Zohar,
I'm also interested in when you will be placing the order and what the estimated time from order placement to delivery to you is. Hopefully we can consense upon a color and the order can be placed soon. Have you considered Josh's offer?
Please bump me up from my original order of 5 yards to a revised order of 10 yards. A local meat-space friend of mine is interested too.
Josh,
Thanks for your offering of financial backing to move this forward. Also, thank you for your warnings and sharing your misgivings about this supplier and the salesman Peter Yao. I'm still willing to risk it. As another has said, if it turns out not so good I can find a use for it somewhere.
Jamie,
I'd really like to see some data as well. It'd be real interesting to see how Momentum 90 compares to OWFInc.'s RIPB.9 .9oz./sq.yd. ripstop or how SevenD compares to Momentum 50/55 and how they all compare to some of these much cheaper and readily available Chinese or South Korean imports available to us via Alibaba.com
Perhaps some combination of "Ayce," Ron, Josh and Ryan/BPL would throw down some cash for testing at a reputable lab like the International Down and Feather Laboratory (IDFL). Despite their various branding strategies, "Ayce"+Ron and Josh seem to have trouble, in my eyes at least, in sufficiently differentiating their products from each other and other sources such as OWF Inc. and the other more commodity minded suppliers. This could put that to rest once and for all. The increased consumer knowledge and confidence could only be a good thing for those with many years experience in the field and those that truly stand behind their offering.
There is some precedent already in this inclusion of certification. Sea-to-Summit includes a letter from the IDFL along with their finished sleeping bags certifying the fill power rating of the down within.
With all the hubbub about the decline of good articles on BPL, this could be just the thing to "bring it back" so to speak. Someone page Doctor J!
Despite the IDFL's name suggesting sole domain on tests of the plumage of unlucky fowl they perform a reported 15,000 tests a year on textiles and have developed tests for Downproofiness, Air Permeability, Thread Count, Tensile Strength, Tearing Strength, Fiber Composition among others. They don't list a test of DWR, but I recall seeing some tests performed either by the BPL staff or someone on these forums so I imagine they must have some test for it. I called them up just to chat recently (about down) and learned a great deal.
If all combinations of those named parties are uninterested or unwilling to do the tests at a reputably laboratory then perhaps a group of us here on the forums could organize it ourselves. After my conversation with the IDFL I get the feeling that if we were willing to put the test on the super slow track and explain we're just a bunch of crazed hobbyists they'd cut us a good price in return for some community good will.
If testing by the sellers of the fabric or publisher of this magazine doesn't go forward but a community effort does, I volunteer to take the time to gather samples from listed suppliers on Alibaba.com and chip in at least $35 (the amount I'm spending on this fabric offered by Zohar/Paul Yao) to contribute towards the testing.
