Which Fabrics Of Outdoor Brands Are Really Waterproof?

Outdoor travel should cope with changeable weather and waterproof.

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Even shoes are very important, but I believe a lot of people are right.

The two concepts of waterproofing and fabric splashing are not very clear. In the face of increasing number of outdoor brands that claim their products have waterproof function, there will be some misgivings. What fabrics are actually waterproof? Why do they use waterproof fabrics and emphasize water repellent treatment?

Fabric waterproof usually refers to the fabric itself has waterproof function, waterproof fabric after experienced the initial compact fabric, waterproof coating fabric, now paste film type fabric, the key to play the role of waterproof is the functional thin film used in the fabric.

Initially, the largest market share of the paste film fabrics are basically PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) film, which belongs to the microporous membrane. The waterproofing performance is expressed by the water pressure that it can bear. It is not 100% waterproof. According to the European environmental protection research, PTFE materials will produce harmful environmental compounds when making, burying and incineration.

In recent years, there are more and more questions about the PTFE materials in the environmental protection field. Some countries begin to restrict the use of PTFE materials.

Landfill and incineration are the main ways of domestic waste disposal in the world, and these two treatments will produce perfluorinated compounds in the treatment of PTFE materials. Fluoride will pollute the atmosphere and land. Because fluorides are naturally decomposed for a long period, the environmental pollution caused by PTFE materials will last long and long.

In comparison, another kind of thin film - hole free hydrophilic membrane used by more and more brands in recent years has not only reached the 100% waterproofing function without any holes, but also made the product waterproof performance more reliable. Some non porous hydrophilic membranes have been favored by more and more people in the industry because of their environmental protection and harmless properties to human body. For example, SympaTex thin film is a polyether and polyester molecular compound. It has absolutely no PTFE (PTFE) composition, can directly contact the skin, is harmless to the body, and can be recycled like PET plastic.

Usually, these fabric technology providers will not sell films directly to clothing brands. They will combine the films with other materials to form a composite fabric through the paste process (for example, the middle layer of the film is shown above). The brand can only directly produce waterproof clothing products by buying these composite surfaces.

These fabrics are not waterproof, such as polyester fiber, nylon and so on, so when we wear waterproofing clothing, we will see that the water is seeping into the garments, just like ordinary fabrics, but the inner layer of the clothing is dry, and there is no water to permeate. This is the waterproof film that is played in the middle of the composite fabric.

The water that we see is dispersed into small droplets on clothing and then slipped, usually because the fabric used has been treated with water repellent treatment. Water repellent treatment is actually a special treatment on the surface of fabrics, usually adding DWR (DurableWaterRepellency) to the fabric finalization, so as to obtain durable water repellent properties.

The purpose of using DWR coating is that when water drops to the surface of the garment, it can form small droplets or slide directly from the surface of the garment, thus preventing the fabric from absorbing moisture. At the same time, it also makes the oil stains on the surface of the garment easier to remove.

Most waterproof clothing uses this DWR anti splashing treatment, and the advantage of DWR treatment is that it can not absorb moisture on the surface of the garment, so as to ensure that the waterproof fabric can achieve good air permeability, so that the human body has a very good feeling of wearing.

DWR technology can be classified into two types according to the classification of related properties: fluoride containing DWR and fluoride free DWR.

Fluoride containing DWR refers to DWR surface treatment based on fluoropolymer, such as PFOA (ammonium perfluorooctanoate), which is widely used in the clothing industry at present. Although it can provide a high level of water repellent, oil repellent and anti fouling properties, fluorides are not easy to degrade, and can be released into the water and atmosphere through heating, water soaking and ultraviolet rays to cause harm to humans and other animals and plants.

At present, scientists have detected the existence of this compound in human and animal blood samples from all over the world.

So far, there is no basis for pointing out the risk of PFOA carcinogenesis and the relevant laws and regulations for PFOA restriction. However, the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) has put forward the inclusion of PFOA in the list of chemicals suspected to be toxic to the reproductive system.

At present, DWR, such as wax, paraffin, polyurethane, dendrimer or siloxane, are commonly used without fluorocarbon to replace fluorocarbon based elements as an anti splash recovery agent for outdoor products.

Since SympaTex began in mid 2008, it has begun to provide consumers with an environmentally friendly, non fluorocarbon DWR anti splashing product.

This product is an environmentally friendly product for textiles developed jointly with partner Rudolf chemistry: BIONICFINISHECO.

In fact, SympaTex is also the first company to carry out research and development of environmentally friendly DWR anti splashing technology for textiles.

In the EPA2010/2015 PFOA regulation program in the US, the major chemical manufacturers, including DuPont and crane, voluntarily promise to completely eliminate toxic chemicals in the production of PFOA by 2015, and replace them with more environmentally friendly and low emission products.

It is worth mentioning that DWR anti splashing treatment is not permanent, but the correct way of washing and ironing can extend the effect of DWR anti splashing treatment. And if your clothes lose the splashing effect, you don't have to worry about it. At present, you can buy DWR coating restorer on the market.

So we can see that the use of waterproof fabric clothing basically can achieve 100% waterproof (PTFE film products under certain conditions, no hole hydrophilic membrane under any conditions) functional requirements, but in order to get more comfortable wearing experience, so that these waterproof fabrics play a good ventilation effect, DWR anti splashing treatment is also necessary.

In addition, the complete waterproof of clothing is closely related to the waterproof performance of the adhesive strip and zipper used at the seams. Because the waterproof and splashing water of fabrics are the functional properties of the fabrics themselves, and the gaps between the needles or zippers at the juncture can not reach 100% of the waterproofing without treatment.