staying warm and dry

A TESTIMONIAL WITH AN INTERESTING OBSERVATION

Jerry, you know that I have been a fan of fishnets maybe longer than you, from the early 70's. You also know that I'm always trying different things.

Late last February after our record blizzard I had a bunch of snow to shovel. I knew I was going to get a late start and I started thinking about your Lamilite. We always sleep nude in your bags and they are very efficient at keeping us warm and dry. So I decided to try your L-6 liner without anything under it. I started out about 20 F, as it got later it dropped to about 5F, the wind was 10-20 MPH. I had the liner vented about 12-18" down when I was working, I would zip it up and when I took a break. I think it worked better with nothing under it!

I was warm and dry. The outside of the liner was pretty frosty.

That is only one data point I'm going to try it more often this winter.

Barry.

I knew about the fishnets since the late 1960’s when my friend Jack R. introduced me to the fabric and Brinji the Norwegian maker of them. I tried selling his fabric the same fabric I use today and have used since my inception of making them. The problem I had in selling the fabric was simple, none of the underwear manufacturers didn’t believed me when I explained why the fishnet material worked better than close knit fabric. I knew if I ever became a manufacturer I would make them. Manufacturing started in 1990. When I started most customers were guys like Barry who knew the benefit of the fishnets. Today enough people are educated to also know the benefits and sales are 12 months a year versus seasonal.

This story reminds me of the days when I tried selling the concept of laminated Polar Guard to all of the companies that made their “no sleep sleeping bags” in the USA. Now they import their “no sleep sleeping bags” from Asia. The stupidity that I see in the outdoor industry did not just start it has been going on for close to 50 years or maybe longer.

Wearing the fishnet top or no top would work the same. The frost that Barry observed on the outside of the L-6 liner was only the perspiration he was creating migrating through the nylon lining L-6 Lamilite and the nylon shell where it condensed and froze. This is exactly what I experiences when I was lost. All of my perspiration moving through my L-12 Lamilite insulated Fossil Ridge Parka.

The Lamilite insulation is responsible for two actions; 1- it traps body heat better than all other forms of insulation so the body heat can keep perspiration in a vapor state so it can move away from you and 2- the Lamilite insulation does not stop the flow of the vapor away from you. The end result of these two actions is what Barry observed, frost on the outside of the garment and staying warm. This is precisely why people who use Wiggy’s sleeping bags find moisture liquid or frost on the outside top of their Wiggy’s bag.

Literally every other brand of jacket or “no sleep sleeping bag” retains ALL of the occupant’s moisture in the jacket or “no sleep sleeping bag”. The end result is a person who is cold. What can be worse is if the moisture staying in the garment freeze’s. This does happen when people climb mountains most notably Everest and die on the mountain by freezing to death. It has happened and will continue to happen because so many people have bought into the close knit (none) wicking underwear and down jackets.

I am not concerned if the entirety of the outdoor industry wakes up to the reality of how the human body works. I am concerned that the people in the street learn how their bodies work and buy clothing that will not be detrimental to them enjoying being out in the bush any time of year.

The people in the street have to be respected and presented with accurate and factual information so they can make informed decisions, choices about the clothing they should be buying that will not present a danger to themselves. When and if that takes place in the outdoor industry is a mystery to me if it ever does happen.