Thorofare clothing: what fabric?

It would have been plastered all over the web and clothing if they wanted to give that out quickly. If they gave it out, people would go buy the fabric and make their own before BPL was shipping the new clothing in November. I'm sure at some point we will know..if we have to send a swatch to CSI ; P

One interesting thing is that the clothing weight is in the range of the Montbell stretch wind jacket and pant, which is said to have semi-softshell qualities.

Golite might be the likely candidate for making the garment?

Sam Haroldson reported the fabric as "ultimately 100% nylon", so we are one step closer in finding out what the mystery fabric is.

so are we talking sticky hot when hiking?? the nylon clothes i've worn are quite warm…any thoughts??

There is no mystery fabric here.

It's 100% nylon, it has some mechanical stretch due to the nature of the weave, and it has a denier gradient formed by a double weave of the inside (low fiber density) to the outside face (high fiber density).

There is no real rocket science to it, these types of fabrics have existed for a few years now, just not in this weight, which is of course, light :)

As a followup — don't get too hung up on fabric specifications, here's why.

1. Fabric weight governs the garment weight only partially, so take that with a grain of salt as being somewhat important. More important is how the garment uses the fabric and the simplicity of the design.

2. The weight of the garment generally governs the amount of water it will absorb.

3. How comfortable the fabric is next to your skin is very important. This feature, above fabric weight, fiber content, etc., was the governing feature behind the selection of this particular fabric for the Thorofare apparel.

"Named after the remotest region in the Continental U.S., the Thorofare Collection"

The Thorofare region is the most remote region of the contiguous United States, not the continental U.S.

Lands which are in physical contact with one another. In the United States, for example, the "48 contiguous states" exclude the states of Hawaii and Alaska, which are not of one piece with the mainland.

Ryan, I am surprised by your description since you did hike the remotest region of the continental United States in Alaska. I am used to more accurate information at BPL than this. Please fix the description.

John – The "continental United States" excludes Alaska and Hawaii per Wikipedia.

As Chris mentioned the Continental U.S. typically refers to the piece of land located between Canada and Mexico. The Thorofare region lying within these boundaries is the namesake for this line of clothing.

We could have named the clothing line the Arctic Collection – after the most remote point in all of the United States but we already named a backpack after that so we'll stick with Thorofare. I hope this rebuilds your faith in our ability to provide accurate information, John.

Hey thorofarers,

Any shirt wearers that have received their shirts could you comment on sizing?

I'm generally in between M and L for shirts, typically L fits me better, but not always. As a point of reference, I wear a mountain hardwear canyon shirt in L, and an ex officio airstrip shirt in M. I've also got a cocoon hoody in M which is pretty roomy on me.

But typically, shirts in size L fit me better. I tend to like a looser fit.

Thanks!

I'm usually a straight medium in most things but the Thorofare shirt in medium is roomy so I'd say large for you.

I am sorry but Wikipedia is not a final source for anything except perhaps wikipedia itself.

In fact Wikipedia provide conflicting information when comparing contiguous versus continental. I originally cited wikipedia in my first post regarding this topic.

Please note number 4 below.

con·ti·nen·tal /ˌkɒntnˈɛntl/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[kon-tn-en-tl]
–adjective
1. of or of the nature of a continent.
2. (usually initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the mainland of Europe, to Europeans, or to European customs and attitudes.
3. (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the 13 original American colonies during and immediately after the American Revolution.
4. of or pertaining to the continent of North America.
–noun
5. (initial capital letter) a soldier of the Continental Army in the American Revolution.
6. a piece of paper currency issued by the Continental Congress during the American Revolution.
7. a small amount: advice that's not worth a continental.
8. an inhabitant of a continent.
9. (usually initial capital letter) an inhabitant of the mainland of Europe.
[Origin: 1750–60; continent + -al1]

Again I am quoting from an online source here. Alaska is part of the North American continent. It is not contiguous with the rest of the United States but no amount of 'spin' will change the fact that it is part of the continent.

How about just considering it as slang and moving along? It seems to work for other words that have a meaning other than that in dictionaries or your online reference du jour. For those wikipedia fans, submit it to the urban dictionary for it to be "official".

Merriam Webster says,

1 a: of, relating to, or characteristic of a continent ; specifically often capitalized : of or relating to the continent of Europe excluding the British Isles

b: often capitalized : of, relating to, or being a cuisine derived from the classic dishes of Europe and especially France

2 a: often capitalized : of or relating to the colonies later forming the United States

b: being the part of the United States on the North American continent; also : being the part of the United States comprising the lower 48 states

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/continental

Actually, Wikipedia does offer a nuanced definition of "continental," accounting for Alaska's sometimes inclusion.

If the matter were black and white, as John seems to imply, then it wouldn't have generated this O/T time waster and we'd all be back outside enjoying the long weekend.

Oh well – I guess in the end it does not really matter about the term as long as there is some attempt at accuracy. 'nuff said on this topic by me. Sorry to be such a curmudgeon, too many years editing papers.

I feel so silly being part of these kinds of conversations that get out of hand. I'll happily re-word the product page if you have a better suggestion, John.

Ok thanks for the fabric info – would you say the fabric is particularly wicking (compared to say a windshirt or a merino top)?

(I’m still on a mission to find non-wicking shorts.. , I’m either going to cut up a pair of these, or some wind pants if I can find some sturdy enough, or some (cheap) waterproof pants).

Adrian, the shirt seems to wick all right. While wearing it on a middling warm day going up a long, steep trail, I noticed that the shirt didn't develop wet spots in the areas that other shirts would, but it did feel evenly damp on the outside. So I guess you could say that the fabric wicks.

The fabric itself seemed strangely familiar…then I compared it to my Patigonia Hoodini and by golly they seem to be about the same!