Gore's New Fabric - Scoop!

We're pleased to bring you a bit of a world scoop on Gore-Tex Pro Shell the latest Gore-Tex fabric development, due out later this year, around August / September to be more precise.

New Pro Shell will effectively replaced Gore-Tex XCR in the Gore range of fabrics, but says Gore's John McDonald, it's 'more than just the next step in XCR'. You'll be seeing a lot more of this label in the shops come the autmn...

So what are the big differences? As far as we can tell, the membrane itself remains essentially the same - more on that in a moment - however there are big changes to the inner fabric of three-ply Pro Shell. While XCR uses a kntted liner fabric, the new Pro Shell has something called GORE Micro Grid Backer Technology.

What that little mouthfull actually means is that the inner lining of Pro Shell is closely woven instead of knitted. There's a very obvious visible difference, you can actually see the tight weave of the liner compared to the old knitted version, but - says Gore - there are numerous performance advantages too.

And here it is.

Lighter...

The new fabric is lighter than before by a significant amount. The new woven fabric is over 50 per-cent lighter than the previous knitted backer which saves around 60 grammes in overall weight on a typical jacket.

Added to that is another 20 grammes saved by using narrower seam tape which also blends in better with the liner for a neater appearance.

Slicker...

Next, the new fabric has a slicker surface which means it glides over inner layers more readily leading to greater mobility when you're moving within your jacket or pants. It's simply slicker. It also feels softer and more flexible than its XCR equivalent, simply because the liner is thinner.

Tougher...

Then there's durability. McDonald showed us some slides of Pro Shell and non-Pro Shell garments which had been through the same lab and field testing procedures and where the old knitted liner was already showing signs of wear, Pro Shell's Micro Grid Backer looked almost new.

'A Pro Shell garment, ' he says. 'Doesn't age at anywhere near the same rate.'

More Breathable

Last but not least, McDonald also says that Pro Shell is more breathable, in fact he claims: 'New Pro Shell is more breathable than anything ese available.'

In lab tests, Pro Shell fabrics produced RET values between 3 and 6, with one carefully selected face fabric producing a score as low as 2.5. To put that in perspective, three-layer XCR has been quoted as having an RET of 5.1 - lower is better - while eVENT Is around 4.5.

Side by side, Pro Shell left and XCR right. The new woven inner is
lighter, more breathable and slides more easily over inner layers.
In tests it's also proven far more durable and resistant to abrasion.

Bear in mind though that lab tests don't tell the full story and eVENT says, with some justification, that the way RET testing is conducted puts their material at a disadvantage. Real world testing suggests that this is true, we've found eVENT to be significantly more breathable than XCR and, to underline that, at least one Gore employee has told us that eVENT is roughly on a par with Windstopper, when it comes to breathability.

Anyway, time and testing will tell, but McDonald says that the improvements in breahtability are down to a combination of the thinner liner being more breathable, a careful choice of face fabrics - the material on the outside - and the use of different membranes to suit the face and liner fabrics.

What hasn't changed is the basic technology of the membrane. It's still a ptfe layer with a thin smear of hydrophyllic PU on the inside to protect the membrane from contamination.

Performance Shell Too

There are other changes too. As well as the demise of XCR, the fabric known as 'Classic Gore-Tex' - which always sounded as bit like like a rusting vintage car to us - is going to, with a new fabric called Performance Shell taking its place.

While Pro Shell, like XCR, is aimed at high level technical use and priced accordingly, Performance Shell still has a knitted backer and is for everything else. Like Pro Shell, it comes in two and three-layer versiions and that's it really.

Finally, Gore-Tex Paclite carries on as Gore's lightest performance fabric, so no change there, though we've already seen some extrememly light Pro Shell jackets from the likes of Haglofs.

What It Means For You?

In simple terms, from around September 2007 onwards, no more XCR, no more Classic Gore-Tex, instead Gore-Tex Pro Shell and Gore-Tex Performance Shell and if the claims are correct, Pro Shell should be interesting and significantly better than XCR.

Should you wait for the new fabric? Probably not if you're going to get soaked to the skin in the mean time. We also suspect that you'll find XCR at some very good prices later this year, so it might be a good time to grab an XCR bargain.

As far as different brands go, some are producing a whole new range of jackets with the new fabric - Lowe Alpine for example - others, like Mountain Equipment - are mostly just converting their proven existing jackets to the new fabric, giving a lighter overall jacket with better performance.

Testing, Testing...

The good news is that we now have some Pro Shell test kit which we'll be using over the next few months and reporting back. We're also trying to arrange for a small number of OM users to try Pro Shell for themselves once samples are available but before the kit goes on sale. So watch this space :-)