Breathability of TORAY Dermizax NX?

Bumping this as I’m interested as well.

Eric, how are you finding your Yukon? Can you compare it to the Gore Pro usual suspects?

Will, I have-not used my new KUIU WPB parka yet. I am trying it out next week in the off chance the ‘Vegas valley gets some rain, as predicted. Its “vapor transmission” hang tag chart shows it FAR above GTX Pro in that aspect. Seems too good to be true but I do know Toray is a reputable company with high end products so I’m hoping the chart is correct.

HOWSOMEVER… I have an REI eVent light parka I’ve use for years and it, unlike most Gore-Tex garments, does not need to first have the laminate get wet to transmit vapor. OTOH in a stiff, cold wind that eVent membrane does let some wind pass through, unlike my other Gore-Tex products. Will the Toray membrane be similar to eVent and in which ways? I guess I’ll soon find out when I wear it alpine  skiing this winter to test it.

I noticed their claims a number of years ago.  I think there are 3 Dermizax fabrics.  The only one I could get a hold of to test wasDermiazx DT in a Ortovox Civita.  It was pretty crappy at 1560 g/m2/24 hours on my scale.  (Shakedry is >3000.)  If anyone has a garment with DT and wants the question answered, PM me.

I worked at (another) NZ Made outdoor apparel company that used Dermizax NX (I’m 90% sure it was the NX version), this was a long time ago, and I can assure you that more modern laminates are way more comfortable to wear than that was, BUT like all thing WPB, the membrane/coating is only a small part of the whole equation. The Derizax we used then was 2.5 layer version so not really comparable to a 3l fabric. Unfortunately knowing the membrane’s marketing name doesn’t always tell the whole story. I have lab reports on my desk of 29 different Pertex fabrics, all using the same Shield membrane with wildly different JIS L 1099 test results  (5448-78264 g/m2h)…..I’m not trying to be a smartarse or say the Kuiu garment is not any good, just pointing out that the same membrane/coating can give wildly different results.

Cheers, Scott

Having said the above I would like to confirm that Toray make fantastic fabrics and I am surprised more apparel companies don’t use them

Hi Scott: I completely agree about the fabric performance.  I expect the membrane is the same in your 29 fabrics but the face fabrics will be all over the map for denier and other features.  I found the same thing in Gore-tex jackets and various Polartec Neoshell fabrics:  using the same membrane type-  Lighter face fabric better MVTR, heavier face fabric worse for MVTR.

I went to the KUIU Yukon camo rain parka description on Kuiu.  They actually provide the JIS L1099 results.  A1 is an upright desiccant cup test, B1 is an inverted desiccant test for water-impermeable membranes.  The B1 is typically cited because it produces a very large number compared to an upright cup test.  They listed 24000 g/m2/24 hours.  That is a pretty low number.  In comparison, the Montbell Shakedry jacket produces a test result of 80000. Fortunately, the jacket has pit zips.  If you want to see other MVTR comparisons, go to the Montbell website and go to rain jackets.