Gore redefines the notion of comfort for outdoor activities

Gore-Tex has always been recognised as a market leader in outdoor fabrics, providing protection from the elements with breathability

30 March 2006 11:22 GMT / By Chris Hall

Gore-Tex has always been recognised as a market leader in outdoor fabrics, providing protection from the elements with breathability. New Comfort Mapping technology builds on that reputation, with the needs of different parts of the body catered for with different fabric zones.

The concept works around the way in which the body loses heat, and more critically, those areas that feel the heat loss. We all know, having been told by Granddad whilst walking in the Dales, that you lose a lot of heat through your head. Well, it goes further than that. (An Army Sergeant once shouted in my ear that the back of my neck and my kidneys were also areas that made me feel the cold.) Hence hats, scarves and ironically, love handles.

Taking this concept further, we learn that the shoulders lose a lot of the body heat, and we can do something to address this, along with the love handles/kidney region. On the flip side, some areas perspire more aggressively - the arm pits. Suddenly the bodywarmer looks like a great idea!

Gore's Comfort Mapping technology handles each of the various parts of the body differently, as though the human body were a map with several different climatic zones. Jackets made with this new concept mark the first time that different Gore-Tex laminates are intelligently combined to assure breathability, freedom of movement, and warmth precisely where each characteristic is needed most.

"We can now target and address the complex comfort needs of the upper body", said Glenn Crowther, Gore Product Specialist. "The right combination of Gore-Tex fabrics is used in the right places for optimal comfort and long-lasting protection."

Critical to this innovation is a new patented Gore Seam Sealing technology, which provides a waterproof sealing of seams that join fabrics with dissimilar surface textures and thicknesses.

Gore-Tex jackets with Comfort Mapping technology will be available in late-2006 from suppliers such as Arc'Teryx, Mountain Hardwear, The North Face, Berghaus, Sprayway, Lowe Alpine, MHW, Nike, TNF and Marmot.