Another stabbing or knife attack in Antwerp
Victim of fatal stabbing died or critically injured in Antwerp. Dead after knife attack on De Lijn bus. Anti-knife clothing protection.
The number of knife attacks is increasing alarmingly, and one of the hotspots is Antwerp. It's a general phenomenon that there are more stabbings, and only life-threatening and fatal stabbings make the news. Nevertheless, an attack with a knife or sharp object can have serious consequences for the victim.
Many more knives are carried than before, and the reasons for this are:
- - In some foreign cultures, everyone carries a knife, and conflicts are resolved with knives. Immigrants bring their culture to a major city like Antwerp.
- - Some Eastern European immigrants learned knife-fighting techniques as basic training during their military service and resort to their knowledge during the slightest argument.
- - Given that many immigrants carry knives, the local population also arms themselves with knives for protection against stabbings.
- - Children confront each other, and not carrying a knife is no longer in vogue.
Despite the fact that carrying knives is prohibited by law in most cases, many people are looking for a solution to these knife attacks by carrying their own knife for personal protection. This, in turn, leads to even more knives and more stabbings.
In response to the increasing number of stabbings, one can also choose to wear anti-knife clothing, which can limit or even completely prevent serious injury from a knife attack.
Types of injuries from a knife attack or stabbing
Injuries from a knife attack can be divided into cuts and stab wounds.
Cuts are often caused by utility knives or butcher knives. Although most people consider cuts to be less dangerous, they are very common, and the most fatal knife attacks occur by slitting the victim's throat. Cut-resistant clothing with a high level of cut resistance (level 5 or 5+) offers good protection against a cutting knife attack.
Stab wounds occur in stabbings and can be caused by various stabbing weapons ranging from sharp screwdrivers, ice picks, pocket knives, kitchen knives to actual combat daggers. Stab protection is very complex and depends on the shape of the tip of the stabbing weapon and the force with which it is used. Stab-resistant clothing is achieved by processing very strong yarns into clothing, with or without multiple layers, in casual clothing that is as comfortable to wear as regular clothing. The professional stab-resistant packages KR1-SP1 were specially developed against very dangerous stabbing weapons such as combat daggers and are used in stab-resistant vests and cut- and stab-resistant clothing.
Different types of anti-knife clothing.
Old well-known yellow Kevlar T-shirt.
The old familiar yellow aramid T-shirts were worn by security agents for a long time and offered cut-resistant protection against pocket knives and glass shards. The cut resistance level is only 2 to 3. Due to the emergence of utility knives, this level of protection is too low and an aramid T-shirt offers insufficient protection against a knife attack with a utility knife. Nowadays, aramid T-shirts are used for their fire-resistant and heat-resistant properties, especially as military underwear that protects the skin from burns from bomb explosions.
Black aramid T-shirt prevents clothing from burning into the skin.
Link to fire-resistant clothing
Cut-resistant clothing level 5
Cut-resistant clothing level 5 is made from very strong yarns, mainly reinforced with fiberglass to increase cut resistance. The most well-known are Spectra from Honeywell and a kind of mix of industrial synthetic fibers that are usually grey-white in color. The mix we use was named cutyarn (cut resistant yarns) by us.
Grey Cutyarn T-shirt L5 from VBR-Belgium
P.S. not all grey-white T-shirts sold on questionable (Chinese internet platforms) are cut-resistant. Buy good quality cut-resistant protection from a reputable brand like VBR-Belgium or Torskin!
Cutyarn level 5 offers good cut-resistant protection against very sharp utility knives and, consequently, against knife attacks. Although a single layer of cut-resistant fabric offers high resistance, the stab protection is insufficient to stop a knife stab with a very sharp knife. Due to the high resistance of these cut-resistant fabrics, the depth of the knife stab can be limited, so that a knife stab penetrates less deeply into the body and thus limits the injury.
Cut-resistant clothing is as flexible as other clothing, and to increase stab resistance, different cut-resistant garments can be worn layered, providing significant stab resistance. We recommend at least three layers of level 5 cut-resistant fabric on top of each other to achieve any useful stab resistance against a knife attack. For example, a cut-resistant undershirt, a cut-resistant sweater, and a cut-resistant jacket.
Rain jacket with cut-resistant lining
Cut-resistant clothing level 5+ Dual Face
A new type of dual-face cut-resistant fabric has recently entered the market, achieving a higher cut resistance than level 5. These are essentially two threads knitted together in a single layer, with one thread on one side and the other thread on the other side. This is a very intense and tight knit that offers significantly greater stab resistance than the older Level 5 cut-resistant fabrics. This relatively thin layer with high stab resistance can be used as protective underwear to wear under clothing or a uniform. By using two threads in a fabric, different properties can be added, such as moisture-wicking or even greater stab resistance.
Black cut and stab-resistant undershirt Dual Face VBR-Belgium
Due to the tight and very strong weave in the Dual Face cut and stab-resistant clothing, a very comfortable protective T-shirt is obtained, which, in addition to cut protection, also offers (limited) stab protection. The high resistance also provides some protection against shards or debris from an explosion, whereas other casual clothing offers no protection at all.
Link to the new Dual-Face protective clothing
Stab-resistant vests KR1-SP1
Link to discreet stab-resistant vests KR1-SP1
For personal protection of security guards or police, there is an even higher level of stab resistance. The KR1-SP1 stab-resistant vests are professional stab-resistant vests that offer protection against knife attacks and stabs with sharp objects such as awls, ice picks, or sharply sharpened screwdrivers.
Link to overt stab-resistant vests KR1-SP1
Stab-resistant vest KR1-SP1 for security guards
More info about our stab-resistant vests