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Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE

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Re: Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE

#51

Post by dylan604 »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #39

Wonderful fabric for mountain gear. Unfortunately, like Teflon cooking pans, its amazing properties come from a coating with perfluorinated octyl sulfonate, a known endocrine disruptor: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7722801/

Setting aside the issues from waste during the manufacturing process and the messes that have been made (see 3M plants for example), is the actual Gore-tex product itself hazardous? Like, how much of the material do you have to eat, and how edible is the Gore-tex product? I get Teflon coatings scratching and getting mixed with the prepared food, but I typically don't go around gnawing on my clothing. Does Gore-tex leach anything that can absorbed by the skin while wearing it?

Re: Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE

#52

Post by williamscales »

pyrophane wrote: post #25

Keep in mind that with Gore-TEX you still have to sacrifice a lot of breathe-ability. If you don't need something to be waterproof, you may be happier with a non-waterproof alternative. I've found that to be particularly true of shoes.

The Gore-TEX membrane in the shoe also tends to break down quite quickly. Think on the order of months if worn daily.

Re: Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE

#54

Post by adrr »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #39

Wonderful fabric for mountain gear. Unfortunately, like Teflon cooking pans, its amazing properties come from a coating with perfluorinated octyl sulfonate, a known endocrine disruptor: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7722801/

Teflon(brand) coated pans don't use PFOA or PFOS in their manufacture and PFOA is banned in the US for cookware.

Re: Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE

#56

Post by watersb »

aeontech wrote: post #10
sudosysgen wrote: post #5

It's a nice material, but recently nanospun fabrics like neoshell, ascentshell and futurelight have come out and I personally find they work much much better

Any particular brands you recommend? Is this something worthwhile for everyday wear, or this is mainly for outdoor sports enthusiasts?

I purchased a North Face jacket at their factory store in Berkeley, mid-1990s, the Gore Tex "Mountain Light" and a fleece "Denali" inner jacket.

It fit me really well, for a 30-year anniversary I decided to get a new one last week. They still make the same design.

The new one uses their nano-spun FutureLight fabric, rather than a three-layer nylon(?)/GoreTex sandwich.

It's much more soft, like a woven fabric rather than plastic hard shell, and it seems to be much less weight. I really like it.

I got to try out Marmot's take on next-gen shell technology a couple of years ago. Half the weight of my 20th century jacket, very effective. The particular jacket I tried didn't fit me as well as the Mountain Light, but I suspect that most people would prefer Marmot's version: more simple, lightweight, everyday tech.

Some things were great 30 years ago; the fleece Denali is essentially the same. The outer layer is much improved.

(And I noticed that the zippers are way better, overall. I bet there's been decades of improvement in plastics (sorry, "polycarbonate") engineering.)

Re: Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE

#57

Post by pitaj »

IsTom wrote: post #35
jiggawatts wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teflon is harmless if ingested. The whole point of it is that it is chemically inert.

Not saying that teflon is bad when ingested, but asbestos and glass are also chemically inert and it doesn't make them ok to ingest.

Silicates like glass and asbestos are hard and cause physical damage, but PTFE is a soft polymer.

Re: Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE

#58

Post by niccl »

weinzierl wrote: post #2

It's pretty popular in Germany and the name and logo is often found on outdoor clothing. I always wondered if the name is the same in English speaking countries, or if it's different because of its negative connotations. Apparently it's just a not too uncommon family name (Al Gore comes to mind) and also used as brand name in English speaking countries. People get so upset about Toot and Coq and Gimp, but Gore seems…

For a while in Wellington NZ you'd see people walking around with Jackets saying 'Gore Techs' on the back. They were special effects people from Weta Workshops working on the Lord of the Rings films

Re: Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE

#59

Post by loeg »

ryeights wrote: post #36
le-mark wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t it actually “water resistant” though? I spent a lot of nights cold and wet in gore-Tex gear. It would stay dry for a few hours but always soak through.

It is, but after a certain point the face fabric becomes saturated with water and breathability drops to ~zero. At that point your body’s own moisture can no longer escape through the jacket and you become wet from the inside.

That's true of the 3-layer designs (the inner layer is goretex but the outer protective layer can soak through eventually). There are newer products that are only two layers and goretex is the outer layer (under the "Shakedry" brand). Those don't have an outer fabric to saturate with water, so they stay breathable better.

Re: Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE

#60

Post by simlan »

WirelessGigabit wrote: post #53

As someone who lives in SoCal I'm astonished by the amount of shoes sold here which are GTX. I always think they don't breathe as good as just normal shoes. Thoughts?

Yep using that material makes the breathability suffer. No comparison to other water restiant materials which are worse. If I were in your region I would not buy water restiant shoes to begin with.
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