This past winter, Polartec – the U.S.-based provider of premium textile solutions worldwide since 1981 – introduced what is being hailed as a revolutionary new insulation product designed for “active warmth” with its Polartec Alpha.
And while a number of outdoor brands introduced apparel using Polartec Alpha, one brand among them has embraced the material more than others, and has gone to great lengths in testing and proving its mettle.
Celebrating its 40th year of continuous business in 2014, Marmot has some serious longevity and a rock-solid history in innovation; so when it hangs its proverbial hat on a new technology, you can be pretty dang sure one can take that product to the bank – or to the top of some of Jackson Hole, Wyoming’s most challenging peaks, as it were in our case.
Marmot has been working with worldwide guiding leader Exum Mountain Guides, born in Jackson more than 20 years ago (and one of only two leading guide services in the Tetons) since the company’s inception. Who better to test and endorse mountain products? Essentially, no one. And to prove it, they dropped everything and spent three days hiking for turns with us while wearing the full line of Marmot-Polartec outerwear. I was wearing exactly the same thing the guides were wearing – they just had bigger quads and better lungs than me.
Chatting with Marmot outerwear category manager Brian LaPlante, it’s easy to catch the infectious spirit of the brand. “It’s exciting to be part of a brand that has such a proud history of product innovation. I feel I’m continuing the vision that the founders set out with when they started Marmot, which is to make the finest outdoor equipment and apparel available,” he said shorty after I had the opportunity to test the products extensively myself with some of his top athletes. “It’s a big milestone for Marmot to have thrived for four decades. There are many outdoor companies that started around the same time as Marmot that no longer exist.”
“Alpha is one of those game-changing technologies that creates a whole new class of products that previously did not exist,” he continued.
Game changing? I squinted a little.
“I equate it to when softshells came into the market. That innovation made us re-evaluate the clothing we were wearing and how we were using it. Alpha is doing the same thing – it’s forcing us to rethink our traditional clothing systems in new ways. Just as softshells created a whole new category of outerwear, Alpha is creating a whole new category of active insulation,” LaPlante said.
“Working with professional guides like Exum helps us build better clothing and equipment,” LaPlante said. “Because they live in these garments and beat up the gear and use it every day, their feedback and experience with product helps us test and evaluate new materials and concepts.”
So I asked the next most obvious question: What are some of the other Marmot “game changing” products this year? “Our new Marmot NanoPro waterproof-breathable laminated and coated technologies are bringing new levels of performance to 2.5 layer garments. NanoPro’s ‘Dynamic Air Permeable’ offers unmatched breathability and comfort next to other 2.5 layer coatings or laminations on the technical apparel landscape.”
And I had the chance to test these products as well, on a hike-and-ski mission to Turkey Chute in the Tetons, requiring a 4,000-foot-vertical hike, a short rappel, and a two-hour ski out. It’s no lie…the new laminates really do work better, they’re lighter, and don’t require the venting that heavier outerwear does when hiking. And I’m not only comparing them to the 15 other brands I test each season, but to my 20 years of personal experience with Marmot products.
“Product innovation has spanned Marmot’s entire history. It’s just part of our DNA,” said LaPlante. “Many of Marmot’s product innovations, and technologies we championed early on, are now commonly seen in products from many brands. Things that we take for granted such as pit zips, hood peripheral cords, seam taping were all innovations that Marmot helped establish.”
Indeed, the list of Marmot product-innovation firsts in apparel include: the development of 2.5 layer waterproof-breathable fabrics; seam taped waterproof / breathable softshells; body-mapped zonal constructions; bi-component wicking materials; and fully baffled down parkas.
“We were the first to company to integrate Gore-Tex into sleeping bags. We were the first company to use ‘knee’ pole technology in our tents, and one of the first to use vertical baffled sleeping bags. We were also the first to test and certify down-fill power,” LaPlante told me.
To further my perspective on all of this Alpha talk, I grabbed the ear of industry big-wig Allon Cohne — Global Director of Marketing, Polartec, LLC.
“Over the last decade, Marmot has been a launch partner with many of the latest technical fabrics from Polartec,” Cohne confirmed. One of the best ways to test and prove new technologies is in conjunction with athletes and guides, and this is where the relationship with EXUM comes into play.” Cohne was there right alongside me as we slogged to the top of Grand Teton National Park.
“Technical fabrics have come a long way in the past few years, and the apparel kits — what to wear and when — have really allowed people to go farther and explore longer. It’s changed how guides prepare for their daily tour. It’s changed their kit, and it’s changed how they recommend what to wear,” he said.
It was widely publicized that the development of Alpha took place with the Special Forces of the U.S. military, so I asked Cohne about that partnership. “New technology is always interesting. Sometimes it’s an iterative technical advancement, and sometimes it’s a true breakthrough. We feel Polartec Alpha is a breakthrough. So did the Special Forces,” he explained. “They actually wrote the product brief: it needed to be breathable (air permeable), and insulation that protects from the weather elements in an active state.”
“Most protective insulation is great for static uses (standing around or walking), but when you’re in pursuit, you don’t have time for layering – and so went the product brief. This is what we aimed for: a knit constructed “puffy style” fabric. Something really only a company like Polartec can do considering our R&D and relationship with the Military. Special Forces tested this new product development in Alaska where they would ‘soak it and walk it dry.’ Soldiers were ordered into a river for five minutes to soak.”
Continued Cohne: “The Polartec product wasn’t the only fabric being tested; there were several different fabrics in the water. Once soldiers were soaked, they were ordered to ‘walk their garments dry.’ The idea behind this is body temps will dry the fabric – eventually. Polartec Alpha not only passed the test and beat the competition, it was reported to be one of the best Special Forces products ever tested. It was immediately adopted and named by the military – Polatec Alpha. It’s hard to tell true technical advancements with all the claims out there. So this is what you’re seeing from both companies, lots of excitement about this new performance fabric.” Waterproof fabrics have been on the market for decades, but air-permeable waterproof fabrics with a softer hand are relatively new.
“We believe there’s no better fabric advancement in this category than Polartec NeoShell, offering more breathability and protection than a lot of the competition,” Cohne continued to enlighten me. “The success is really stemming from awareness and use over the past couple years. With a product like NeoShell, experience is everything. Once people start using it, the get. They may not fully understand all the technology behind it — .5 CFM and 10,000MM of water column — but they feel the results. We’re just starting on this platform and there’s many places for NeoShell to grow into.”
So what’s the next big thing, I was loath to ask. The answer wasn’t entirely shocking: “Our next technical breakthrough is going to be Polartec Power Wool. “This is a new wool polyester blended fabric,” Cohne said.
“In of itself wool/poly blends are not new to the industry, just like waterproof fabric and puffy insulation were not new. But the technical breakthrough for Polartec Power Wool is plating the wool next-to-skin in voided constructions, and then placing the polyester fiber on the face of the fabric, on the exterior. What this allows is something special. Wool is a fantastic insulator, particularly when wet. It’s also naturally odor resistant and can except moisture in a vapor state – so sweat doesn’t need to build up on the skin,” he said.
“However, wool likes to hold moisture, which weighs a fabric down. It’s also not the most stable of fibers. Polyester on the other hand, likes to push water away and it’s very stable. So by putting a fine denier wool next to skin, you get all those benefits, then we add the polyester to make up for the penalties of dry time and durability. So now you have Polatec Power Wool – the innovation in baselayer coming your way.”
Charging more than 4,000 feet several days in a row gave me plenty of time to not only experience these innovations, but to chat with Senior Exum Guide and Exum Marketing Manager Brenton Reagan as well — himself an ex-Marine.
“The simplicity and functionality is what Exum and myself has always loved about the Marmot gear and the designs,” Reagan said. “The quality is above the standard of other vendors. Exum has proven this by testing the gear and it’s lasting longer than expected. I hear form guides all the time that they don’t need a new jacket, soft-shell or hardshell, because their old one is just fine.”
When I pressed him on the one piece of gear in the new kit that changed his personal game, the answer came quickly: the Isotherm Hoody. “It completely changed the way I layer and think about insulation. I know it sounds cliche since that is what we are testing on this trip, but it’s an amazing piece,” he said honestly, “I used one more than 100 days in the first six months I owned it.”
“Marmot has always felt like a family to me and the other Exum owners,” Reagan continued. “I’m so impressed with their generosity, creativity and support as a partner of Exum. It is the guide/vendor relationship that all others should be measured by.”
So, there’s four major apparel innovations I used that create essentially the new kit for any active backcountry traveler. Check them out for yourself online. The big four: Nabu Softshell Jacket ($350); Alpha Pro Jacket ($225); Isotherm Hoody ($225); Thermo Hoody ($135)
I highly recommend surfing over to exumguides.com as well and booking a trip with Reagan this year in Jackson. It’s an experience of a lifetime you will never regret dropping your hard earned cash on.
–Aaron H. Bible is the Digital Editor for Elevation Outdoors and Blue Ridge Outdoors magazines. Follow him on Instagram @ahbible.
