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Hothead® and Cool Shirt®: Life Saving Football Tools - story on CBS |
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by Kimberly Rankin
Since 2005 33 football players have died from heat stroke. Most of them were high school students, but a new device could save lives. Hot Heads is a GE medical sensor placed in football players helmets that reads the players temperature every five seconds. It sends that information back to a hand held device kept by the coach or a trainer. When a player’s temperature reaches 102.5 the device will beep and the player’s name will light up in red alerting the coach that the player needs to step off the field, cool down, and drink some water.
“We are tracking temperature that goes up and remains up and continues to climb. You are not sure if players have hydrated properly or have taken cold medication, so it’s important to keep up with players temperatures,” says Rick Lane, with Hot Heads Sports.
Hoover is the first school in Alabama to get the technology and they believe it will save lives.
“We are able to predict what is going to happen. It kind of gives us an indicator and I think that’s a good thing because everything we can do to save a kids life and get some kind of warning then that’s the best thing for us,” says Coach Chet Knippers.
The device costs 45 dollars a player to retrofit the helmets. It cost less than five thousand dollars to retrofit a team of 80. For more information on this device, click on the video link, or the web link.
*The end of the video is where the reporter introduces the Cool Shirt®
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Firefighters beat the heat using the
Aqua Vest® Firefighter Rehab system - story on Fox |
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by Dave Schroeder
We all have to deal with the heat on days like today.
But not all of us have to wear 30 pounds of gear while doing it. Firefighters do. But they also know there's one surefire way to beat the heat.
"Our physician's assistant, who does out physicals every year, is constantly reminding us to stay hydrated," said South Bend Fire Captain Chad Ammerman.
When the calls come in the middle of the summer, these firefighters know the heat is coming, and from more than just the flames.
Battalion Chief Nick Tekler says, "The gear obviously weighs a lot, and it's insulated, and we just get hot that much quicker."
Their gear comes in three stifling, yet protective, layers.
These layers can combine to weigh more than 30 pounds. With high humidity, firefighters are constantly in a race to replace the fluids they lose.
Ammerman says that, "When it comes to humidity, it feels like all summer long, every run we go on, whenever we put on our gear, it's constant wet."
The effects of the heat are often felt most when there's a break in the action.
Fresh off of a training exercise, SBFD's David Jester said that, "When you're working you don't think about it much, but when you finish, that's when it really hits you. A lot of people work to a point where they don't realize they're overdoing it a bit until they stop. That's when it catches up with them."
Thanks to new cooling vests though, South Bend's firefighters can now recharge and cool off faster as they battle fires.
Jester explains that, "There's a pump that circulates the ice-water through these sets of tubing and into the vest."
These new toys should help keep the department cool this summer.
You may not have a cooling vest, but you can still be like a firefighter in staying cool. Ammerman says the one thing everyone can do is replace fluids.
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Shafer Enterprises partners with Hothead Technologies to
Provide Break-Through Technology to Monitor and Manage
Normothermia in Medical Patients |
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SafeTemp
Hothead Technologies has executed an agreement with Shafer Medical Devices, a Division of Shafer Enterprises, LLC to develop and distribute a medical application of the H.O.T.™ System that supports the Shafer Medical Devices Hypo/Hyperthermic Pad in managing normothermia in patients, during pre-op, surgery, and post op. The H.O.T.™ System, created by Hothead Technologies, wirelessly monitors body temperature, sending warning signals if the individual’s temperature goes above or below a pre-determined threshold. The H.O.T.™ System is the detection component for this medical solution. Shafer Enterprises, LLC manufactures personal cooling systems for a variety of applications including the Hypo/Hyperthermic Pad that keeps a person’s body temperature at a safe level to prevent them from overheating or becoming too cold. Together the system is called SafeTemp (a normothermia monitoring and management system).
By integrating the H.O.T.™ System with the Hypo/Hyperthermic Pad solution, medical staff will have the ability to monitor multiple subjects to maintain optimum body temperatures (which may reduce the risk of post-surgical infections). Staff can view any patient’s temperature from a wireless handheld PDA (personal digital assistant), and if temperature increases or decreases, the H.O.T.™ system can send a wireless command to the Hypo/Hyperthermic Pad to adjust the temperature to maintain normothermia.
“We are excited about the opportunity to use our H.O.T.™ System as a device that can serve the medical community in its task to keep normothermia manageable,” says Jay Buckalew, CEO of Hothead Technologies. “The partnership with Shafer Enterprises is one that we’ve worked on for some time and are glad to see the two companies join forces in this ground breaking solution,” adds Buckalew.
Hothead Technologies and Shafer Medical Devices are on the cover of this month’s Surgical Products magazine. They showcase the H.O.T.™ System, which includes a headband embedded with a heat sensor, on a patient who is using the Pad.
“Shafer Enterprises through our Cool Vest has been an advocate for protecting surgeons from overheating in the operating room. We believe the medical industry is one that can truly advance from our new technology solution,” comments Tony Blackburn, vice president of sales and marketing at Shafer. “We know that medical staff must monitor each patient from room to room and physically record temperatures in an effort to monitor and manage normothermia. Now with the integration of the H.O.T.™ System with our Pad, the hospital staff can monitor every patient on the floor at one time, collect temperature data, print necessary reports and adjust patient temperatures to maintain optimum normothermia automatically. It saves time and provides accountability, but most importantly, it provides staff with constant monitoring of all patients and when coupled with our Pad, the ability to continually adjust temperatures to maintain normothermia,” says Blackburn.
The Hothead and Hypo/Hyperthermic Pad solution has proven to be successful in early trials. The sensor is not affected by other electronic devices, does not add to the clutter of wire cords, and does not interfere with medical equipment. The SafeTemp (normothermia monitoring and management system) is currently in prototype stage and will go through further research and testing over the next several months.
The SafeTemp unit can be used for all your temperature monitoring applications throughout a medical facility from ambulatory to ICU.
About Hothead Technologies, Inc.
Hothead Technologies, Inc., is an Atlanta-based company offering a patent-pending and proprietary monitoring solution termed the Heat Observation Technology (H.O.T.™) system. The system is designed as an aid in the prevention of heat-related illness in athletes, firefighters, military personnel, industrial, medical and hazmat professionals. Heat Observation Technology (H.O.T.™) and the Hothead Technologies® logo are trademarks of Hothead Technologies, Inc. For more information visit www.hotheadtechnologies.com.
About Shafer Enterprises, LLC
Since 1987, Shafer Enterprises’ Cool Shirt® has been the world leader in personal temperature regulation systems. Our mission is to create innovative products that help people manage body temperature in extreme environments. Body temperature related illnesses and deaths are preventable and we believe our products help in that prevention. After more than 20 years experience in the medical field and extensive research on cooling the human body, we have developed systems specifically for surgeons, racecar drivers, football players, firefighters, emergency services/hazmat workers, industrial applications and now medical patients. For more information visit www.shafermedical.com.
Keith Sutton - Hothead Technologies, Inc., +1-404-477-2727, ksutton@hotheadtechnologies.com
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Rich Shafer's Vision Lives On |
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Rich Shafer
Shafer Enterprises LLC of Stockbridge, GA, manufacturer of COOL SHIRT® Personal Cooling Systems for racecar drivers, hospitals, industry, fire rehab, athletics, multiple sclerosis, and military users lost a team member on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009.
Rich Shafer, founder and inventor of the Cool Shirt system passed away late Saturday afternoon (Oct. 3) from complications after a wreck at Turn Three of the Crow Mountain Hill Climb.
Rich was a great man – full of life and always looking forward to the future. He loved his family, he loved his friends, and he loved racing. For Rich the words “you can’t do that” were a challenge to be overcome rather than a statement of limits. More than once he said he was lucky enough to still be able to get in the car (after two back surgeries), and he’d continue to mash the gas pedal until he couldn’t do so any longer. He turned sixty-six last April and could still outdrive guys half his age.
Rich was survived by his wife Eileen, his son Thomas, his daughter Julie, and his grandchildren Duncan and Lincoln.
The employees of Shafer Enterprises mourn the loss of a wonderful man and team member. Shafer Enterprises is an employee owned and operated business. We will continue to provide the same quality products and service you are accustomed to. Rest assured that we all share Rich’s vision moving into the future.
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COOL SHIRT® at the Salt Flat Races sets record! |
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Oxylance Salt Flat Car
The Oxylance Bonneville Salt Flat car ran 242 mph on Saturday, August 8th, 2009. Using the COOL SHIRT, the Bonneville set a speed record for the fastest that a COOL SHIRT has ever been!
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Rich Shafer sets new class track record while wearing his COOL SHIRT® at Nashville Super Speedway Road Course |
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Rich Shafer in the #82 Cool Shirt Camaro
"If you get overheated in your race car you can make a lot of mistakes and even more when driving over 150 miles an hour because you are covering a lot of ground every second," says Shafer. That is why he is a firm believer in his product and wears it during all of his races. He must have really needed it when he broke the SCCA Time Trial SPO class track record with a top speed of 181 mph on the front straight!
Congratulations, Rich!
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COOL SHIRT® debuts the
Aqua Vest Firefighter Rehab System
at the 2009 FDIC Fire Show |
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Cooling vest inspired by racing technology showcased at FDIC
By Jamie Thompson
FireRescue1 Editor
 INDIANAPOLIS — For the past 15 years, Rich Shafer has been keeping everyone from surgeons in the operating theater to race car drivers cool and refreshed.
Now it's the turn of firefighters.
Shafer Enterprises showcased the latest in its line of personal cooling systems — Aqua Vest Active Firefighter Rehab System — at FDIC in Indianapolis.
The system can cool up to six firefighters at any one time by pumping water from a cooler through insulated hoses to individual vests, which contain 50 feet of capillary tubing each.
Shafer, the president of the company, said while the system can be set up in minutes, it provides cooling for hours.
The system, which Shafer said took about two years to develop for firefighters, simply requires ice, water and 110 volts of electricity.
"To cool the body effectively, you must cover 35 to 40 percent of the skin's surface with temperature controlled water and that's what this vest does," Shafer said from the show floor. "It's something that works very effectively."
Shafer began working on the firefighter system after being approached by firefighters who had taken part in race meets and experienced the line of vests used by race car drivers.
"They would come up to me and ask me what I had for firefighters," Shafer said.
He then approached the fire department in Henry County, Georgia, where his company is based, and he began to learn more about the issues and needs of firefighter rehab on the fireground.
Once it was designed, the vest was tested by the Georgia Fire Academy and immediately mandated for all of its live fire training sessions.
The vest went on general sale last year, with the FDIC being the largest showcase for it since its launch.
"Everyone who has stopped by to put the vest on is impressed by it," Shafer said.
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The NEW Liquid Cooler by COOL SHIRT® is put to the test during the "12 hours of Sebring" at Sebring International Raceway |
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The new Liquid Cooler by CoolShirt was put to the test during the 12 hours of Sebring.
Darren Law with the Flying Lizard Motorsports team has a long career of winning races. Recognizing the benefits of driver cooling his team ran our Liquid Cooler system in his #44 car during the 12 hour event.
Darren Law on left, Bruce Baker / CoolShirt sales on right
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COOL SHIRT® a proud sponsor of the Atlanta Region SCCA "American Road Race of Champions" at Road Atlanta from November 9-11, 2007 |
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The American Road Race of Champions is THE nationwide event of the season for SCCA amateur regional road racers. There were over 350 entrants representing 30 states and Canada competing to see who is the top dog. The repaving of the Road Atlanta circuit and top notch driving resulted in some very quick lap times and numerous new track records.
Many of our loyal Cool Shirt® customers were on the track competing throughout the weekend, including our friend Bob Mayer in his BP Class #38 Chevy Corvette C6R, pictured below.
Congratulations to all the competitors for a great race weekend! We look forward to next years ARRC.
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COOL SHIRT® products a huge success at the National Safety Council 2007 Congress and Expo in Chicago |
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Introduction of industrial applications for Cool Shirt Personal Cooling Systems was a great success at the NSC Congress and Expo this week in Chicago. Safety Directors and front-line industry managers watched live demonstrations of Cool Shirt products for their employees who work in hot environments. By the second and third days of the expo, word had apparently spread throughout the hall about the Cool Shirt products and lines had formed at the booth to view and discuss the products. Some of the comments from potential clients visiting the booth included:
- "Finally, someone has something portable for cooling my guys that doesn't weigh 20 pounds."
- "The workers in our smelting operations are going to flip over these! We have been looking for cooling products like this for years."
- "These will be perfect for the crews we have blowing foam insulation in attics. They have to be mobile and this will solve their heat stress problem."
- "We've tried ice vests, phase change vests and everything in between. This looks like it is exactly what we needed....."
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COOL SHIRT® helps Rally Racers set the pace |
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Our friends Rafal Listopad Rally Racing Team were putting their Cool Shirt® systems through it’s paces in West Virginia. It was perfect weather conditions at the Randolph County in Elkins, West Virginia, Round 5 of the 2007 United States Rally Championship last weekend (August ’07). Round 7 of the 2007 United States Rally Championship will take place in Ellenville - Monticello Narrowsburg, New York on September 6-7.
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COOL SHIRT® outfits Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure racecars with Cool Shirt Driver Cooling Systems |
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Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure recently purchased Cool Shirt Personal Cooling Systems for their stable of instruction cars at Atlanta Motor Speedway. They were so impressed with how well the systems kept their instructors and customers safe, cool, and more mentally alert that they invited Cool Shirt Founder and President Rich Shafer and Sales Director Kathy Miller to come try out their racing adventure cars on the superspeedway! After logging a few laps at 150+ MPH, Rich and Kathy got to spend some time with their friendly staff and review their operations.
Eddy Cox and Mike Fulmer of Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure told Rich and Kathy that they used to be mentally and physically drained after every day at work in the hot race cars. But now when they come home they feel still have the energy to go out to dinner & a movie or actually have a relaxing evening at home with their families without being exhausted.
To learn more about Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure and schedule YOUR racing adventure or next corporate event, just give them a call at 800-GO-RACE-1 or visit them online at www.racingadventure.com
  
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September 2007 |
Andy Pilgrim & Johnny O’Connell join COOL SHIRT® customers Banner Racing Pontiacs for Rolex Grand-Am GT finale in Utah |
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Eden Prairie Minnesota (September 10, 2007): The Banner Racing team will be looking to close out the 2007 Rolex Grand-Am GT season with another win in the Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.Rs at the Sunchaser 1000k at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
The Banner Racing team announced that Andy Pilgrim, of Del Ray Beach Florida, will be joining Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards in the #07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R while Johnny O’Connell, of Flowery Branch Georgia, will reprise his run in the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona with Leighton Reese and Tim Lewis Jr. in the #06 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R.
“I'm looking forward to driving the Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R again with Paul and Kelly,” said Pilgrim. “I know these guys (Collins and Edwards) need a win to have any chance at the Championship so that's what we have to do if we can.”
Pilgrim, who owns three class wins and an over all win in the Rolex 24 hour, is wrapping up a very busy summer having raced four different GM cars in four different racing series in recent months. Pilgrim who is presently 2nd in points in the World Challenge GT Series in a Cadillac CTS-V drove a Corvette C6.R with Ron Fellows in the ALMS race at Mosport and the #88 Chevy Monte Carlo for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated in the NASCAR Busch events at Montreal and Watkins Glen in August.
Johnny O’Connell, who is usually found sharing the #3 GT1 ALMS Chevy Corvette C6.R with Jan Magnussen, comes to Utah on a hot roll having won 2 straight GT1 races at Mosport and Detroit on back to back weekends.
Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards go into the series finale at Miller 4th in points for the Drivers’ Championship with 330 each only 15 points behind the leader Dirk Werner who has 345.
Good luck to the Banner Racing Team from your friends at
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COOL SHIRT® customer Mark Setzer drives hard for a win in theUARA Bristol 150! |
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BRISTOL, TN -– Mark Setzer just missed a visit to victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway three weeks ago when the UARA Southern Touring Asphalt Racing Series visited the high banks of the World’s fastest Half Mile.
The Hickory, North Carolina driver finished second in that race but when the UARA STARS made a return trip to the high banks Saturday, as they continued to lay down rubber on the new concrete surface in preparation for the Food City 250 and the sold-out Sharpie 500, Setzer would grab the lead on lap 18 of the 150-lap race and never trail again to capture the checkered flag.
To quote Mark: "On a Hot Day Cool-Shirt kept me cool so I could win the UARA 150 at Bristol Motor Speedway"
To read the the entire news release, click here.
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COOL SHIRT® congratulates Leighton Reese and Tim Lewis Jr on their Rolex Grand-Am GT Classic win at Lime Rock! |
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Long-time COOL SHIRT® customer and friend, Leighton Reese and co-driver Tim Lewis Jr. drove the perfect race in their No. 06 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R to win Monday’s Rolex Sports Car Series Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park. Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards fought back from adversity and being a lap down to finish 4th in the No. 07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R.
The Banner Racing Team traveled across the country to win their first of the season in the tough GT Class of the Grand-Am Rolex Series. The Banner Pontiac GXP.Rs took the lead in the early stages of the two and a half hour race on the demanding 1.53 mile Lime Rock track and stayed there for the duration to score their first win of the 2007 season.
Congratulations Banner Racing Team from your friends at COOL SHIRT !!
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May 2007 |
Team Sahlen Racing & COOL SHIRT® team up to promote driver safety at Lime Rock Grand Am Event |
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Team Sahlen Racing and COOL SHIRT® continue to work together to promote driver safety in Grand Am Series racing.
Team Sahlen Racing has been a staunch supporter of COOL SHIRT® since discovering its benefits and readily supplies other teams with driver cooling systems at the various track events.COOL SHIRT® has been tested and proven to improve mental performance, decrease reaction times, reduce sweating and decrease the risk of heat exhaustion for drivers.
COOL SHIRT® is proud to be associated with Team Sahlen Racing.
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08-02-2006 |
Cool Shirt®
Cools US Troops Overseas |
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 With
temperatures in Iraq reaching over 120 degrees,
our troops need personal cooling to protect their
health and to maintain their stamina & mental
acuity. As a government contractor, the US Military
turned to Cool Shirt®
to supply hundreds of shirts and cooling systems
to various military units overseas. Body armor and
armored vehicles can create very hot environments and our
military-issue brown and desert tan Cool Shirt®
systems are cooling US troops all over Iraq and
Afghanistan.
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07-01-2006 |
Surgeon's Cool Vest ®
Personal Cooling System makes headlines with the University
of Minnesota Medical Center |
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 The
Surgeon's Cool Vest Personal Cooling System for
surgeons in the operating room recently received
accolades from the University of Minnesota Medical
Center's bi-weekly newsletter Inside View.
Titled "Keeping Their Cool: New Vests Keep Surgeons
Comfortable in Operating Room", the article
spoke in depth about the recent changes requiring
warmer temperatures in the operating room to improve
outcomes for their surgical patients.
Warmer temperatures
are believed to help prevent patient hypothermia,
reduce infections rates and reduce post-operative
cardiac and other adverse events. Unfortunately,
these warmer temperatures make for a hot, uncomfortable
environment for the surgeons and staff. To quote
the Inside View:
"While, in
the past, they would break out in a sweat during
physically demanding surgeries, now they're comfortably
cool."
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05-05-2006 |
COOL SHIRT® certified "HANS Friendly" |
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 Cool
Shirt® Driver Cooling Systems together with HANS
Performance Products Inc announce the addition
of the Cool Shirt® for
HANS Users to the "HANS Friendly" Program.
This new shirt (available in white or blue cotton,
Nomex & FireWear), has been specially designed
with no cool water tubing over the shoulders for
HANS users. Drivers who wear a HANS Device experience
no "pinching off" of the water tubing
and no personal discomfort from pressure placed
on the tubing by the restraint device. Both Cool
Shirt® and HANS Performance
Products are dedicated to making racing safer for
the drivers and this cooperation between the two
companies continues to demonstrate that commitment
to safety.
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03-01-2006 |
Emergency
Safety Pull-Release Connectors are now available on all COOL SHIRT® Personal Cooling Systems |
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 Exclusive
only to Cool Shirt® Personal
Cooling Systems, our new patent pending Emergency
Safety Pull-Release Connectors are designed for
emergency situations where the user needs immediate
release from the cooling unit
The
user is not tethered to the system and can automatically
disconnect without needing to locate and
depress the normal release buttons. Just pull on
the shirt hose or simply step away from the cooling
unit and the fittings auto-release from the cooling
unit hose. FIA, the sanctioning body in Europe,
now requires these connectors on all driver cooling
systems.
This new safety feature is now available on new systems by request.
Cool Shirt® customers
with existing systems may purchase an upgrade kit
to install these fittings easily on their current
system or any other cool suit driver cooling system.
Call 800-345-3176 for a details.
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Randomized Customer
Testimonials
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800-345-3176 
