I recently had the chance to photocopy a rare article from some time shortly after 1946 that had been retyped by none other than Mors Kochansky. It was written by the artic explorer Vilhjamur Stefansson, and detailed his opinions on the science and anthropology of clothing for cold weather.
Stefansson believes that much of the clothing and the concepts of clothing that are used today are based more on tradition than on real science or innovation. He considers the concept of wicking base layers and porous insulating layers completely inadequate in cold conditions. What he advocates, not surprisingly given his connections with the Inuit, is the traditional Inuit technologies of clothing. These rely on what he calls the “air capture principle”. It is very simple: the garment keeps a “capsule” of tropical air warmed by your body around your bare skin, and tries as nearly as possible to never touch your skin. The fabric of the garment itself is impermeable to air and has some insulation value, but for the most part temperature is regulated not by layering but by controlling ventilation.
He says in summary:
“The well recognized superiority of Inuit winter clothes over European depends first of all on design, next on manner of use, and least on superiority of materials.
Inuit materials have been in the past superior to ordinary European stuffs. But we are making progress in the development of new fabrics and it may be anticipated that eventually clothing materials suitable for cold weather will be invented that will excel caribou skin somewhat as atomic explosions excel dynamite. A material is needed that roughly approximates the qualities of a flexible sheet of cork – which is lightweight, airtight, and agreeable to the touch. This material, a cork-velvet, will be buoyant and thus a safeguard in accidental falls into water; easily dried, since moisture cannot penetrate; fire resistant if not fireproof. With such a material, and with the gravity controlled airlayer principle of insulation, we should be able to turn out in quantity suits weighting lass than half the Inuit ten pounds and at the same time more flexible, more durable, better in practically every way.”
Sixty years later, does such a material exist?
I initially think of neoprene, but it is heavy and does not have the soft hand that he considers necessary.
Another thought is a vapor barrier integrated with insulation, which probably comes closest.
One thing he does not repeat in conclusion is another important feature of the caribou skin: with the hair inward, it contacts the body very little, only at the tips of the stiff hairs, and thus maintains an air layer. Fishnet underwear would be a comparable technology. But perhaps he considers it less important if the material simply has a low conductivity (the “agreeable touch”).
At any rate, I would be interested in what the modern lightweight community has to say.
