The North Face's electrically-heated jacket the MET5, has been
given the European Outdoor Award for Innovation of the
Year.
TNF's distinctively-named General Manager, Europe, Topher Gaylord
picked up the award at the recent Outdoor tradeshow in
Friedrichshafen, Germany commenting: 'We are especially proud of this
award because it comes from an independent panel of Europe's leading
outdoor magazines who freely chose to acknowledge the innovative
value of our Met5 Jacket incorporating Intelligent Garment
Technology.'
The jacket combines Polartec® Heat Technology panels with
windproof breathable Polartec® WindBloc-ACT® fabric. Think
electric blankets but a tad more sophisticated - microscopic heating
fibre, which are thinner than a human hair, are laminated between the
shell and the liner and controlled by a unit in the jacket pocket.
More details in previous articles from the site, see below.
To be honest, the MET5 is a bit of a showpiece garment for TNF and
you don't see many of them on the hills, but it's joined in the
Winter 2002 range by a new MET5 Vest. You won't be surprised to learn
that the Vest is a close-fitting, sleeveless version of the jacket
with heating panels on the back and front and the facility to set
temperatures at either medium or high (45 degrees C) or even off.
If you want to know more about TNF's 'Intelligent Garment
Technology' or the rest of their autumn/winter 2002 range, have a
look at the clothing section of their web
site. And since you ask, yes, the MET5 garments are reassuringly
expensive. A shame really as it's an interesting development for stop
/ start winter use like pitched snow and ice climbing.
