Hacker News Reader

Comment by gorbypark | Hacker News Reader

Not only that, but Gore will honour their “guaranteed to keep you dry” warranty. I had a Gore-Tex jacket that the manufacturer refused to replace after it delaminated about 3 years after I bought it. One call to Gore and I got the purchase price of the jacket in a prepaid credit card sent to me after sending them the jacket.

View on HN

This is good to know. I bought knock-off goretex ski gear because I wanted a very specific style that only exists in a cheap brand (and I mean cheap, like $50 for jacket and pants). I was very surprised at its performance but I’ve only used it a few days so far, so no idea about the longevity.

So you can get USD50 back? Worth the hassle?

The person said it was a knock off, so no

No, I could have explained more clearly. I mean it’s good to know there is still value in the goretex brand (quality control, warranty) now that the patent is expired, when making the decision to buy goretex vs. a knockoff.

What did you buy from where?

Hmm, my Nike goretex shoes already lost their waterproof properties after 1 year of moderate use. I didn't know I could solve this thru Gore.

Edit: I checked and bought these shoes in April 2020. I guess I will try to contact them?!

The product was "Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 36 Trail GTX Gore Tex". I wonder where I should contact them?

GTX in shoes generally does not last very long. In my experience in about a season or so there are patches/ cracks that let the water in. I guess something to do with the stresses of using a soft membrane meant to wrap around human body to support the weight of said body...

I believe that the durability of Gore-Tex in shoes might depend much more on the quality of the shoes than on the material itself.

I have used Gore-Tex only in shoes, but in various kinds of high-quality shoes (i.e. not cheap), either made by a less known Swiss company, or by brands like Adidas or Asics.

In all cases, I have used daily the shoes for 3 to 4 years until I had to dump them, always due to an excessively worn sole, not because of problems with Gore-Tex.

My personal experience cuts it more along the lines of what the other materials in the shoe are. My main hiking shoes are leather Meindl Islands (on my second pair now since something like a decade - the first would probably have worked if it wasn't for an unfortunate accident). They have a decent leather upper and if You keep maintaining it, the leather alone is probably doing most of the job.

On the other hand, I think I went through by now about 3-4 pairs of various running/hiking lighter plastic shoes (Merrell, Reichle, Salomon) and in those the membrane is the only thing keeping the water out. Unfortunately, it's generally sewn deep into some plastic mesh, so no way to tell / maintain it even if You'd like to. And one tear in the membrane means that all the water that seeps into the surrounding mesh "will" always find the way into the failed part of the membrane. Unfortunately, the rest of the membrane then tends to still do its part in slowing the moisture on its way out. So it drains / dries much slower than shoes with no membrane.

All the shoes which I have used with Gore-Tex without problems were of leather, so that is still consistent with your experience.

Leather is miraculously wonderful stuff, and it should be. Cows and ungulates put up with some damn tough conditions.

I have a pair of motorcycle boots with Gore Tex liner for about 10 years and they're still good for hours of rain. I also have no complaints about my Ecco shoes, but they only last a few years of wear.

Yeah, I commented on it below. Goretex (well, any membrane in general) is kinda crap in mechanical stress. If You can put it under some mechanical reinforcement (generally the case in motorcycle boots where You got some hard panels for protection) or don't mind some extra weight when You laminate it to some decent rub-resistant fabric, it lasts decades. None of that is unfortunately done in regular plastic running/light hiking shoes

I’ve done the same thing with some hiking boots. They really take pride in that engineering it seems.

According to their FAQ page this only applies to products with a “guarantee to keep you dry” label inside.

https://www.gore-tex.com/support/frequently-asked-questions

Reply on news.ycombinator.com