The Martindale is a unit for quantifying the abrasion resistance of textiles, especially when used for upholstery.
The Martindale method, also known as the Martindale rub test, simulates natural wear of a seat cover, in which the textile sample is rubbed against a standard abrasive surface with a specified force.
The test equipment works in intervals of 5000 cycles, totalling the wear number (unit: Martindale) of abrasion cycles that leads to the material being worn to a specified degree.
The higher the value, the more resistant the material is to abrasion.
[1] The national German textile institute specifies a minimum requirement for various applications, and here are some examples: Material for use by police or emergency services may require values of 200,000 to 500,000.