Scoop - The North Face's New Baselayer For 2005

A bit of a scoop on the baselayer front for you - The North Face has its own baselayer garments lined up for release in 2005 and we've already got some pre-production samples to have a go with, which is nice.

The current TNF baselayer stuff uses Polartec's effective Powerdry fabric, a polyester-based material that uses the structure of the fabric to move moisture away from the skin and out towards the outer layers. However, the company's obviously looking for something a bit different and distinctive and the new TNF baselayers are set to use polypropylene instead.

Poly what? Okay, the best known users of the fabric are Helly Hansen with their longstanding Lifa baselayer material, which is celebrating its 25th birthday this year, though the latest Lifa is substantially different from the original and doesn't retain odour in quite the same tenacious fashion.

Anorak Stuff

Helly says that Lifa and, presumably, other polypropylene fabrics don't 'wick' in the same way as polyester-based fabrics. Instead it's hydrophobic, meaning it repels water, and moves it rapidly away from the body. They claim that polypropylene absorbs 40 times less moisture than polyester.

We're guessing that the new TNF baselayers will have similar properties. For now, we can tell you that the fabric feels soft and comfortable against the skin and is close fitting for maximimum efficiency.

It'll also run across the TNF range of activities, from seamless garments designed specifically for mountaineering through to briefs and bras with a full range of different designs including long and short-sleeved tops, tights and even capris.

More when we have it. You can view details of the current TNF range at their web site.