Suddenly Black Is Cool...

Generally you want to avoid dark-coloured clothing in hot weather, but Mammut's new soft shell range uses a Schoeller technology called ColdBlack which is designed to keep you cooler in hot conditions.

Sounds unlikely no? But apparently the ColdBlack finishing technology is highly reflective and significantly less heat through, keeping you cooler in hot summer sunshine, the exact opposite of what you'd expect from dark clothing and something that will bemuse anyone who's worn a black top on a glacier during the day...

Mammut says that their new Courmayeur Pants, for example, actually reflect up to 80 per-cent of the light keeping the wearer cooler for longer. The finish is actually invisible and, says Mammut 'influences reflection in the infrared spectrum so that dark colors reflect the sunlight in the same way that lighter colors do'.

Invisible Spectrum

Because the reflecting stuff is happening in the non-visible portion of the spectrum, the fabric can be reflective without influencing the visible colour. This is crucial with soft shell which, for some reason, is virtually always black - it's the law...

Interestingly, not only do ColdBlack garments like the £130 Courmayeur Pants pictured not heat up as fast as normal ones, they also lose heat faster once the sun does go in. Other Mammut clothing using ColdBlack includes the Extreme Logan jacket and pants and the Verglas jacket all of which use Schoeller soft shell fabrics. So now you can look cool and stay cool at the same time.

More details at www.mammut.ch