Gearblog! 30 March 2006

Another installment in our occasional look at what's going on in the OM gear-testing department...

And the good news is that we're just back from a weekend of extravagant luxury in a five star hotel in Tenerife courtesy of WL Gore. Now, some of you may suspect that Gore hoped that idling by the sea while polite attendants wiped our journalistic brow and catered to our every desire would somehow soften our view of the latest Gore-Tex developments.

Shame on you, Tenerife was actually chosen because it boasts Spain's highest ,mountain, a whopping great volcano that rises to 3700 metres or so. The idea was that up top it'd be scary cool while down on the coast, we could bask in the sun like the fearless reporters we are.

Except it didn't quite work out that way. Unseasonably hot weather and a broken cable car put paid to full-on testing, but lunch was nice anyway. More interesting was Gore's new policy of relative openness with the press. In the past any sort of question about how Gore-Tex works was met with the sort of stonewall defence you expect from an Italian football team, but things have softened up a little.

Jinking quickly through central midfield, we discovered that there are around 80 different Gore-Tex membranes which vary in thickness and pore size / distribution and which are carefully matched to the face fabric for maximum effect and that the Windstopper version of the membrane doesn't include a PU layer on the inside to protect it from contamination by body fluids, oils, sun cream and the like.

That PU Feeling...

A what? OK, Gore tend to gloss over it, but waterproof Gore-Tex fabrics are backed with a thin layer of PU to protect them from contamination which changes the way the fabric works. PU is very hydrophilic which means that it tends to attract moisture and pull it though. Without the PU the PTFE membrane would be contaminated and then a process called reverse osmosis would pull moisture in from the outside, obviously not a good thing.

Obviously though, it changes the way that the fabric works. Rather than water molecules passing straight through the PTFE membrane in vapour form as Gore-Tex diagrams tend to imply, it actually has to change into liquid form to move across the PU barrier and then across the membrane itself.

All of which makes you wonder how Gore-Tex performs differently from a simple PU-coated fabric. We're not 100 per-cent sure, but we're guessing that Gore can use a much thinner smear of PU because it's only there to protect the PTFE rather than provide waterproofing in its own right. We also reckon that XCR, for example, is more breathable than standard Gore-Tex because it uses a thinner PU layer that passes water more quickly.

All of which was pretty irrelevant in Tenerife because no-one in their right mind wears a waterproof jacket of any kind in bright sunshine at 25 odd degrees Celsius. More about Gore's new developments in our launch report. Nice to see the company opening up a bit as far as information goes. Nice place as well, Tenerife. The high-up volcanic landscape reminded me of Ecuador and there looks to be good walking there too, Discovery Walking Guides publish a handy walking guide to the island.

Back Home

Back in the real world after a dismally delayed flight meant that we staggered through the front door at 6.30 on Monday morning after a totally sleepless night, we were greeted by a happy, waving pair of garish boots...

They're Brasher's new Supalite XCR a blinged-up version of the company's very, very light original Supalites, but made in fabric and suede with a Gore-Tex XCR liner for waterproofing.

Okay, they're around 1140 grammes for a pair of size 43s compared to 1020 grammes for the original leather versions, which are still available, but the slightly garish looks kind of worry us. You used to know where you were with Brasher but now with designs like this and their strange fur-topped women's boot launched for last Christmas, you have to wonder where they're going.

How many traditional Brasher customers would touch the new fabric Supalite with a Brasher walking pole, yet how many younger purchasers will buy into Brasher's traditional brand values. Don't we really need a souped-up traditional boot, like a modern-day Hillmaster - think the new Mini or Beetle car designs - rather than this slightly garish styling mishmash?

We're not saying that the boot doesn't function perfectly well as a boot, by the way, the technology that's gone into them looks impressive - we'll let you know - just musing...