The WL Gore company – along with its outdoor apparel and Gore Bike Wear divisions – have long been faced with a challenge: how do you make a jacket using the legendary Gore-Tex waterproof and breathable membrane but dramatically reduce its weight? With the new One Gore-Tex Active jacket, the membrane isn’t just embedded into the shell; it is the shell.
Up until now, all Gore-Tex jackets used a multi-layer construction whereby the membrane was sandwiched in between a liner material and so-called ‘face’ fabric, providing comfort against the skin on one side and requisite durability on the other. However, doing so meant that the outer layer always had to be treated with spray-on water-repellant coatings – which inevitably wear out – and even then, the garments would gradually get heavier as the outer layer eventually absorbed water.
ADVERTISEMENT
Unlike conventional Gore-Tex jackets where the waterproof/breathable membrane is sandwiched between other layers of fabric, the One Gore-Tex Active membrane is the shell
Even when dry, those layers add weight and bulk while contributing nothing to the membrane’s inherent waterproof and breathable characteristics.
With the new One Gore-Tex Active jacket, however, company engineers have figured out how to make the membrane sufficiently durable to act as the shell on its own. Company representatives wouldn’t disclose exactly how this was done (saying only that it requires a multi-layer membrane construction) but the results are pretty astonishing.
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
via BikeRadar All the latest from BikeRadar.com http://ift.tt/1P6q4CA
No comments:
Post a Comment