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.
Yesterday we were given a tour of the Polartec manufacturing plant outside of Boston in Lawrence, MA. The thirty-eight acre campus employs over 1000 people and is continually churning out fabric to be made into base layers, insulation layers or soft shells (and now hard shells) for both the military and consumer outdoor industry.
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.
As I have been living out of a suitcase the past few weeks, travel bottles are at the front of my mind. GoToob
, by San Francisco company humangear, is the first travel bottle or travel tube that I have found where I can be 100% certain I won't find shampoo all over my bag when I arrive at my destination.
Horny Toad recently sent me one of their new Heartfelt Sweaters for Fall and it has quickly replaced my go-to chunky knit travel sweater to become my new airplane uniform. Warm, cozy and stylish, the Heartfelt Sweater is the perfect extra layer for when you don't quite want to throw on a jacket.
Right on trend with the neon revival this winter season, K2 is bringing back 80's hair band Iron Maiden in a Limited Edition Twin-Tip ski. Built on the K2 Revival chassis, the bloody axe wielding skeleton embellishment is perfect for all you heavy metal pow shredders or park slayers.
