follow up to yesterdays article

EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLE PUBLISHED YESTERDAY

WHILE THE LEGAL battles against Gore are concerned solely with its business practices, the ongoing campaign for hearts and minds in the marketplace is all about fabric performance. In case it’s not already clear, the debate over who makes the best waterproof-breathable technology is about letting moisture out, not keeping it at bay. Barring leakage resulting from excessive wear and tear or saturation—a.k.a. wetting out—any self-respecting brand will turn back rain. The fight concerns the dark, extremely niche art of breathability.

Note that the concern is breathability, which does not happen!!!

The very term breathable is a bit of a misnomer. While there are waterproof-breathable running and biking jackets, they don’t breathe that well. (Unless it’s really wet or really cold, you’re better off wearing some sort of water-resistant soft shell for aerobic pursuits.) The most obvious sign that breathability is relative is that many jackets have mesh-backed pockets or, more commonly, pit zips to let moisture vapor escape.

There are no “waterproof-breathable running and biking jackets that don’t breathe that well”, they do not breathe at all!!! Note that the manufacturers add mesh or pit zips to try and get rid of the moisture, as it never gts through the fabric as we are told it is supposed to.

Further complicating things is the issue of convection, or what’s now known as air permeability. Not to be confused with breathability, air permeability refers to whether a fabric allows a cold breeze to come in from the outside or the hot air that builds up inside the jacket during exertion—not just the vapor from sweat—to escape, cooling you down. In theory, virtually all waterproof-breathable hard shells are windproof—meaning they’re not air permeable and that hot air thus has no way of escaping. But ask Columbia or NeoShell or eVent and they’ll tell you that those little poofs of air billowing around beneath your jacket can miraculously escape through their membranes. You need not open pit zips or unzip your jacket, they insist; the fabric does it for you. Gore disputes this claim. “Gore’s belief,” said the company’s Tim Smith, “is that something cannot be windproof and meaningfully air permeable at the same time.”

Convection of air currents moves skyward and they convective air currents are based on being warm. Material does not inhibit this movement. Air permeability means that the fabric is woven or knitted loosely enough so air can move through the spaces between the yards. So the writer correctly identifies that these materials are “not air permeable and that hot air thus has no way of escaping” therefore all moisture stays within the garments even those made with Columbia, NeoShell or eVent materials. Of course the comments from Columbia, NeoShell or eVent are capable of causing a miracle to happen.

Now we get the truth from a gore representative Tim Smith an engineer a fit 32-year-old with a knack for decoding complicated science. I wonder if he is still employed by gore since he has decoded the complicated science of waterproof breathable with his statement and I quote; Gore’s belief is that something cannot be windproof and meaningfully air permeable at the same time”. He carefully did not say waterproof. So as I see it they who work at the gore company fully well know that they DO NOT HAVE A MATERIAL COMPOSITE THAT IS BOTH WATERPROOF AND BREATHABLE, I.E VAPOR OR AIR PERMEABLE. Thank you Tim for your corroboration that WP/B does not exist.

This article was published in 2012 in Outside Magazine. So this truth of ALL material composites written about performs exactly the same way that is to say they do not perform at all. Since 2012 other companies have I believe come out with their version of a non-functioning WP/B composite. However, with ALL of the facts visible not a single company that has been using these non-functioning materials will stop using them because they do not care if they make any products that they can truthfully offer. ALL of the retail stores that carry these products also do not care that they too are part of the effort to dupe the general public into buying garments that not only do not work as described in the literature that accompanies the garments nor do they have any chance of working.

At this moment in time as i previously reported the north face company is offering soon their version of a WP/B material trade named "futurelight", will it actually work, NO!!!

Why a single composite of fabric and film will NEVER work as the gores of the world claim that their materials work? No because it all has to do with temperature. We have learned that the human body gives off water from its pores. We have also learned that the heat coming off of our skin surface converts the water to a vapor which is driven away from the body by its heat.

If you are wearing a so called WP/B rain garment and it is raining the ambient air temperatures will be much lower when raining. The cold water i.e. rain falling on the garment will cause the fabric to become the same temperature as the water. Keep in mind the garment is made from a synthetic material i.e. nylon and synthetic fabric reacts very quickly to temperature change. In this condition the moisture that is given off by the body does not vaporize because it has been cooled and the result as many have experienced is to get a chill. That is because the moisture covering your skin surface simply absorbs your body heat so you experience a chill. And of course all have had this experience with garments sold as WP/B.

All evidence points to the use of a thin layer of insulation in any product meant for all weather use. The combination of Lamilite socks and Lamilite boots has shown that the moisture emitted by feet simply moves out of the boots. The reason; the heat from the feet is the driving force. We have been learning from many of my customers experience with Lamilite insulated jackets keeping people dry and warm under rainy situations. This is not a fluke but reality. Will the same happen with any WP/B material garments? No, because the moisture will be liquid and therefore still cannot move through the film laminated to the fabrics if it can get that far within the garment. One aspect that the article did not mention because the writer did not know that the adhesives used to hold the composites together further clogs most of the spaces between the yarns of the fabrics as well as the holes in the films. I also wonder if the decoding Tim Smith of gore knows that the lamination of urethane to the film before it is laminated to the fabric as gore does clogs the spaces described. Of course this article was published in 2012 so he may not be an employee of gore today.

Shortly I will be offering Supplex / L-3 Lamilite lined zippered all weather jacket for use from 35 degrees and higher. I expect that the retail price will be between $100.00 and $125.00, size range from small to 3 extra-large. The initial color will be black only.  As soon as i have the price finalized i will make it available for ordering.