Dear Customer
We thought that you might be interested to hear what has been going on at Dermatuff:
Manufacturing
The spinning of our very special and unique yarn is still being done by our excellent spinners in Italy, however the manufacturing of the socks themselves has been transferred to a renowned British sock manufacturer based in the Midlands. The close liaison which is possible when working with a first-class UK-based company is a great advantage.
Regarding the yarn we have now switched to Kevlar rather than Technora because Kevlar is a much better known and renowned product commonly used in body armour.
Together we have been developing and improving the product whilst still maintaining its fundamental properties of prevention of skin tears for people with fragile skin. We have carried out much original and successful work on how to hold the socks up without applying too much pressure for those who have poor blood circulation. Sizing of the product has been improved particularly the foot sizing. By improving the materials and manufacturing technique the products have become even more comfortable and flexible.
Research
Dr Roy Powell, a researcher at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital together with his research team made an application for an award of £250,000 to the National Institute for Health Research under its Research for Patent Benefit Scheme to carry out research into the effectiveness of the socks and was successful. The trial has been under way since July/August 2013 but the results will not be available until 2015. The ‘STOPCUTS’ Randomised Controlled Trial will take place in approximately 30 care homes situated in Exeter, Exmouth and North Devon, also in the East Devon Community. 90 residents will be randomly selected: half of them will wear the socks and half who will be the control group will not do so. The trial will last for 16 weeks but because of the very considerable analysis of the data necessary, the findings will not be published until 2015.
An application for a further research project is also now being planned in order to greatly increase the understanding of the problem of thinning skin and the subsequent skin tears that occur. This research will probably last for about three years and will take place in the Physics Department of Exeter University and also the Peninsula Medical School at Exeter. It is hoped that the results of this research work will enable us to create further improvements for our products and also develop other products.
Further Product Development
There are many ways in which our basic invention can be developed and we are now seriously considering the field of compression socks and TED socks.
World Markets
There are very big opportunities worldwide for our products and therefore we are particularly pleased about the appointment of our Australia/NZ Importer and Distributors. They are: HealthSaver Pty. Ltd, 14/140 Wecker Road, BC Qld 4122, PO Box 2395, MANSFIELD, QLD 4122 http://www.healthsaver.com.au
During the last 12 months we have supplied products to customers all over the world particularly to the USA. We are currently looking for importers/distributors particularly in the United States, South Africa, countries throughout Europe, South America etc
News from you
If any of you would like to send us an e-mail detailing your experiences using the Skin Tear Protection Wear then we would be extremely happy to hear from you. We would also be very happy to publish anything you send us on our website if you could give us permission to do so. Although we reserve the right to have the last word about what we publish and what we don’t! Additionally please if you would like to have any further information from us can you send an e-mail to Peter.Thornton@Dermatuff.com.
Newsletters
We promise to send newsletters very infrequently and if you don’t want to receive them please let us know.
Remember to tell your fellow sufferers about us.
All the very best,
Peter Thornton
Director
Dermatuff Ltd.
Registered Number 06299804
Skype free phone service: pnthornton
Telephone: ++44(0)1395-548199
Mobile ++44(0)7836-212713
www.dermatuff.com