“Breathability” Comparison of Commercial Outerwear Shell Layers (2018) [pdf]

It’s worth noting that, in cold dry weather, you don’t necessarily want maximum breathability. If the humidity inside your jacket drops too much, then your skins loses a lot of moisture, which dries you out and also means you lose a lot of heat to evaporative cooling.

So the Gore-Tex XCR curve might actually be good: it transmits vapor better when humidity is high.

How much would the kit for each experiment cost? And how long would each test last?

Could be a big investment for a bit of passive income.

All the magic comes from the single trick of exposing the bare, delicate membrane as the outer layer. Usually there is a protective outer layer on top of the membrane that will inevitable get soaked and then it's game over for breathability, no matter how good the membrane underneath is. A backpack would ruin that unprotected membrane in no time and I don't even expect it to last very long even if just occasionally taken along for uncertain weather.

The idea of vapor barrier is that it goes directly against your skin, underneath the rest of your clothes (or in my case, socks), and it blocks all moisture from getting from your skin into your clothes. This keeps the rest of your clothes dry and therefore warm. It's pretty specific to winter conditions.

The theory is that once the humidity inside the vapor barrier gets super high, your skin will adjust and stop perspiring.

What this means, though, is that sweat gets trapped against your skin for hours and hours, so taking off the vapor barrier releases a lot of stink. And you do have to take off the vapor barrier when you can, to allow your skin to dry out and recover.

I wore thick wool socks over my neoprenes when hiking/climbing, and then changed into wool camp socks (without neoprene) when we got to camp and set up tents, so that my feet could air out and dry out. It kept my feet warm and happy in some pretty crappy conditions.

During winter you generally just need a wind tight shell, you'll have multiple (breathable) layers underneath. A good mesh webbing underneath a wool base layer under a wind-stopper is my preferred option, keeps you dry and warm in temperatures down to -25C, easily. When it's cold there's no humidity, so your worst enemy will be heat loss due to wind. The chilling factor of wind is a little scary. People that looks overdressed end up freezing because the wind goes straight through them.

You can never go wrong with wool. At least it doesn't lose all insulating capacity just because it gets wet. When it's raining sideways it usually doesn't matter what you're wearing. The humidity is going to be so high that nothing will be able to transfer humidity from your body. You're going to be wet either way. No fancy fabrics will keep you dry, but wool will at least keep you warm.

Good equipment comes with lots of ventilating pockets and zippers, not just under your arms but on the chest and side pockets as well. Inside and outside of your legs as well. Being able to adjust ventilation quickly means that it can be more wind and water resistant. When skiing I will open either the underarm or chest zippers and close them when taking the lift up again. This is usually enough to keep me from getting wet and cold, in temperatures down to -25C.

Superdry ruined the outdoor jacket market in the UK. They make stuff that looks technical but just isn’t, for posers who live in cities to ermm pose in. But now the (formerly) genuine brands have realised there is money to be made from people who will never actually need proper outdoor clothing but like the look, so they have cut quality and increased price to match.

Here in Wales we chuckle at the English setting off for a days hiking all wearing Superdry and so on. When the weather turns they will be miserable.

Any picture :) ?

On warm days I were just a base layer (the wickier the better) under the jacket with all the air vents open. I sweat a lot so I need good airflow. I imagine if you bike in similar conditions you'd need a better solution but aside from a lot of gimmicks I'm not sure what would be better.

Breathable means water vapor can pass. If there's no way for vapor to pass, then it's not breathing. If the surface of the material is saturated with something (water, oil/dirt) it's probably not gonna breathe.

The closest thing I can think of to what you're asking for is a trench coat. It's baggy and has ok airflow, but the outside is mostly water proof, depending on the fabric. My leather trench coat keeps me dry and warm in hours of pouring rain, and the cotton one does a decent job too.

Of course then someone asks about an "active" version, but I'm fairly certain that if your skin is emitting its own water, you just aren't going to be dry. My suggestion then is wool base layers, so even if you're wet, you're warm.

The most common way for people to get wet in a rain jacket--aside from sweat--is rain hitting their face and then running down their chin and neck. If your face is getting wet from rain, your chest will get wet too.

Breathable fabric can be waterproof; Gore-Tex is used in waders and dry suits, where it works fine under full immersion. Unlike most rain jackets, those garments have very good mechanical sealing. When they leak, it is almost always at a seam or a pin-hole (like from pushing through river-side thorns).

- Breathable clothing only stays breathable in a downpour if the face fabric stays dry, e.g. the DWR is not overwhelmed

- The clothing is usually a pretty active cut, compared to galoshes and ponchos. This tends to allow water in at the neck, cuffs, and waist over time.

- The breathability is driven by positive vapor pressure, so it will get humid inside the jacket.

This move to Gore-Tex et al reminds me of what happened after the invention of the trainer.

Trainers (sneakers) are everywhere now, and they get more and more complex each year yet people get injured running in them just as easily.

A small sommunity kept alive the idea of running in minimal shoes, zero drop, flat unpadded soles, and running like we did in the past.

Similarly, Gore-Tex came along and now we're obsessed with shedding the water on the outer layer. The modern mantra is water must not penetrate under any circumstance. There's a time and a place for that but in those conditions a truly impermeable layer like a PU shell is better.

And so there's just a few of us who know that it's not necessarily preventing all water ingress that's the goal - it's maintaining warmth, breathability, comfort and having material that will dry quickly.

Maybe it's because of our climate in the UK but it's no accident Buffalo, Montane, Mountain Equipment and Rab (all UK based companies) make 'Pile and Pertex' colthing and now some exceptional Primaloft based synthetic shells - The Mountain Equipment Citadel and Fitaroy Jackets, and the Montane Prism are two I own and are every bit as good as Pile and Pertex but without the bulk.

It's good to know there are a few of us out there keeping the wisdom alive!

The marketing said Goretex Active, and it worked like a charm.

I’ve worn it on three hour bike rides, snowboarding all day, 5-10 hour winter and summer hikes. I took it to Iceland and Greenland (and was quite active in the rain) and it just worked.

I live in Seattle and only maybe two days a year did I wish that it had pit vents.

It’s expensive[0], but the technology works!

[0] Given it’s lasted 6 years, and still looks good, I now categorize it as an investment rather than an expense. I love it so much I want to give them more money, so this spring I’ll be buying a new one.

Uniqlo has some "techy" fabrics that don't look too out of place, but a slightly better quality and slightly higher age average wouldn't hurt (skinny fits, friggin' 7/8 pants).

I've experimented with Merino shirts and socks for traveling with carry on luggage, but they're just too damn fragile and develop small holes way too soon. Yes, maybe I didn't take care of them the right way, but not having to take care of them too much is pretty much the point...

https://www.edzlayering.com/

At this point, you more or less have a textile. A piece of aluminum foil isn’t going to make a great jacket.