. © Jonny Hunter, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0), https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnyhunter/3565036940/in/photostream/ Right image A flyfisher proudly displaying his catch. He is standing waist deep in salt water and he is wearing a High Uv Buff® as face mask. © Pat Ford
Ouch. That must hurt. The Buff® fabrics protect. (Jonny Butler / Pat Ford)

Sunburns hurt. Skin cancer can kill.

The Original EcoStretch and the Coolnet UV fabric give you UPF50 excellent protection (98% UV/Sun protection).

Scan of a UPF report issued by ARPANSA
Skin Cancer aware? If it’s not rated it will not protect you.

This is an example of a UPF report. It was performed by the founders of the UPF rating ARPANSA. Nowadays both Original EcoStretch and CoolnetUV fabrics are constantly monitored for their UPF rating at the factory. The testing company is Aitext Textile Research Institute.

BUFF® Original EcoStretch and CoolnetUV multifunctional headwear comes with a label stating the standard (AS/NZS 4399:1996), the UPF Rating and the testing laboratory.

Beware of UPF Claims without reference to the test!

We see a lot of tubular headwear that advertises sun protection claims but has no labels or mention of the test standard. Those claims are bogus. Why?

A thin fabric without a UPF rating cannot protect you from skin cancer.

For example, a T-shirt is only around UPF 6. That’s because it just filters out enough UVB to stop a sunburn. It will not stop you from getting skin cancer because it doesn’t filter out UVA enough.

UVA is harder to filter, and it goes deep into your skin, so the damage is not visible.

That’s where special dyes and other ingredients that absorb UVA and UVB satisfactorily enter the game. This function can only be tested and proven in a laboratory.

That’s why sun-protective clothing is more expensive than non-protective clothing.

So, if you see a tube with a UV protection claim that doesn’t clearly state the UPF rating with the testing standard and the testing laboratory, do yourself a favour and walk away.

Most Popular Use

 
Fly fisher holding a catch in the flats. He is wearing a High Uv Buff® as face mask. The cooling effect makes the face mask comfortable. © Pat Ford http://www.patfordphotos.com/. Licenced by Original Buff S.A for the promotion of the High Uv Buff®
Intense sun and heat. The BUFF® CoolnetUv fabric cools to make your sun protection comfortable (Pat Ford)

Fishing

The most popular application so far for sun protection. A face mask that you can wear in the heat.
All fishing professionals now wear the BUFF® CoolnetUV for this one reason: Replace sunscreen and still be skin cancer protected.

 

In the Snow

A man wearing a High Uv Buff® as face mask in the snow. He is in a ski resort. © unknown
Forgot your sunscreen? A BUFF® Original EcoStretch helps you out.

How often did you forget your sunscreen? I have tons of times.

  • Wear it as a face mask and you’re protected
  • Not sweating – It eases the biting wind

 

Travel

Halong Bay in Vietnam as seen from a kayak. The kayaker in front is wearing a High Uv Buff® as legionnaire style cap. Submitted to us as part of a testimonial. Copyright unknown
Long sun exposure during a great adventure. Good to have a protective and cooling BUFF® CoolnetUV as legionnaire cap with you.

You’re travelling and you have this opportunity to go on a tour. No cloud in the sky, and of course, you didn’t bring some specialized headgear with you. The BUFF® CoolnetUV tube as a legionnaire-style cap will give you protection.

 

Endurance Sports

A participant of the Marathon Des Sables running through the desert. He is wearing a custom made High Uv Buff® as face mask. Copyright is unknown. Distributed by Original Buff® S.A. for the promotion of Buff® products
Sunscreen sweating out, and there is no time to replace it. The BUFF® CoolnetUV protects. The fabric cools enough to wear in a desert.

Running events in the sun are a prime example. You’re sweating throughout the day, and no sunscreen will work for long. You also don’t have any time to apply sunscreen constantly.

Events like the Marathon des Sables have their custom-made BUFF® CoolnetUV for their participants. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than burning to crisps.

 

Limitations

They are thin fabrics so stretching them too much or wearing them thin over several years reduces the protection.

Sources

ARPANSA Resource Guide for UV Protective Products

Wikipedia – Ultraviolet

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