newest clothing designs with polartec fabrics

[wayno]

theres a few polartec Alpha garments here
Alpha is an upcoming synthetic insulated material. more breathable than current synthetic insulated garments
a lot of these garments will be coming out in time for the Northern hemisphere Autumn...
a few brands you may not recognise in the european awards except for.... Montane....

north american awards
http://www.polartec.com/apex-awards/201 ... wards.aspx

european awards
http://www.polartec.com/apex-awards/201 ... wards.aspx

[Joomy]

I love how Polartec invented an award basically to pat themselves on the back (and of course to sell more fabric). That said I can't stop looking at all the new gear and fabrics. I wonder how Alpha will really perform next to Primaloft or Climashield. The synthetic insulation field has static for so long, it's about time there was a new, lighter, warmer variant. Doesn't really sound like Alpha is it unfortunately, given how they're emphasising breathability over warmth/weight.

TBH the fabric I'm most interested in is the new lightweight Windbloc that so far has only been used on the Patagonia Piton stuff. It's as light as regular 100wt fleece but far more wind proof.

[wayno]

yeah its all incestuous,, quic way to see who's using the new fabric,
alpha is used by military special forces http://gearjunkie.com/polartec-alpha-insulation

[slparker]

" It wasn’t designed to be warmer — it’s designed to be a more breathable" that'll be why the SF crowd love it. Doesn't mean that it'll replace your exisitng puffy. If all you wear your puffy for is insulation at the end of the day/when stopped on a walk than it changes nothing. I guess this could extend the use of puffies to be uber-softshells.

[wayno]

the alpha sounds more like active wear.. it will probably work well in the cold when you're moving, giving enough warmth and breathability. also light, it will compress down a bit although it sounds like not as well as current synthetic fabrics... could possibly still be more compressible than a fleece
sounds like goldilocks syndrome, no too warm, not too cold. not too windproof, not too breathable...

[slparker]

yeah, the military would like it because they sometimes get little opportunity to shed or add layers... hence an alround garment that sort of does everything kind of well is better than dedicated garments that need TLC. I suspect the climbing crowd might love it for the same reasons.

[roysta]

I suspect the climbing crowd might love it for the same reasons.

I think you're right, but a bit of time to evaluate might be needed.

[wayno]

a bit of time to let others spend their hard earned money and review it for us to read at our leisure and decide whether parting with our money is an investment or idiocy....