Outer Bounds Polypro fleeces.

These fleece fabrics look interesting, but I wasn't able to find any apparel made with them.

I'm sure these products and this company are legitimate, but I'm always wary of websites that are strangely or badly written. Some humorous quotes from the Outer Bounds site:

"Dry polypropylene fiber does not absorb moisture."

"…it will resist fading and continue to look good even in a chlorinated environment."

The latter property could really be handy for me, since most of the places I hike in are chlorinated.

They also say about their polypropylene fleece that "Its unique vapor transfer ability moves moisture away from the skin and keeps the wearer dry no matter what the activity"

I'll be surprised if the movement of water vapor through their fleece is in any way unique (ie, different than any other fleece).

Neither could i find any apparel made with it, and yes, some of the statements are a bit silly and not well expressed. I assume they are talking about a combo of moisture regain properties and high tolerance/resistance to chlorine (as in bleach). What, you mean you don't hike in, or swim with your fleeces on, in swimming pools!??

I recently (before lunch today EST) contacted one Mike Williams who works for this company. I asked him where you can buy their fleeces. I got a swift reply, and was asked simply what size i was looking for. I answered somewhat shortly after, but haven't heard from him since. Outerbounds is apparently a subsidiary company of Tullahoma Industries, which i've checked out and seems legit. Apparently they are involved with a lot of military contracts.

(for any newbies, polypropylene has the lowest moisture regain in fibers/fabrics that are commonly used for apparel. Even significantly lower than polyester. This means that they dry out faster than similar thickness and weaved apparel made with different fibers/fabrics. The extreme hydrophobic nature of polypro is also why WPB rain gear which primarily uses same doesn't require DWR coatings like most others do. Another interesting property of polypro is that the material is the least thermally conductive of all commonly used materials for apparel. This means, all other things being equal [fiber size, arrangement, fiber shape], it will be warmer than silk, polyester, wool, nylon, etc. It's also the lightest material commonly used for fabrics and apparel. It's not particularly strong/durable in thin and unwoven forms (aka Dri Ducks and the like), but in woven forms, the combination of all of these ultra attributes [least thermally conductive, lightest, and lowest moisture regain] along with decent strength and durability make it a very interesting and worthwhile fabric for especially colder temp or cool and very wet wear.)

Well, if i can't purchase any of these fleeces, while not a fleece, there is always this product to try:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fine-Denier-Polypropylene-Hollow-Yarn-Mens-Thermal-Underwear-Top-T-shirt-/281101525288?pt=US_Mens_Tshirts&var=&hash=item4172f4e128

Being fine denier, hollow core, and made out of polypro–should be quite warm and quite light weight!

I received a reply email the next day after my last reply to Mike Williams. I had stated i preferably wanted a medium sized fleece, but could settle for a large. I also stated i preferably wanted a fleece in their lightest fleece which is a 7 oz per sq/yd fabric.

He replied with an apology and said they were out of those products. Looks like i will buy that ebay shirt from Taiwan. It will be MUCH lighter anyways. They say their shirts are under 100 grams. If they are truthful about the other attributes of the shirt, fine denier, hollow core fibers, and polypro material, i fully believe them. That would make for quite a light and warm shirt. Less than 100 grams would be less than 3.5 ounces (and these are long sleeves!).

Justin, keep us posted on that polypro shirt from Taiwan. It sounds interesting.

Will do Colin. I also still need to order some of that UHMWPE film. Cash has been a bit tight recently.

Hey Colin et al,

Just received those polypro shirts from Taiwan. Initial impressions, fabric is quite thin, almost gauzy (but more tight weaved than true gauze). The "X-large" fits like a US medium, maybe very slightly bigger (in any case the material has some innate stretch to it).

The X-large weighs 3.4 oz. I don't know if it's suggestibility or not, but actually does feel kind of warm for the weight and thinness. The fabric is comfortable against the skin, though feels slightly "stiff" (but haven't washed it yet). I think it will make an excellent layer over my Rab MeCo baselayer.

I will post some pics later, have to leave for work in an hour or so, and stuff to do before then.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about this shirt. It is probably faster drying than any other shirt of similar design, and the weight sounds great, but I wonder about durability and stinkiness. Polypropylene has a reputation for becoming fragrant after only a few hours of wear, and achieving weapons-grade potency after a day or two.

Works for me, I want to keep the humans away anyhow ;) More seriously though, my so far limited experience supports my theoretical logic that wearing a thin layer of merino wool based base layer under the poly pro (i have a few other polypro garments) and over the skin, helps to slow down and minimize the stink build up of the P.P. The wool helps to absorb and filter some of the body oils, acids, and dead skin which is what stinks the P.P. up so fast. In any case, I've noticed its definitely better than wearing the P.P. directly on the skin.

That makes sense. The shirt seems like a good find. Keep us updated about your experience. If it holds up alright I'm inclined to order one.

Here is the shirt. As you can sort of see my nipples in the pic, gives you an idea of the thinness of the material.

Not a very flattering pic either..

Another pic

As mentioned above. In another thread, the claim was made that polypro, being the most hydrophobic, is also the "stinkiest" of the synthetics. Curious if you'll find that to be the case here, or does your wool layering take care of that problem? Please report when you give it a good test. Eat garlic!!

Hi Delmar, i've already done some testing of it (combining wool on skin with polypro over, but not this particular shirt) and it does help. But then again, i'm not sure about longer trips. I usually do weekend trips since it's hard for me to take time off from work.

It's likely that on a longer trip, a week plus, that the polypro would eventually get that renowned stink nonetheless. I would love to test it during a longer period of time…, i miss the days when i worked at a school and got school vacations off… got to hike across Spain, got to visit Scotland, etc, etc. Now, i only get two full weekends off in a month :( (though i'm appreciative to have a job, all in all).