I've only just discovered that Polartec Powershield comes in 3 different weights, Lite, Premium and Altitude. I think most fleeces I've come across have been made of the Lite stuff and I'd never seen or heard of the other two until today. So can anyone take the time to fill me on the other two?
I suspect most Powershield garments are 'Premium', with a moderate amount of insulation.
'Lite' uses a very lightweight insulation lining, almost a microfibre tricot. Think of the Millet Pro Touring.
'Altitude' is, I guess, for winter weight stuff, rather like the old Patagonia Mixmaster. I think Millet also use this in a winter version of the Pro Touring.
The first PowerShield item I bought was a Marmot Cousin IT. It gave the fabric product codes, rather than any names... And, strangely, I haven't got them noted in my database...
Actually, it's more complex than that. I guess there are at least 10-15 versions and probably more. They all share the basic set up of Powershield: an air permeable film/glue attached to a lining and a face fabric. There are though numerous combinations possible. The lining is generally fleece which is available in a whole range of wheigts, grit patterns, ... It's just the same for the face fabric: a range of wheigts, with or without stretchfibers, with or without mechanical stretch. Now, even different grades of air permeability are available and even single face versions (without air permeable film) are available. So lots of possibilities.
Actually when I did a search on the internet for Powershield one site that came up seemed to be in Italian. This site seemed to be listing more technical garments and their fabrics and it seemed to be aimed at climbers. Although my Italian is non-exisitent, from the website I deduced what Tom indicated above, that are at least a dozen versions Of Powershield.
Sorry, despite my efforts to find it again I've failed. I'm pretty certain that having gone to the page in question and then gone to the site's home page that it was an Italian mountaineering website so not being a mountaineer I ignored it. It seemed to be giving a list of fabrics and examples of who used them in what jackets etc.
Long discussion of different materials here, including various versions of Polartec Powershield:"For example, Malden Mills, which is the Polartec people, has only about 12-15 brand names. But each of these comes in slightly different flavors -- they actually make more than 150 different fabrics!"
