With temperatures plummeting to an all-time low, a cutting wind and some powder still to be found on the Northern aspects, the clear blue skies watched as the gauntlets were thrown down for the ultimate challenge for Polartec® fabrics and skiing prowess.  This year saw the European pros testing their mettle against the honed talents of some visiting Americans:  Nick Devore, a former Telemark Freeskiing World Champion (and member of Polartec’s Athlete Advisory Board) Flylow’s Dan Abrams and Eben Mond and our very own director of marketing Nate Simmons battled it out on the slopes of San Pellegrino. In the overall ranking, the Europeans defended their home turf with a win in the Freeride Race with Italian Armin Senoner grabbing first place and Nick Devore nudging his boots with a second and “Best Trick” accolade. Nick Devore was also the winner of the Telemark category.  Germany’s Fritz Trojer came in third.

Nick Devore celebrates his win

The Alpine category saw Italians Matteo Bordoni and Aldo Valmassoi bag first and second place respectively.  Canada’s Ross Janzen came third.  The Snowboard category was won by Italy’s Francesco Fersuoch followed by fellow Italians Maurizio Davarda and Mauro Tarter.

Eben Mond goes huge (he bashed his nose on his knee on the landing, kept it together and skied across the finish line gushing blood. Luckily he was fine and joined the crew for a 7 course meal Dolomites-style at lunch).

For those who attend the event but choose to watch rather than race, Scufoneda offers great guided tours at various skill levels throughout the week. The groups split up for a few hours in the mornings and then reconvene for Prosecco, salami and cheese in the afternoons.

As title sponsors of the event Polartec® was all over Moena.  From its welcome tent, banners and flags denoting the race routes to its competing staff. It was also a perfect testing venue for 20 European journalists to hit slopes and experience the performance of Polartec Power Shield Pro first hand. Garments will hit the consumer market in the Fall of 2010.

The Polartec® Scufoneda – Telemark & Freeride week was inspired by SCUFONS del COGO, a non-profit association based in Moena, Trentino (most of the original Scufons are local police officers and they also count a high-level regional judge and the mayor among its ranks – it’s good to have the law on your side when you throw a week long party).  Founded in the 90’s by a group of Telemark enthusiasts it is now the point of reference for Telemark fans worldwide.

Polartec Marketing Team - Left to Right - Alessandro Perseo, Allon Cohne, Eric Yung, and Nate Simmons

Oh, and the ripped pants?  Let’s just say, a Polartec® employee double ejected on a narrow couloir and went for a wild ride to the bottom on his backside. After a quick visit to the emergency room and 7 stitches later, he was back in business for the party that evening and skiing the next day.

Want to come next year?  Check out www.scufons.com or Polartec® Scufoneda page on Facebook for details on next year’s Polartec® Scufoneda Telemark&Freeride week.

Big Wall Cribs with Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson on El Capitan from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

We’re going to be giving away more stuff here on a regular basis, so be sure to keep checking justazipper.com.

Polartec also supports the United Kingdom ski team, providing fabric for the team’s Colmar jackets.

Good luck to all the athletes in Vancouver!

(click to enlarge)

For many years the outdoor industry has relied upon the Water Vapor Resistance or RET (Resistance of Evaporation of a Textile) test to measure the “breathability” of water resistant/waterproof fabrics. This test,”compare(s) the ability of different materials to dissipate moisture vapor from the body of the wearer to the outside.” (WSA Jan/Feb2010)

However, in our opinion, the RET test (ASTM F1868 -09) does not accurately evaluative the true breathability of a fabric. In fact, “studies have confirmed that the test is predominantly influenced by the fabric thickness, rather than the pore characteristics of the fabric.” For example, the RET test yields a result that says a three layer hard shell/waterproof fabric is more breathable than a 200 weight fleece. Anyone who has ever worn either of these fabrics knows that’s not true – fleece is almost infinitely breathable (hence the reason Polartec has created other more wind resistant fabrics over the years). In addition, RET tests are affected by clothing weight, drape and tightness. Perhaps most importantly, RET not allow any air movement during the test, so you get some truly bizarre, lab-only results.

Another standard test used by the textile industry to measure breathability is Moisture Vapor Transfer Rate (MVTR). MVTR measures how much moisture vapor can pass through fabric in a 24-hour period and there are over 30 different tests to assess this transfer rate. However, these tests can yield wildly different results (as chronicled in this great post on Patagonia’s blog) and like the RET test, MVTR is static and does not account for real-world conditions where air flow is always present.

As an alternative, Polartec is promoting a better means of evaluating the breathability of water resistant and waterproof fabrics. The Dynamic Moisture Permeation Cell (DMPC) is an ASTM standard test that evaluates a fabric’s ability to move moisture vapor in dynamic conditions. The test can change air pressure and humidity on each side of the fabric and measure how well it truly breathes as conditions change (like the real world). DMPC was developed by Dr. Phillip Gibson, a civilian scientist working with the US Army. Click here to download an interesting story about Dr. Gibson’s testing from the June 2004 issue of Inside Outdoor magazine.

In the chart posted above as you move to the right on the horizontal axis, you can see that Polartec Power Shield Pro (the blue line) breathes more and more as you increase the pressure – this is roughly equivalent to increasing air speed or wind – like going from standing still to walking to a light jog. The harder you work, the harder the fabric works (both convection and diffusion are at work when air is moving). Meanwhile, the orange line represents a full-film softshell fabric – the line is flat meaning breathability does not change. This translates to a damp sweaty user experience as exertion levels increase.

Polartec has always emphasized air permeability. Even tiny, tiny amounts of air flowing through the fabric massively increases a fabric’s ability to move moisture vapor away from your body. Fabrics without airflow require a significant amount of heat and moisture vapor to build up inside the jacket before they start to work. We have all experienced the sweat-box feeling of a fabric that relies only on diffusion to “breathe.”

Fall 2010 a range of jackets will be available in the new ultimate soft shell – Polartec Power Shield Pro. For more on Polartec Power Shield Pro, scroll down to see previous posts on the fabric launch and on Polartec’s partnership with Finetex.

Every season we get a handful of early sample garments from our customers so we can seed them to the media for testing and reviews. Right now we’ve got a bunch of the coolest new Fall ‘10 layers from Patagonia, The North Face, Mountain Hardwear, Arc’teryx, Marmot, Canada Goose, Isis and more. As a reward to our loyal JustaZipper readers, we’re going to try doing an occasional product giveaway with some of these garments. To kick it off, we’re going to do a drawing for the new R3 Hi-Loft Jacket from Patagonia.

The R3 Hi-Loft features new Polartec® Thermal Pro® fabric that’s 30% warmer than the previous R3. The open-mesh stitch of the fabric promotes compressibility, increases airflow and minimizes weight, while the new addition of Polartec® Power Stretch® on the side panels allows the jacket to move any way you do. MSRP is $179.

For a chance to win this R3 Hi-Loft, all you have to do is leave a relevant comment on this post (like, “The R3 is awesome and I wanna win it”). On Tuesday, we’ll pick a random winner from all the comments.

We think this is a pretty cool opportunity to get a free R3, a full six months before it’s available to buy.

Big disclaimer: The sample size is men’s medium and that’s all we’ve got. Same thing for the color. There are no exchanges or returns! Did we mention it’s mango!

Good luck.

Polartec® Body Climate®

Sealy has announced the launch of its new line of specialty mattresses, Embody™ by Sealy, featuring a brand new Polartec® Body Climate® fabric from the Polartec HOME Collection.

Sealy Embody™ latex foam mattress with Polartec® Body Climate fabric

Exclusive to Sealy, the soft and unique Body Climate® fabric features air channels for breathability and enhanced temperature regulation for ultimate comfort. Embody by Sealy will be available in both Latex and Memory Foam styles. If you love your Polartec clothing by day, now you can enjoy Polartec 24 / 7.

Check out the Furniture World article here.

Company: The North Face Product: Men’s Kishtwar Jacket Hall/Booth: B6.101 Web: www.thenorthface.com

Outdoor sports can become a true challenge if the weather does not cooperate. Ice rain, snow storms, wind gusts not only batter the athletes but also his or her sports apparel. The North Face promises the perfect combination of ventilation and protection against the weather with its “Kishtwar Jacket” – thanks to the new Polartec Power Shield Pro. The materials is 99% wind-proof, the remaining percent circulates in the membrane and supports active moisture wicking. In addition the jacket’s outer material is extremely wear- and water-resistant. Jury Statement: The most prominent feature of the men’s Kishtwar jacket is the use of the new Polartec Power Shield Pro material. This new technology ensures the highest degree of breathability with optimum wind protection for outdoor sports enthusiasts. The product is perfected with a well-though-out design and extremely well finished.

	Company: Patagonia Product: W´s R3 HiLoft Hoody Hall/Booth: A1.315D / B5.110 Web: www.patagonia.com
The fleece jacket  “W´s R3 HiLoft” is one of many eco-friendly products manufactured by the Canadians (ed. note I think they mean Californians not Canadians, close enough, right?) : it is made almost entirely of recycled and recyclable Polartec materials. In addition, the light weight, warm jacket is bluesign certified. This means that the production process was evaluated to determine the use of resources, level of consumer protection, water and air pollution, and working conditions. The jury was not only impressed by the jacket , but also by Patagonia’s long-time continuing, successful overall concept. Jury Statement: For many years Patagonia has been proof that a sustainable overall concept for the entire production chain is feasible. The R3 HiLoft Jacket is no exception and impressed us with its high degree of function, well-though-out design, and excellent solutions for sustainable production.

These awards are a tremendous honor for The North Face, Patagonia and Polartec and an awesome way for us to kick-start the largest outdoor tradeshow of the year.

(P.S. If you want to completely derail your productivity for the day, surf over to the ispo Brand New awards – so many drool-worthy products).