WL Gores main business is in medical fabrics for hospitals - fabric for waterproof jackets is a very , very, very small part of their business.
Yes John - 100% mark up at retail , my pre coffee mistake . Tent fabric is much cheaper than any PTFE laminate, but of course you have poles, pegs etc to consider.
As I said earlier the mark up is what the brands use to maintain their 'cred' , also I would have to add that designers at Arcteryx do make their own patterns which takes a lot of time and refinement - this cannot be said of prety much all other I brands I know , where the patterns are made either by a pattern maker in house, or by the factory overseas depending.
I see a lot of stones being thrown at Gore here, but the reality is they charge their customers ie outdoor brands the same amount for certain fabrics, sure if you buy a ridiculous amount you might get a discount, but at the end of the day the margin is being made by the brands themselves and/ or the retailers for that particular brand ( I have designed for several outdoor brands and know what they're prices are... ). On a very basic level a manufacturer makes a jacket for X amount and adds 50%, this is the price sold to the retailer - the wholesale / trade price, and then the retailer marks that up again 50 - 70% and thats where out retail prices come from.... so its more about brands trying to maintain their expensive credo than anything else - after all when you look t the fabrics being used , you will find the same fabrics used by Berghaus, Arcteryx, Haglofs, ME, Mountain Hardwear etc - but very different prices in some cases
Re - speccing Gore Tex face fabrics is not something unique to Arcteryx, for example Berghaus in the UK regularly do this and change the yarns in the face fabrics for higher spec more bombproof yarns. And while they may not have the street cred of Arcteryx the fabrics they produce for their top end garments are just as bombproof and a lot cheaper! )
DOC (the New Zealand Department of Conservation) is going to make guided helicopter hunting a legal activity on public lands come September. The writing is on the wall 3 operators have already been granted an interim decision to carry out this activity until heli-hunting permits become available in September.
The petition below may achieve nothing, but at least in 5 years time when our public land tahr and chamois herds have no trophy animals left and our pristine and peaceful backcountry is jammed full of helicopters you will be able to say I tried to stop this!
Please take 1 minute of your time click on the link below and sign this petition, it is simple and easy.
You can add further comments to the petition if you wish
Please forward this link to everyone on your mailing list. This petition only went up this morning and we already have 125 signatures, please do your bit to help this snowball.
GERARD SMITH
. Tent fabric is much cheaper than any PTFE laminate, but of course you have poles, pegs etc to consider. 
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