The future of waterproof fabric?

My main concern is durability of the coating. There are lots of DWR ("durable water repellant") coatings out there, any of which could be used to create similar spill resistant footage because it's easy to repel water in the short term. The challenge is always to create a coating that lasts through abrasion, repeated washings, contact with non-repellable liquids etc. This kickstarter project doesn't really address this issue. For example, are body oils repelled?

If a coating like this could be developed that is durable in the long term, then it would eliminate the need for a WP/B membrane and usher in a new era of waterproof fabrics with much higher breathability. One day it probably will be, but these guys don't appear to have actually put much R&D into their shirts so I doubt they stumbled across it.

Agreed. They did claim that the coating will last up to 80 washes. If that's true, that'll be very impressive. The other concerns you mentioned are certainly valid, but I'm interested to see what problems arise and what its successes are.

What makes this interesting compared to other waterproof products is that it isn't so much a coating, but rather the method the shirt/fabric is built. I've never heard of a shirt incorporating SiO2 into their fabric to make it hydrophobic.

Cool stuff!

"They did claim that the coating will last up to 80 washes."

In legalese, that simply means that the coating will not last more than 80 washes, so it will last for anything from zero to 79 washes.

–B.G.–