Everyone loves a good grail quest. Well, the Holy Grail of rain gear may be in sight. This quest of course is to find a durable, truly waterproof yet fully breathable fabric. While many of the new fabrics are fantastically better than anything we had before, there is still a compromise between waterproofness and breathability. Recent advances in superhydrophobic fabrics may change this completely.
A superhydrophobic surface is almost impossible to get wet. It actively repels water into droplets that roll off the surface with the slightest tilt. There are many superhydrophobic surfaces in nature. The most classic example is the lotus leaf on which water droplets sit in nearly perfect balls. In fact, this phenomenon is often called the “Lotus Effect”. Other plant leaves and even some insects have similar water repelling superhydrophobic surfaces.
In 2008, researchers at the University of Zurich developed superhydrophobic fabrics. While very water repellent and functional, the fabrics are still very expensive and do not yet stand up in washing machines very well. You can read about these fabrics in this article from New Scientist.
Recently, Ross Nanotechnology has introduced a new spray on coating for different materials including fabrics. This “Never Wet” technology was initially developed by Dr. Vinod Sikka as a way to prevent corrosion on steel. The parent Company, Ross Technology Corporation is a steel parts manufacturer and has been in business since 1962 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The expectation is for the spray on “Never Wet” product to be available in 2012. Check out the video below and read more on the Never Wet Website.
Can you imagine a rain coat that never gets wet, keeps itself clean, is anti bacterial and breathes like Egyptian cotton? This may be closer than you think. It is going to be very interesting to see how these new technologies develop and perform in the next few years. There are still questions about durability and breathability of fabrics treated with these new products, but soon we will have some more answers on these properties.
Like all new technologies, it will take some time before the garment industry is able to take advantage of these new technologies and bring them to the marketplace. I for one am really looking forward to trying out these new technologies in the next generation of rain wear.
John Dewey
2012 baselayers.ca