'Soft shell', curiously the phrase rhymes with 'hard sell'. Butlet's put our cynicism aside for a moment and try to work out whatexactly the latest buzz words in outdoor technical clothing actuallymean.Old Hat?What the manufacturers seem to mean

One for the serious gear geeks out there. We recently ran a newsstory about the new Gore soft shell which is due to appear later thisyear from the likes of Mountain Hardear, GoLite and Marmot.One observation we made was that Mountain Equipment has a

Shoft Shell Shoes...We thought we'd seen it all, but the we reckon Salomon's well upin the running with their latest innovation, a soft shell shoe...Yes, you read that right. As of February, you'll be able to kityour feet out in soft shell fabric

Soft shell, or as they call it in the real world,'you what'? We thought long and hard before writing a Buyers' Guideto the stuff because it's a bit like trying to squeeze a fluffy duvetinto an under-sized cardboard box - just when you think it's in

This week's Monday Tip – how to look after your soft shell clothing and keep it working as well as it did when it was new.So you've got a soft shell, maybe a membrane-based one – clue: it's most likely completely wind proof, Gore Windstopper

With winter coming, a goodwaterproof shell jacket made from a breathable fabric is a must and thegood news is that there's a lot of choice out there. Our Buyers Guide which will be updatedshortly, tells you what to look for, but here are five

We told you a bit about the new Trekmates Soft Shell Jacket last month, but we now have an actual jacket in our sticky paws.A rapid recap – the jacket's been developed by Trekmates in association with the British Association of International

New in for review is one of the nicest bits of kit we've had from Berghaus for a while in the shape of the new for winter 2010 Badile Jacket.It's a very neat, nicely thought out Gore Windstopper Soft Shell technical mountain jacket with a gridded

The latest in our series of Shopping Tips is a low down inhow to buy a mountain shell jacket. You can find detailedinformation on technical features and more in our BuyersGuides series, but these tips should give you an easy hitlist of when it comes

While we were over at Plas y Brenin getting the scoop on Gore's new for 2011, Gore-Tex Active Shell fabric, we also got a look at Mountain Equipment's take on the new fabric in the form of a prototype lightweight mountaineering shell jacket