Montrail believes there is no reason to be stuck running indoors on a treadmill next Fall 2011. With the introduction of OutDry waterproof breathable technology into Montrail's trail shoes and hiking boots, your feet will not care if it is wet, cold and dark outside.
Polartec continues to win awards for their new fabric technologies- first with Power Shield Pro in last year's Kishtwar Jacket from The North Face
, and now with NeoShell in the new ISPO Award Winning Snaefell Jacket from 66ºNorth. The Snaefell Jacket takes a waterproof and highly breathable fabric, combined with innovative design details, to create the perfect alpine jacket for next winter.
Columbia was gracious enough to send me one of the women's Peak Power Shell jackets
with Omni-Dry technology to test out alongside a few of the other new waterproof breathable jackets I am looking at this winter. With a particularly stormy December here in San Francisco, I was able to put the Omni-Dry jacket through the ringer on some local hikes when even Lola wasn't too keen to venture out!
At the big NeoShell launch in Boston last November, Polartec gave me a Westcomb jacket made out of their new waterproof breathable fabric. I have put the hardshell jacket through the paces, wearing it for hiking through downpours in San Francisco and ice climbing in Ouray, Colorado.
One day after Polartec announced their new NeoShell waterproof breathable fabric, Mountain Hardwear has officially announced their own suite of waterproof breathable technologies called Dry.Q. Add these to Columbia's own Omni-Dry waterproof breathable technology and recent OutDry acquisition, and it seems like everyone is trying to find an alternative to GORE-TEX these days.
The Holy Grail of the outdoor industry is to develop a fabric that is waterproof yet truly breathable at the same time. As of yesterday, Polartec has thrown their hat in the hard shell ring with the launch of NeoShell. Directly taking on GORE-TEX and eVent, Polartec claims that NeoShell is the most breathable waterproof fabric on the market.
