Garment Industry Overview

Pre-war Performance Clothing

Post-war Performance Clothing

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Synthetics

In the latter half of the twentieth century the dominance of natural fibres was to come to an end. We have pretty much one man to thank for this – W.L. Gore. He was a chemist playing around with a polymer called polytetrefluoroethylene (PTFE), commonly known as Teflon®. He discovered that the PTFE polymer could be expanded, allowing it to be used in textiles. The same lubricant qualities of PTFE which make saucepans non stick could then be used to make fabrics repel water. The ePTFE was developed into a membrane which was laminated between two layers of fabric, generally polyester. Today Gore-Tex technology is used in waterproof garments all over the world.

In the 1970s polypropylene base layers started to replace silks and wool.The era of wind proof cottons similarly came to an end in the 1980s with Pertex, a wind proof and breathable fabric made from polyester. The 1980s also saw the development of the first synthetic fleeces by Patagonia.

More recently the traditional wicking, insulation, weather proof layering system has been upended by the development of softshell garments. These are hybrids of weather protection and insulation formed from woven nylon or polyester bonded to a fleece or pile fabric. They can be combined with a PTFE membrane for extra weather proofing. With the flexibility and weight savings of the new soft shells, it could be that traditional hard shell garments will soon lose their relevance.