Last year, at the launch of Gore-Tex Active Shell, the guys from the Big G brought up an interesting point - companies spend thousands developing the most breathable fabrics they can, then use designs that severely compromise breathability potential

's it all about? The first thing you need to know isthat 'comfort' in Gore-Tex terms, isn't just about whether somethingfeels nice and comfy. The job of Charlie and the other comfort guysis to break 'comfort' down so it can be assessed as objectively

'd say that the fabric's decent enough in breathability terms, but not on a par with eVent, NeoShell or Gore-Tex Active Shell.Arguably that's less crucial with the more all-round orientated Volt, which is likely to see more steady use than the fast

XCRWe've been using the weirdly-named spring 08 Rucky Chuckymountain-running shoe with good results and it's followed by thiswinter version which is essentially the same shoe, but with a Gore-TexXCR membrane to keep the water out. The rest of the shoe

permanent cooling effect, without compromising waterproofing - 'the world’s first waterproof venting jacket' says Berghaus.It uses Gore-Tex Active Shell fabric for maximum breathability and has been developed both with extensive lab tests and through field

of this new Gore-Tex Active Shell jacket, but what Berghaus didn't really tell us before was that the shoulders use a tougher, Pro Shell-based fabric on the shoulders and other wear points. As far as we know, the only other brand doing that is Arc'teryx... So

.Terrex Feather Jacket – Lightweight Mountain ShellThe Terrex Feather is a lightweight mountain shell jacket made from three-layer Gore-Tex Pro Shell and designed to be compact enough to stow easily in your pack, but protective enough to cope with extreme

.Lightweight Proofing...Most of Mountain Equipment's waterproof shells - Ogre, Kongur,Changabang etc - stay the same until later this year when XCR will bereplaced with Gore-Tex Pro Shell, but there is a new lightweightwaterproof in the range.The new Firelite is a

Jacketmixes the XCR Stretch with conventional Gore-Tex XCR Summit II fabricwhich, says the company, allows them to cut the jacket closer andmake the garment lighter, without losing flexibility of movement forthe wearer.It's minimalist in design with just two

for amedium, a very light Gore-Tex Pro Shell top.Unfortunately, something went wrong at the manufacturing stage and thejacket was disproportionately tight across the chest with the armholescut too high making the jacket restrictive and rendering the pit