Hi guys today,
we're going to talk about
waterproof shell layers.
With me here is Erik
from our material development team.
Great to have you here.
Thank you.
We treat waterproof shell layers
pretty much as a reinforcement piece
at Fjällräven.
Yes.
To protect you from rain, wind,
snow, when you need it,
otherwise you pretty much don't use it.
What is actually the main purpose
of a waterproof shell layer?
The purpose is of course to keep you dry
and protected from the wind.
The tricky thing is that
since you are creating moisture
by sweating and moving,
like really physical activities,
the trick is to let that moisture
pass through the shell garment.
That's how we create comfort.
Keeping the rain on the outside,
but still letting the moisture
that you create out.
That is what we normally refer
to as breathability.
Exactly.
Here's a Eco-Shell Jacket.
Keb Eco-Shell Jacket.
If you start with the material itself,
it is a laminate,
so it's consisting of different parts.
On the inside, we have the backing,
On the outside we have the,
let's say the main material
or this face material,
which is woven polyester.
In between those two layers,
we have the membrane.
In this case, it's a polyester membrane
and is hydrophilic.
How does that work then?
Hydrophilic means that it's something
that likes water.
It works in a way that moisture
that you create condensate
on the backing and from the backing
it's pulled through the membrane
and out to the surface.
Now you should ask me,
why is it moving to the surface?
Why is it moving to the surface?
Maybe you've heard of DWR,
durable water repellency.
We are using
fluorocarbon-free impregnation.
The function of the DWR is to actually
keep the surface fabric
as dry as possible
because then it's much easier
for the water coming from the inside
to evaporate again and dry out.
The water itself doesn't know
what way to go.
It could go either way.
The driving force behind it is the heat
from your body
and the temperature difference
between inside the garment
and outside the garment,
but also the level of moisture in the air.
Typically we have drier air
on the outside compared
to inside the jacket.
That's the driving force behind it.
The water will move towards
where it's lower humidity,
which is typically
on the outside of the garment.
For example, a more tropical scenario
where you have really high temperature
in the air and super humid
so it's more humid on the outside
compared to inside
then it could be transported
towards your body.
In those cases
it's better to use umbrella
or poncho or something.
We have a two-way zipper in the front.
We have two chest pockets, fairly big,
and no pockets down here.
That's, of course,
if you want to wear it with a backpack
or a harness for pulling a sled, et cetera.
If we talk about the functionality
of the jacket, of course,
sometimes when it's getting hot
or you're maybe walking on skis,
getting warm,
you want to ventilate.
We have two ventilation at the sides.
I quite often tend to use the center front
opening as the ventilation.
Especially if it's blowing a lot,
you can close the button
to keep it safe there.
You can even close up here
and ventilate down here to get rid of the humid air
All our Eco-Shell products
are fully climate compensated,
which is good thing to be aware of.
Apart from that,
we use non-PFC DWR,
the entire company is PFC free
since a number of years.
This jacket also is made out
of 100% polyester,
which is a good thing for the future
when you would want to recycle it,
ultimately.
Moving over to our range
of hydratic waterproof jackets.
This is the High Coast Hydratic Jacket.
We use hydratic in some different
types of products.
We can see it in the lining,
the padded jackets
and also quite thick jackets.
Today we will focus
on this two and a half layer
and talk a little bit about
how that material is built up.
What we're using here is a shell fabric.
It's a ripstop made out of nylon
or polyamide.
On the inside,
we have the polyurethane coating
to make it waterproof,
but also let some moisture out,
and we have a protective print
on the inside to protect
the membrane itself.
It doesn't have this neat backer,
as in the three-layer garment.
It's a really beautiful print on this one.
It's a fantastic print.
Nice pattern.
The benefit of this construction
is of course packability.
It's less material, and you can roll it up,
and it becomes a really neat package.
What you don't have is this backing
that soaks up the moisture
from the inside and help it spread out
over a bigger surface.
Okay, let's try it on.
We can go through
some of the functions in it.
Functionality, we have two hand pockets,
and what's maybe more important
is the ventilations on the side.
Same as with the three-layer jacket,
you still have the button down below,
and a two-way zipper.
You can also use the center front
as ventilation.
Good hood, fully adjustable,
both in the back and in the front
It's kind of pre-adjusted.
Pre-adjusted, exactly.
Really adjustable, nice hood
with some reflex details on it.
It's a perfect jacket for bike commuting,
trekking, traveling.
The lightweight
and the compressible packaging
makes it easy to bring along.
We have two different
waterproof solutions, pretty much.
Two completely different jackets.
I think the purpose of them
are totally different,
but both will keep you dry.
This one, the three-layer Eco-Shell,
of course, it's more all year round,
multiple activities.
You can go skiing, trekking, hiking,
whatever you want to do.
While this one is a really lightweight,
really compressible compact jacket,
to keep as a backup in your backpack
during summer activities, spring,
autumn, et cetera.
The difference
when it comes to performance,
I'd say this one is more waterproof
and especially more breathable.
It's breathing better
compared to this one.
Of course there is a difference in price
of the jacket as well.
Yes, fairly big difference.
Depending on what needs you have,
both could be a good option, definitely.
Thanks a lot for coming, Erik.
Pleasure to have you.
Thank you, Calle.
If you have any comments,
just leave them in the field below
and we'll attend to them,
and don't forget to click and subscribe
to our YouTube channel,
and we really hope to see you
out on the trails really soon.