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The “sweat without feeling wet” jacket

February 12th, 2018 / By: IFAI / What's New?

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Osmotex has tested its new HYDRO_BOT technology in a prototype jacket. It expects the technology to be used in sportswear brands’ garments sometime this year. Photo: Osmotex.

One year after the Swiss-Norwegian company Osmotex AG announced the innovative HYDRO_BOT technology, it is showcasing a jacket with embedded electronic moisture management that allows the wearer to sweat without feeling wet. Managing director and executive chairman, Joacim Holter said he has tested a prototype jacket “under demanding conditions in the Norwegian mountains” and found that the jacket performs as expected. After more testing, the company expects the technology to be commercially available in sportswear sometime in 2018.

I wonder if they dreamt this up during the 4 months of darkness of the winter in Norway. Not having anything better to do. Now you can understand why I put this product in the same category as waterproof breath-able, it is equally as bogus!

Osmotex launched the technology with a group of partners last year. KJUS has been the primary product development partner and confirmed then that they will be the first brand to take HYDRO_BOT to market in selected skiwear products planned for the 2018-19 season.

Like all other companies associated with the outdoor industry skiing included they will when given the opportunity to have possible an exclusive for one or more seasons they jump on it like a fly on turd. In my opinion that is precisely what kjus has done! Like every company that chose to incorporate goretex way back none of them asked for proof of performance nor did they experiment themselves to find out if the product did work as presented to them. They just accepted it because it was new and they wanted to believe that it would work. They have I believe learned it doesn’t work but like sheep they just follow along. This kjus company has not actually tried it, because if they did they would have learned that the sweat you produce while skiing stays against your skin and therefore you will feel the wetness regardless of the electricity in your outer garment. Of course if you wear fishnets that does not happen. The reality of the outdoor industry in my opinion is the simple fact that the people who work in the industry have consciously chosen not to LEARN!!!

Since the technology launch, Swiss textile company Schoeller^® has also signed a production agreement. A new strategic partner for Osmotex, Applycon, a Czech-based developer and producer of electronics for clothing, will be the preferred supplier for all integrated electronics.

I wonder if this company developed and sold their electronics to Ralph Loren for the clothing they made for the current Olympic teams winter parkas that are not keeping them warm. And the same hold true from what I have read of all the electric winter garments sold to spectators.

Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, has played a key role in conducting materials and technology research, as well as clothing physiology analysis of the HYDRO_BOT system incorporated in jackets. In all tests the jackets performed better than existing state-of-the-art jackets, and when the electronics were switched on the difference was remarkable, Empa reports. “While this is a first-generation product, our physiological analysis already shows that electro-osmosis will make it possible to manage moisture in an entirely new way,” says Prof. Dr. Gian-Luca Bona, CEO of Empa.

The swiss labs are as far as I am concerned no different than any other government labs in the world when it comes to insulations; they do not know nor do they care to find out from field use what works and what doesn’t. I think the best thing that the swiss should do is make chocolate and watches.

It seems to me that each week a new genius comes along with a new material or process that is going to make your life much more pleasant when you have to deal with cold weather conditions. ALL of the information is out there now that will help people to make a decision as to what type of garment or garments are available that will do just that for many years to come. The garments are not complicated as in charging a battery. They are not expensive since they will last for many years and they will not go out of style. They will not have to be sent back to the maker if you can find the maker to be rewired. You will never get the feeling that you have been taken advantage of either.

The other day I received a hand written letter and it follows:

Jerry,

I had one of your 40 degree sleeping bags for more than 25 years, slept in it more than 1000 times and washed innumerable times. Now at 81 after 2 knee and one hip replacement’s I use a cot when camping. Last year on a camping trip along the coasts of northern California, Oregon, and Washington states I was cold some nights. I blamed it on the cot so I ordered a 0 degree sleeping bag from you. When it arrived it was the most impressive sleeping bag that I had ever seen. It reminded me of what my old sleeping bag was like when it was new. I was having trouble with the zipper getting stuck on the old sleeping bag which would still work for summer camping. I wrote to you asking if anything could be done about the problem. You replied that I should wash the bag again and send it to you to see what could be done. I did and was very surprised when you replaced it with a new one. I don’t think that there are many companies left that stand behind their products like you do. The new bag is great and will be perfect for camping along the coast even with the cot.

I live in the foot hills near Yosemite National Park. I bought a pair of your socks to avoid cold feet that I always got when we drove up the hill to go snow shoeing.

Thank you for making products that really work and for standing behind them like no one else seems to any more.

Bill V. Sonora CA.

I recommended that he get one of my ground pads to use on his cot.

Wiggy’s is now in its 30^th year of business and has been making sleeping bags for 32 years. I doubt that most of the electric garments will not amount to very much in the market place and in most cases will not be around for more than a few years at best.

Now the retailers who sell much of the trash products that exist in their stores should start asking their suppliers for proof that the products work like they say as well as testing them themselves.