fixation

DUCKSBACK TESTIMONIAL

My wife and I have just spent several very rainy days on the Oregon Coast, south of Lincoln City at 'Salishan' a golf club. I had been wearing my ''DUCKSBACK”' front full zipper parka exclusively on our beach walks and in town. The fabric is most amazing in that it has a very 'soft hand' in texture but is very resilient in wrinkle resistance when I threw it in the back seat and later shook it out.
Watching the rain hit the fabric was amazing in our windy environment. Seeing the drops hit the fabric and shatter into mini 'ball bearings' like and rolled off the fabric. Pretty cool.....

For those people in need of a rain shedding garment that is truly something that can make your adventures enjoyable and DRY using a 'Ducks Back" garment is the answer.


Peter Lawrence-Seattle

Peter called to tell me how well the material performed, so I asked that he write it to me so I could publish it. I know the garment will be wrinkle free for years if not always because the rain coat I have for 7 years is still wrinkle free even though I keep it in the pocket behind the front seat of my pickup. He will also discover that the water resistance does not diminish.

The DUCKSBACK material ends the hard shell which was what someone or maybe Gore called the “hand” of the three ply laminate of Gore-Tex. The fabric became hard as a direct use of two laminations. Once it was felt as a stiff finish to the fabric it was decided that it had to be called “hard shell” because they couldn’t make it soft.The DUCKSBACK material also ends the need to “re-water repellent treat” the garment. Of course the process to re-water repellent treat the fabric doesn’t work very well. Therefore, you save the cost of the water repellent chemical, the time involved in going through the process and of course you aren’t adding a pollutant into the water via laundering the garment.

REALITY: Is that which exists.

RATIONALITY: The virtue of rationality means the recognition and acceptance of reason as one’s only source of knowledge, one’s only judge of values and one’s only guide to action.

REASON: Is the faculty that identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses.

AYN RAND

In the outdoor industry reality, rationality and reason are not recognized and from my experience of over 50 years of working in the industry this has been the case for most of them.

In my opinion the beginning of the end of reason, rational thinking, i.e. reality was when the industry accepted the concept that a single material could transform another material by being glued to it would have two characteristics; one would make the fabric waterproof and two still allow the fabric to be vapor permeable or as was said then “breathable”. Did one other person in the industry other than my self-question how this was possible; NO! Over the course of time the uneducated consumers have come to the conclusion based upon their use of such garments they do not work as advertised.

However, over the course of the 40 year time frame since its introduction into the market place numerous companies at the finished garment level as well as the fabric supply level have chosen to make their own version of this non-working material because of the high profit margins. Reality is damned for the profit motive.

How about all of the companies that have been advertising that their fabric will wick moisture? Then there are companies that make their own fabric that will wick moisture. The reality is that the materials which are synthetic wick nothing! Does the plastic handle of your tooth brush absorb any moisture? What is the difference between a ¼ inch thick piece of plastic, your tooth brush handle and a piece of plastic as thin as one strand of your hair, nothing! Then there is the merino wool crowd who do not believe that their wool actually absorbs and retains the sweat from your body. For some unknown reason to me they do not believe that you will get a chill in either case with respect to what you are wearing. They are quite irrational in their thinking; because I am quite sure they personally have experienced the chilling effect of trapped moisture next to their skin while wearing their own garments. They too are functioning on the fallacy of choosing not to accept that their products do not perform.They choose not to accept reality.

The shoe industry is a major rejecter of reality since the way footwear has been made for almost 40 years and has proven beyond belief that they are a problem with respect to cold wet feet. Now some of these companies are making running shoes as light as possible so professional marathoners can break the 2 hour time frame. Of course the training of the runner may be irrelevant but his shoes will make the difference. They are selling this to consumers, however, the light-weight materials will probable deteriorate quickly but the price will be premium.

The garment manufactures as well as fabric makers are fixated on weight now. Actually for quite some-time because it all started with sleeping bags! Sleeping bag size has been reduced dramatically to the point if you are a male who is 5’10” and a weight of 200 pounds other than Wiggy’s the chances of getting a sleeping bag to fit you comfortable is close to impossible. Then they use theoretically down with a higher volume capability so the bag is further lightened, of course the temperature capability is a lie either way. But the bag is lighter and that is the end desire.

Then you have synthetic fiberfill users also striving for lighter weight with higher insulating capacity, more irrational thinking. Time has shown that what they want to accomplish is impossible, but advertising programs for these products has been a draw and as such reason is thrown to the wind.

As I review what has gone on in the industry for these past 40 years I am appalled to know that all rational thinking, ability to reason and recognition of reality is gone.