The Main eVENT?

Lowe Alpine pretty much stole most of the limelight at the 2002 Go Outdoors Trade Show in Harrogate and it was all down to their new partnership with eVENT ® Fabrics.

it's the first time in over ten years that Lowe has linked up with a branded breathable-waterproof fabric manufacturer and they were being refreshingly bullish about the new fabric which will be used in their top-end shell garments. They're claiming not only that it's going to be more breathable than anything else around, but also that it has the potential to become more breathable still.

It's not the end of the Triple Point or Triple Point Ceramic coatings by the way, they'll continue alongside eVENT but lower down the range.

What's it all about?

Like Gore-Tex, eVENT is a PTFE membrane but, says Lowe, with one subtle difference. Gore-Tex has a oleophobic - oil hating - polyurethane layer which it needs to protect the membrane and pores from being contaminated by body oils. The layer, they say, limits breathability because to pass through the PU layer, moisture vapour has to condense out to liquid.

The new fabric still uses an oleophobic treatment, but in simple terms, eVENT has managed to open up the pores of the microporous structure and coat the inside of the pores with the oleophobic substance. The result is that the pores can be opened up further, bigger holes if you like, which means greater breathability and with no polyurethane layer to act as a buffer and slow moisture transmission.

The bigger pores mean that the fabric is, in laboratory tests, less waterproof in absolute terms, but Lowe's Mark Held says that in real world use, it will still be more than enough performance.

That's a drastic simplification of what's going on, but in the real world, eVENT is claimed to be a dry system that's less clammy than the opposition and gives superior results in the lab too and Lowe's quoted RET and other figures suggest just that. They also say that the nature of the current RET test doesn't suit eVENT because unlike other fabrics it starts to breathe immediately so real life differences may be even greater.

What Next? Be A Tester...

Lowe were displaying a prototype test jacket at Harrogate and it's obvious that this is going to be top of the range technical stuff aimed at XCR's jugular. The jacket featured new upper arm vents, swivel hood, pit-zips, and a funky asymmetric slash-cut design. It's likely to retail at the £200-plus mark end of things.

So that's the new jacket right? Erm, not quite. Actual production isn't planned until this time next year. Between now and then Lowe is launching a consumer test programme between January and March of 2003 when selected real people like you and me will be given sample jackets and asked to horribly abuse them. There'll be a similar programme for store employees.

Lowe believes that the comfort advantages of eVENT are so clear that experiencing them at first hand is the best way of publicising them. Of course it should also provide feedback on qualities like durability and all-round technical performance.

The good news if you fancy being a Lowe crash test dummy is that we should have full details in due course, so just watch this space.

The Bottom Line

If it's as good as Lowe say, eVENT should be delicious. Don't get carried away just yet as it won't be in the shops until this time next year. In the mean time we'll do our best to get our paws on a sample and let you know what we reckon to it.

eVENT Fabrics web site

Lowe Alpine web site