TNF has the gall of galls

FUTURELIGHT WATERPROOF MAYBE BUT DEFINITELY NOT BREATHABLE

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS BEING PRINTED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITH MY COMMENTS ADDED.

At a media event in New York City in early October, The North Face celebrated the launch of Futurelight with a performance by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Mura Masa and an elaborate art installation telling the story of breathable, waterproof protection delivered by the break-through membrane technology.

There is no story since there is no such entity as a manmade material that is both waterproof and vapor permeable or as they like to say breathable. They refuse to accept only living organisms are capable of breathing.

The concept for Futurelight, which was first unveiled in January at CES 2019, came from specific requests from The North Face global athletes looking for increased performance and breathability in their waterproof gear.

All the global athletes employed by the north face company were born during the gore period and all learned that goretex does not work so they went to their boss and asked if something could be made. Hence futurelight. Their boss also knew the goretex doesn’t work so they came up with their own product. does it work? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a media tour of the installation, renowned climber and photographer Jimmy Chin said elite climbers face similar issues experiencing bad weather or being aerobic in the mountains to anybody who’s worn a rain jacket. The rain jacket may keep an individual dry from the rain but the tradeoff is the body starts feeling sweaty, clammy and over-heated. Wearers find themselves continually wanting to take the jacket off.

OLD Jimmy knows how goretex works as he has just explained. Thank you, Jimmy,!!!

“You want to stay dry but you also need to breathe,” said Chin. “So the nice thing about a jacket with Futurelight is you don’t have to stop, take it off, get cold, put it back on. Then go, stop, take it off, put it back on and keep going through that process. It packs a lot of efficiency in being both waterproof and breathable. A lot of claims are made about breathable waterproof but this works.”

My advice is if you “need to breath” do not put the jacket over your head. A lot of claims made about waterproof vapor permeable (breathable) are just claims and futurelight is just as bogus as all who have proceeded it. But you are a photographer so you wouldn’t know anything about that. And besides he is an employee of north face so he says what they want him to say.

At Classic Car Club Manhattan on the banks of the East River, The North Face team was determined to reset expectations that waterproof product is uncomfortable, heavy and stuffy. Messages floating underneath high-tech jackets included “What If Waterproof Gear Kept You Dry Inside And Out?” and “What If Breathability Is The Breakthrough.”

What IF is a very big word. All the paragraph is B/S or gibberish.

Kelly Cortina, VP of global product, The North Face, said the waterproof and breathable protection properties of Futurelight were developed using nanospinning technology. The process creates nano-level holes, allowing for high porosity while maintaining total waterproofness, letting air move through the material and provide extensive venting.

I believe Kelly has no specific knowledge of the subject but then again no one at north face does. Extensive venting is something that simply put does not occur with the futurelight any more than it does with goretex or the dozens of other bogus products.

“It’s basically developing a construction that’s super porous,” said Cortina. “The air is flowing in and out of this membrane and it’s waterproof.”

I have never known of air flowing in and out of a garment; PERIOD!!! Kelly is either parroting words given to her or she is making up words that are meaningless, more gibberish.

Nanospinning also gives The North Face designers the ability to adjust weight, stretch, breathability, durability, construction (knit or woven), and texture during the manufacturing process to match both athletes’ and consumers’ end-use, activity or environment. Added Cortina, “We’re going to be able to dial that up or dial that down, which means we’re going to be able to create product for the mountains, for the street, etc. It’s going to scale across our entire portfolio of product and that allows us to not only apply it to apparel but footwear, equipment, accessories and beyond.”

These people should have behind the scenes writers for politicians, I have never heard a straightforward answer from a politician and here we have still more gibberish.

Echoing Chin’s sentiments, Cortina said one aspect The North Face continues to hear from wear-testers and the brand’s athletes is the amount of time they’re able to continue to wear one jacket. Said Cortina, “With Futurelight, they’re not having to change out of product and they’re also super comfortable for a really long period of time. Whether they’re active or post-activity, their body is regulated, air is flowing, and the temperature is staying stable. So that’s a pretty big change for any athlete and certainly any person as well.”

They are paid employees, what do you expect them to say, we are still retaining moisture, of course not. they like their pay checks just like the gore employees so they will not rock the boat.

Cortina said while bringing breathability to waterproof gear to support performance was the goal of the multi-year project for The North Face’s product development team, a “byproduct” of the development is the softness of the fabric and how it drapes.

Cortina you are not bringing waterproofness AND breathability to the garment, so what if it drapes well. That is good if you are making a fashion garment.

“We’ve been wear-testing it for more than 400 days, across seven exhibitions with 15 athletes and the cool thing is we kept making it better,” said Cortina. “Versus the earlier prototypes and what we expected entering into this, what we ended up with draped much more than we imagined and it’s softer than thought it would be and ultimately more comfortable.”

You see they are now talking fashion, draping!!!

Futurelight was tested by the brand’s athletes in the highest peaks and harshest environments, including the Himalayas’ Lhotse and Everest, in temperatures ranging from -50 degrees F to 60 degrees While testing Futurelight, alpinist, Jim Morrison, climbed and skied three 8,000-meter peaks in 2018, including Everest, Cho Oyu and the world’s first descent of Lhotse Couloir with his partner Hilaree Nelson.

So they were wearing these lightweight garments at -5 AMAZING!!!

“During the past two years, our world-class team of climbers, skiers, alpinists, snowboarders and trail runners has been rigorously testing Futurelight across every discipline to prove this technology in varying weather conditions and climates all over the world,” said Nelson, The North Face athlete team captain, in a statement. “In all my years in the mountains, I’ve never experienced a product that moved and performed as well as Futurelight. It is creating a new paradigm for what I expect out of a waterproof material.”

Nelson has taken the bate and it is now in his stomach.

Beyond athlete-testing and internal testing labs, the brand worked with third-party independent experts including Underwriter Labs, a renowned safety science organization, to test the limits of the fabric. UL tests waterproofing for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), an organization that certifies first responder gear for firefighters, EMS and hazmat responders.

Did you know you have to pay UL to test your products and it is not cheap, so when the testing is done, they tell you exactly what you want to hear.

Finally, Futurelight is helping The North Face bring additional sustainability practices to three-layer garments. The face and backer layers are made up of 90 percent recycled materials. Said Chin, “Knowing its recycled materials makes athletes feel good about wearing the product. Athletes are pretty conscious of those things.”

Cortina said the beyond resonating with athletes, the recycled properties help The North Face meet aggressive goals around sustainability.

“The North Face has a big footprint,” said Cortina. “We are the biggest outdoor brand in the industry and it matters a lot the type of product we’re building and the lifetime warranty we’re guaranteeing. And we are moving very quickly to only pursuing sustainable innovation and Futurelight has really kicked that off.”

You can take all the discussion about recycling, sustain ability and guarantee and throw it out the window since this product will probably not be around in two years, just like the myriad of other developments they have claimed in the past.

“The launch of Futurelight is about more than a fabric technology or a single jacket, it is about a new paradigm in clothing and protection,” said Steve Lesnard, VP of marketing at The North Face, in a statement. “We are redefining the expectations around weather protection and our campaign is designed to demonstrate the benefits and new possibilities that this technology will enable.”

I am glad Steve said “new possibilities” because that is ALL they have possibilities.

COMMENTS

The north face company is only wanting to get on the gore band wagon (by the way they are not stopping using goretex laminates) that is so profitable. The north face company is nothing more than a marketing company so they have savvy marketing people who will dream up as evidenced by what you have read. They will pull out all the stops to embellish the B/S public events etc. to publicize their products good or bad. They have been doing this for years and almost every one of them goes by the wayside as I expect this one will too.

If their product is as good as they claim why continue to use the goretex, it is probably a back up to have when their non-performing product dies on the vine. It has no more chance of doing what they claim than I do of being able to fly an air force fighter jet simply because I once met General Chuck Yeager.

Buyer beware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BUT WAIT READ THIS

1. Works Better Than Advertised

   Wiggy,
   Just got off the tractor after fixing the driveway from recent storm damage while it was still raining. Not that it was all that cold but I figured the rain would help me test out the ducksback material and I must say I was impressed. Picture sitting on a tractor with no cover from the elements and all the rain falling on the top of my body being channeled down to my legs. After a couple hours my legs were still totally dry. As far as I can tell, the water didn't penetrate the insulation at all. It simply rolled off the exterior of the fabric. It should also be noted that while the leg jackets were too warm for this application I still didn't sweat in them. I can't think of another insulated product that would behave this way.

   – Robert