Gearblog - An Obsession With Pants...

We're just back from an ace couple of days spent as a guest of Gore and Mountain Equipment at the National Mountain Centre at Plas y Brenin in North Wales and dead interesting it was too, not least because we also got to meet sponsored climber Dave MacLeod and watch his extraordinary new film, Echo Wall.

More about that on the site soon, but one of the aims of the visit, was to explain a little about how Gore-Tex fabrics are developed and how Mountain Equipment, in particular, uses its association with Plas y Brenin to hone its kit. '

The Brenin' as it's often referred to, is one of the most active outdoor training centres in the world with a dedicated team of guides and instructors working all year round to improve people's skills right across the outdoor board - it's an inspirational place and one we'd recommend without the slightest hesitation.

Just as importantly for ME and Gore, the staff their can be out on the hill six or seven days a week, in all weathers, allowing them to rack up massive mileage on clothing and footwear in a relatively short time span. And of course the weather in North Wales is spot on for some hard core testing - the day we were there, it rained so hard that a planned gorge ascent had to be cancelled due to too much water...



Play y Brenin's staff meet up with Gore and Mountaim Equipment's R and D teams at least twice a year to review the products they've been using, not just day to day in North Wales, but also in demanding overseas location like the Alps and Canada. They can suggest modifications to make garments work better and comment on fabric properties and durability.

Very Thorough And Very Slow...

That's all crucial because, it emerges, talking to Gore product development specialist, John McDonald, that a new Gore-tex fabric like Pro Shell can take five to seven years to develop from scratch. It is, he stresses a very, very thorough process and, because of that, it's also very, very slow.

What it means - for example - is that if a new Gore fabric were to appear in the shops tomorrow, work could have started on it back in 2001. Gore doesn't do things by halves, so a simple field test of a new material takes around six months including getting, say, jackets made up, having them hammered senseless by Plas y Brenin staff then retrieving them for assessment. And that's just the start, all Gore-Tex fabrics go through extensive lab tests to check for abrasion resistance, resistance to fading, pilling and so on.

Similarly, Plas y Brenin instructors provide valuable accelerated-wear feeback for ME - what works, what doesn't, what could maybe be improved. It's all fed back to the company and, ultimately, its designers. We can exclusively reveal that in an impromptu poll, the garment of choice was deemed to be... the Microtherm top, a classic micro-velour lined microfibre pullover that's been discontinued.

Though not for much longer it seems, Mountain Equipment will be bringing it back by popular demand in the near future.

A Passion For Pants

McDonald was one of the driving forces behind the introduction of Pro Shell, but since that was launched he's been working an a new project, a Windstopper Soft Shell fabric designed specifically for legwear.

We've used Windstopper pants in the past and they've been sporadically effective, because the fabric is completely windproof and nigh on waterproof, which potentially makes them fit and forget winter legwear. Unfortunately the inner liner has never felt really comfortable against the skin, which is where the new fabric aims to score with softer, thinner backer for all-day comfort.

That's about as much as we can tell you right now, except that we have some prototype Windstopper Pants on right now and it's dead easy to type while wearing them... They also feel lighter and smoother on the inside than Windstopper legwear we've used in the past, but all will be revealed in autumn 2009...