What is GORE-TEX?

Many of you, like myself have bought a new snowboard jacket, pants, or gloves and noticed a small black diamond shape tag with the word Gore-Tex printed on it. I’m sure most of you have wondered what the heck does this Gore-Tex stuff actually do? Why am I paying more to have this material in this piece of outerwear that I’m buying? There are a few good reasons for why you should buy it, waterproofing, wind proofing, and its breathe-ability.
The water proofing of Gore-Tex is second to none. Basically what it comes down to is the Gore-Tex fabric is porous but each pore is 20,000 times smaller than an actual water droplet so it is impossible for any water to get it. What’s nice is that this material won’t break down over time like most water proofing techniques and allow water to get it. When you stay dry you stay warm and that’s what is most important.
Another key to a good piece of outerwear is its wind proofing. Have you ever been fully bundled up and shivering? Well the problem could be “Wind Chill”. What happens is wind BLASTS through the fibers of the fabric of your jacket or pants cooling you down causing the wind chill. No Buenos! So what the techs at Gore-Tex produced a membrane that will not allow any wind in through seams, stitching or zippers thus allowing you to stay all warm and cozy.
Lastly you have breathe-ability. When you are on the mountain you are in a sense working out and when you work out your body tends to heat up. Most water proof materials it won’t let water or wind in, but at a cost…..It won’t let much of your excess body heat out which can cause you to sweat and create moisture vapor. With that sweat and heat locked in you will fatigue faster than normal. This is where Gore-Tex shines. The membrane in the Gore-Tex material has pores in it. While they are too small to let water droplets in they are 700 times bigger than a water vapor molecule allowing vapor molecules and heat to pass freely out of what you are wearing. Think of Gore-Tex as a picket fence if you were to throw a beach ball (water droplet) at it the beach ball wont fit through the gaps in the fence, but if you were to throw a golf ball (water vapor) at the fence the golf ball will pass through the fence easily. Gore-Tex will keep you at that perfect temperature to have you comfortable all day long.
Basically Gore-Tex is killing it in the outerwear department. You will be very hard pressed to find a top company that isn’t using this material in their high end products. The list is quite impressive on who is actually using Gore-Tex. So the next time your out buying a new jacket or any other outerwear go ahead splurge a little knowing that what your getting in return is totally worth the extra cash.