Protection against stabbing or knife attack

Another stabbing victim! Protect yourself against a stabbing or knife attack with cut-resistant and stab-resistant T-shirts, vests, or anti-stab clothing.

New range of cut-resistant and stab-resistant clothing made according to the latest innovations in materials incorporated into protective clothing.

Cut-resistant, stab-resistant, and fragmentation-resistant clothing can prevent cuts or stab wounds or significantly limit the severity of the injury!

Levels of cut protection


Level 2 : This is the lowest cut-resistant protection and is common in aramid fabrics such as Kevlar. These Level 2 fabrics offer protection against cutting with pocket knives but not against very sharp utility knives. In most cases, a double layer is used to achieve useful cut protection. However, the most special property of aramid fabrics is that they are fire resistant. Link to aramid clothing that is fire resistant

Level 5 : This is the most common level of cut-resistant clothing. Generally, this refers to a blend of synthetic fabrics reinforced with fiberglass. The most common is the gray type, of which there are different compositions. At VBR-Belgium, CUTYARN is used for this mixture, which stands for Cut Resistant Yarns. This Cutyarns is very strong but feels somewhat rough. Another highly valued and slightly softer type is Spectra. Spectra is slightly more expensive but softer and is especially known in the American market for police equipment. These Level 5 fabrics offer protection against pocket knives and very sharp utility knives.

Level 6 : This is one of the latest types of cut-resistant fabric with a Dual Face construction. This dual-face fabric used by VBR-Belgium is a blend of two products where one raw material is on one side and another raw material is on the other side. For example, the black Spectra may be visible on one side and a white Coolmax is used on the inside, which then feels very soft and refreshing on the skin. Another possibility is to use gray Cutyarn on the outside and Spectra on the inside.

Stab resistance of cut-resistant fabrics

Protection against stabbing with a knife is very complex and depends on the tip shape and the force used when stabbing with a knife. Not all knives are the same or equally strong.

Level 2 : A single layer of Level 2 aramid only offers some protection against stabbing with a glass shard or broken glass. To achieve any useful stab-resistant protection against knives, multiple layers of aramid must be used on top of each other. The tightly woven aramid used in VBR-Belgium's neck-face-pro offers higher stab-resistant protection. To achieve good protection, at least 4 layers of aramid fabric are needed on top of each other. The neck-face-pro is then folded in half again.

Level 5 : A single layer of Level 5 cut-resistant knitted fabric is significantly stronger than Level 2 and already offers some protection against stabbing with certain pocket knives. However, not against all types of pocket knives. To increase stab resistance, VBR-Belgium recommends at least 3 layers of Level 5 cut-resistant fabric on top of each other to achieve any useful stab-resistant protection against a knife attack. These three layers of Level 5 cut-resistant fabric on top of each other can be achieved by incorporating them into a garment (stab-resistant sweater) or by wearing three different Level 5 garments on top of each other. This could be a cut-resistant undershirt, a cut-resistant sweater, and a cut-resistant jacket. The advantage of this combination is that it feels like wearing normal clothes.

Level 6 : Is a new type of knit with Level 5 cut-resistant yarns that overlap in such a way that the space between the knit becomes very small, significantly increasing stab resistance. This means Level 6 offers greater stab resistance against more types of pocket knives. However, the stab resistance of a single layer of Level 6 is not strong enough to stop sturdy fixed knives with a sharp point.

Level 15 Joule : To achieve stab-resistant protection against most types of knives, stab-resistant panels (which in some cases can also be bulletproof) with a resistance of 15 Joules are used. These can then be placed in a specially provided compartment in a cut-resistant T-shirt or sweater. These stab-resistant panels then protect vital organs against a fatal stabbing.

Level KR1-SP1 : is the professional level of stab-resistant protection widely used by security guards and police in their stab-resistant vests. KR1 is stab-resistant protection of 24 to 36 Joules against knives. SP1 is stab-resistant protection of 24 to 36 Joules against awls (such as ice picks).

P.S. there is a difference between stab-resistant against knives and stab-resistant against awls! A cut-resistant knit does not offer effective protection against ice picks!

Fragmentation-resistant properties of cut-resistant fabrics

Cut-resistant fabrics are not officially tested against fragments because this is only done with a round test projectile (17 grains FSP STANG 2920). However, these cut-resistant knits are very strong and capable of stopping larger fragments with limited energy. This can be in situations of a bomb explosion where glass shards or other fragments can hit the clothing. Therefore, cut-resistant fabric is also referred to as fragmentation-resistant because it is much stronger than ordinary clothing.

Cut-resistant and stab-resistant underwear for basic protection against stabbing.

Cut-resistant underwear can be worn on the skin and offers basic protection against stabbing or knife attacks. Cut- and stab-resistant underwear can be found in Level 2, Level 5, and Level 6. Depending on the weather conditions, an additional cut- and stab-resistant sweater, polo, or jacket can be worn over it. Together, they form useful protection against a stabbing or knife attack. Under cut-resistant underwear, we have a

Cut- and stab-resistant T-shirt, sweater or jumper as protection against stabbing.

A cut- and stab-resistant T-shirt can be made from multiple layers. If the cut- and stab-resistant sweater or jumper incorporates multiple layers of Level 2 or 5 cut-resistant fabric, the protective properties increase significantly. A cut- and stab-resistant T-shirt, sweater, or jumper is as flexible as a regular thick sweater or winter jumper and can therefore be worn over cut-resistant underwear without problems. This method is used to increase stab resistance and achieve useful stab-resistant protection against a stabbing or knife attack. Can be worn as an extra layer over a cut- and stab-resistant undershirt.

Stab- and cut-resistant T-shirts and Polos with one cut-resistant layer and other layers

Cut- and stab-resistant jumper with multiple layers of cut-resistant fabric

Cut-resistant T-shirt with bullet- and stab-resistant panels against fatal stabbing

Most stabbings or knife attacks cause serious injuries but are not fatal with the first knife stab. Fatal stabbings with deadly outcomes are the result of a knife stab to a vital organ such as the heart. A knife stab to the heart is immediately fatal! Therefore, some protective T-shirts incorporate extra bullet- and stab-resistant panels at the chest area. These extra protective panels can stop a knife stab from a heavy dagger and are also bulletproof against 9mm and .44 Magnum calibers.

Cut-resistant T-shirt with stab- and bullet-resistant panels

Cut- and stab-resistant raincoat as protection against stabbing.

A cut and stab resistant raincoat looks like a normal raincoat but has a cut-resistant lining level 5. The strong layer of water-repellent Cordura, which lies above the level 5 cut-resistant lining, already provides useful protection against a knife attack. If one wears several long cut-resistant garments underneath, such as a cut-resistant undershirt and a cut-resistant sweater, one obtains good stab-resistant protection against a stabbing or knife attack. In any case, this is a safer combination than a package of expensive branded clothing consisting of an expensive undershirt, an expensive branded sweater, and a branded jacket.

Heavier stab-resistant protection

Heavier stab-resistant protection can be found in combinations such as a bullet and stab-resistant vest class HG1A-KR2-SP2. This higher stab-resistant protection KR2 for knives and SP2 for awls is rather stiff and is currently less used due to limited wearing comfort.

The highest stab-resistant protection such as KR3 and SP3 can only be found with metal insert plates or linked metal plates. The discrete stab-resistant vest KR3 PGD Exoskeleton is an example of this.