Features of jacket
Professional waterproof means that whether you are sitting in a damp place or walking in a windy and rainy environment, it can effectively block the invasion of rain and frost and snow, so that water cannot penetrate into the clothes and make you feel damp and cold; breathable means that when you do a lot of outdoor sports, your body will sweat naturally and your skin will exhale a lot of moisture. If it cannot be quickly discharged from the body, it will inevitably cause the sweat to be trapped between the body and the clothes, making people soaked. In rainy weather, it will make people feel even more damp and cold. Especially in severe cold conditions such as mountains and canyons, the coldness and hypothermia of the body are very dangerous, so good breathability of clothing is very important. Windproof raincoat means 100% prevention of wind chill effect. In a changing natural environment, when cold wind penetrates our clothes, it will blow away a layer of warm air near our skin. This layer of warm air is about one centimeter thick, with a temperature of 34℃~35℃ and a humidity of 40%~60%. Even a slight change in this layer of warm air will make us feel cold and uncomfortable. When cold wind blows into the clothes, it destroys this layer of warm air, causing heat to be lost quickly and body temperature to drop, and we will immediately feel a little chilly, which is the so-called wind chill effect.
Jacket style
When people generally mention mountain,hiking and trekking jackets, they are mostly called parkas in the product catalogs of major manufacturers, and there are also a small number of jackets. According to the explanation of the Webster dictionary, the word parka comes from Russian, and its original meaning is a leather pullover with a hood in the Arctic region of Russia. Later, it was extended to a general term for all pullovers or jackets with hoods and linings. In terms of style, modern parkas are generally made into short windbreakers, with accessories such as sliders on the hood to adjust the shape of the hood to match the head shape; the collar is usually thickened or has a thin fleece lining to reduce heat loss here; the shoulders and elbows are thickened to enhance wear resistance; the inner bag opening is outside the zipper to reduce heat loss, the pocket opening is higher or has a chest pocket to avoid the situation where the pocket is pressed by the backpack belt and the things cannot be taken out; the back of the clothes is slightly longer than the front, and the sleeves are slightly bent forward to compensate for movement; there are usually armpit zippers, and some have snow skirts. The style of the jacket is relatively life-like, and generally there is no hood. According to the material, parkas and jackets can be divided into three types: waterproof and windproof/breathable (breathable), windproof/non (not)-breathable an d wind-resistant (resistance)/water-resistant. The representative of windproof/breathable is of course the famous GORE-TEX. Windproof/non-breathable may sometimes be made very fancy, but in fact it is a plastic raincoat. As for wind-resistant/water-resistant clothing, it will leak even if it is exposed to light rain for a long time. It is not very practical for outdoor activities, but it may be considered for urban tourism. Most of the raincoats sold in fashion stores are of this type. In addition to the difference in clothing materials, the latter two categories often simplify some things in design, such as armpit zippers, snow skirts, sleeve shapes, hood sliders, etc., so that it looks more lifelike and not so strange. As for raincoat, it is not the bicycle raincoat or disposable plastic raincoat pants we think of. It is a general term for waterproof clothing that is relatively light compared to parka - sometimes it is also classified as Ultralight rainwear. In order to reduce weight, this type of clothing usually eliminates the lining, and the waterproof and breathable material is directly attached to the inner surface of the fabric. The thickening and other small things on the parka are also eliminated. Of course, the fleece lining cannot be added. The raincoat sacrifices a certain strength in exchange for lighter weight - it can be 1/3 lighter than the same size parka and a smaller compressed volume - less than half of the parka after compression. Most of the styles of jackets are similar. The key is to see what you like and what fits you. There are mainly long and short styles, color matching and single color. Generally speaking, long ones are better than short ones, and color matching ones are better than single colors (mainly because they look good). At the same time, pay attention to whether it is a European version or exported to Japan, and whether it is a men's or women's version. Jackets are functional clothing, and men's and women's styles are very particular. Generally speaking, women's sleeves are smaller and the waist is slimmer. Another most obvious difference is that the main zipper on the chest of men's is inserted from left to right, while women's is the opposite. A professional 3 in 1 hiking interchange jacket should have the following design requirements: the shoulders and elbows should have wear-resistant layers; the middle and lower parts of the inner skirt should have wind skirts, or windproof feet, to prevent wind from entering the jacket from the hem; there should be breathable zippers under the armpits, which can be directly opened for ventilation when sweating more; built-in hats, so that they can be put away when not in use. There are also some other details, such as small hooks at the cuffs, which can directly hang gloves, etc.
Jacket materials
GORE-TEX is being talked about everywhere. Whether GORE-TEX is good or not has been proved by many parties. In any aspect, it is the best among outdoor materials. However, some people in China have reached the level of superstition about GORE-TEX. In fact, many other jacket materials are comparable to GORE-TEX in performance. In addition to GORE-TEX, the fabrics available on the market include CONDUIT, OMNI TECH, Memo-Tex, POWER-TEX, HYDRO-DRY, WEATHERTITE, etc., all of which are waterproof and breathable. Many people are asking how to identify GORE-TEX. Here I have my own secret technique, which was told to me by a friend of mine. For real GORE-TEX series products, if you use a hard object (such as the tip of a nail) to scratch its coating, a black mark will be left on it, as if it was cut off. Those with this phenomenon are generally GORE-TEX, but the price is that you have to damage your favorite clothes. Haha! When we talk about fabrics of cycling,running and fitness jacket,outdoor coat, we are talking about GORE-TEX, which mainly refers to the membrane inside the outer nylon fabric, which is also called coating by some people, not the entire fabric. As for the outermost nylon fabric, there are gridded and non-grid ones. Generally, the gridded ones are more tear-resistant because the grids use stronger fiber yarns. Ripstop is a better outer material. Another key to the jacket is the glue strip, which is the glue strip pressed on the seam to prevent water leakage. The genuine products are strictly waterproof tested when they leave the factory, and the glued parts generally do not leak. But the jackets we wear, as mentioned earlier, are generally fake dumped goods, without strict inspection procedures, so there are cases of water leakage, but generally not much, which is a process problem. Good glue strips are breathable, but non-breathable glue strips do not have a great impact on the overall breathability. The lining of the jacket is also made of breathable material, generally coolmax, mainly to enhance sweat conduction and warmth retention. Lightweight jackets use mesh fibers and are not sticky. There are also some that do not require lining, which are the so-called three-layer lamination and two-and-a-half-layer lamination. The three-layer lamination is to directly press a layer of breathable material inside the waterproof breathable membrane to protect the breathable membrane from wear. There are also some auxiliary materials, including zippers, bayonet, Velcro, etc. The zippers of the jackets are generally YKK zippers. Jackets with fake YKK zippers are definitely problematic, so don't buy them. YKK zippers can be bought in China, so auxiliary materials are no longer a very important issue.
Post time: Nov-18-2024