Polartec Alpha, a new synthetic insulation from Malden Mills, is being released this fall! Here's a little bit about Alpha (from Polartec's wesbsite), and some thoughts on why it's a big deal (or not).
Polartec:
Unlike down and existing synthetic insulation batting, Polartec Alpha is a highly stable layer allowing for the use of more open and breathable fabrics on the outer and inner layers of “puffy” style garments. As a result, Polartec Alpha provides active warmth that allows air exchange for breathability and comfort in more dynamic situations.
In addition to unprecedented levels of breathability and moisture vapor transport in a puffy, Polartec Alpha maintains insulation values while wet and offers dramatically faster dry times than existing puffy-style fabrics on the market. Highly compressible, it also provides inherent wind resistance and warmth without weight.
So, is Alpha going to replace Primaloft? Right now, no. Polartec is targeting towards active wear, not puffy jackets. Whether or not it would in the future is dependent on it's clo/oz value (What is that?), and it's loft. Those two measurements determine how warm insulation is. If it's simply better than Primaloft, then it's possible it could be used in both active garments and static puffy-style jackets as well. If not, then it's okay, because it's not designed for that, and Polartec has a way out.
Is Alpha the revolution of synthetic fabrics? Will it take over the industry? I doubt it, but it is a big deal, and opens up the doors for all sorts of designs that will never be made. Like many innovations in the past, it'll never be able to be used to it's full potential, because if it was, it would go so against years and years of marketing.
Polartec Alpha will be featured this fall in jackets from Marmot, Rab, Eddie Bauer First Ascent, Mountain Equipment, North Face, and of course, Westcomb, along with a few others.
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| Credit: Polartec.com |
Polartec:
Unlike down and existing synthetic insulation batting, Polartec Alpha is a highly stable layer allowing for the use of more open and breathable fabrics on the outer and inner layers of “puffy” style garments. As a result, Polartec Alpha provides active warmth that allows air exchange for breathability and comfort in more dynamic situations.
In addition to unprecedented levels of breathability and moisture vapor transport in a puffy, Polartec Alpha maintains insulation values while wet and offers dramatically faster dry times than existing puffy-style fabrics on the market. Highly compressible, it also provides inherent wind resistance and warmth without weight.
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| Climbing in a Polartec PowerDry shirt. |
Some Questions:
Is the added breathability a good thing?
Is the clo/oz. higher than Primaloft One?
Is the loft/oz. greater?
Will it replace Primaloft One?
Breathability
Breathability and warmth, by definition, are at odds with each other. If you sit still, on a windy day, you'll be warmer in Gore Tex than in eVent, because the latter is more breathable. It allows air exchange, meaning it'll let your heat out better, to keep you cool. See the problem? Breathability, in essence, is the ability to keep you from overheating, by letting out heat! Therein lies the problem with Alpha. It's big claim to fame is that, due to it's construction, it can be bonded to more breathable materials. Because of the example above, I'm not sure that's a good thing. I put on my puffy jacket to get warm, not because I want it to be breathable. Then again, just because Alpha can be bonded to more breathable fabrics doesn't mean it has to be. In that case, whether or not it replaces Primaloft 1 would be determined by it's warmth.
It would seem that rightnow Alpha is not targeted at PL1, but rather at their own staple product: fleece. Alpha will offer a greater warmth to weight ratio than fleece, while adding superior weather resistance because of the fabrics it can be bonded to. In fact, theoretically, it would allow for the rebirth of the Buffalo Systems type jacket for cold weather. You could have a jacket designed to be worn against your skin that's also an outer layer. It could have a lining of Thermal Pro or PowerDry, bonded to Alpha, bonded to Powershield Pro or Neoshell. A jacket that would keep you comfortable over a huge range of cold temperatures, and your layers would never bunch. It could even be integrated to mate with a harness, so that it wouldn't ride up, or could be made into a full-body suit.
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| Wearing a jacket made of PowerShield, one of the possible materials to be bonded to Alpha. |
Is Alpha the revolution of synthetic fabrics? Will it take over the industry? I doubt it, but it is a big deal, and opens up the doors for all sorts of designs that will never be made. Like many innovations in the past, it'll never be able to be used to it's full potential, because if it was, it would go so against years and years of marketing.
Polartec Alpha will be featured this fall in jackets from Marmot, Rab, Eddie Bauer First Ascent, Mountain Equipment, North Face, and of course, Westcomb, along with a few others.
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| Climbing in the First Ascent Igniter, made with Primaloft One. The material that Polartec Alpha may replace. |
"Like many innovations in the past, it'll never be able to be used to it's full potential, because if it was, it would go so against years and years of marketing."
ReplyDeleteI found your review very interesting.
The statement above is not really clear to me though.
Would you please elaborate it.
Thanks
Alessandro
Thanks for the comment, Alessandro. I'm glad you enjoyed the review.
DeleteWhat I'm referring to is that a lot of outdoor companies have spent a great deal of money on the idea that Gore-Tex is necessary to keep you dry and warm in the winter. Alpha was designed to be bonded to Polartec PowerShield, and as such to be the only jacket you need in the wintertime. The idea there being that you don't need Gore-Tex unless you're going to get rained on. I've written about the idea quite a lot, and so have several other people, but basically, warm and comfortable is more important than being protected from exterior moisture. Alpha is all about being warm and comfortable, whereas Gore-Tex is about keeping you dry from exterior elements, even if it's at the cost of you getting soaked in your own sweat.
For Alpha to get used properly, companies have to be willing to say that Gore-Tex isn't the best way to keep comfortable in the winter, and they won't do that. Case and point, the new Marmot Alpha Pro jacket. It's a cool idea where they take a stretchy fleece jacket and then put Polartec Alpha in the body. The problem is, they just used ripstop nylon in front of the Alpha, instead of something like Power Shield. They just used Polartec Alpha in the exact same manner they used Primaloft One last year, solely for the sake of being able to put a Polartec Alpha tag on their jacket, and say that they are cutting edge. They missed the point completely.
Delete