Shock Absorbing Nylon Webbing?

A large industrial supply company advertises “shock-absorbing nylon webbing”.What is it and how does it differ from standard nylon webbing?

All nylon products stretch. That is the nature of the material and if we were talking about rope, it would be described as a “dynamic” product. If you were rock climbing and fell, you wouldn’t want to be tethered to the mountain with a steel cable where there would be no give when it got fully extended. Your body would be a wreck. One climbing rope manufacturer says their dynamic ropes provide a “soft catch”. In the marine industry nylon is used for anchor and mooring lines but never as a tow line.

Polyester fibers provide little stretch. In the rope world they comprise what are known as “static” ropes. Sheets and halyards on a sailboat along with tow lines all need to be static ropes.

In the webbing world the terms static and dynamic are rarely used. If you are designing a dog leash there will never be enough of a load that the user could tell the difference. Other factors are more important, how does it feel in your hand, does it come in the right color and what is the cost are all common areas of interest. Unless you are making fall prevention or load securing gear, static or dynamic hardly comes in to play.

Now to answer the question-

All nylon webbing is shock absorbing, or dynamic. You can check out our nylon webbing options to see what we stock. The thinner the webbing, for example #630 is thinner than #7400, the more it will stretch for a given load but they all stretch- or are shock-absorbing.

Interested in ‘static’ webbing? Polyester is the way to go. It is more expensive than nylon and color options are very limited.