Goosefeet Gear Wind Jacket and Pants

  I had the choice of either the 10D or 20D fabrics that he uses for his down gear

After the hike, when I took the jacket off, there was moisture on the inside of it,

Something to note here is that the ideal windshirt puts breathability first, at least in my opinion. The issue with the above quotes is that the material he uses for his down gear is very likely a calendered material whicn IMO is not ideal for wind gear since the calendering significantly impacts breathability. Most wind shirts/pants that are on the market are made from un-calendered materials which is ideal for this application.

Just spoke to the EE folks about their materials … I have been looking at the new wind jacket. They use the same 10d and 20d fabrics for their jackets as their quilts. Which, I have confirmed, means they are calendered.

Breathability of the 10d material is 10cfm per their website. (which is pretty good using Nisley’s numbers from this article )

My understanding, based on Hoosier’s comments, is that the calendering would result in more moisture retention inside the jacket which would seem less than ideal.

Now I wonder if the performance difference between a calendered nylon windshirt vs. uncalendered is something that I personally could distinguish in the real world.

It should be noted though, that not all calendered fabrics are created equal. Argon 90 from Dutchware is calendered and has a cfm of 40.13 CFM / 351.5 HH whereas Momentum tested at 4.7 CFM / 597.5 HH, all done by Richard. It really depends on whether you favor wind/water resistance or breathability. I’m fairly certain that someone would be able to ascertain the difference between 10 and 40 cfm in the real world. FOR ME, I favor breathability. If I were after higher wind/water resistance, I would just use my WPB rain jacket.

BTW @tjayblues

A good piece from that article as a good guideline is:

Air flow in the 35+ CFM is optimal for the balance between dumping moisture from sustained aerobic activity (7 MET which is the average person’s maximum sustained rate), good wind resistance, and medium precipitation protection.

Richard also said in another thread:

Argon 90’s high CFM combined with high HH is rare. Breathable weaves normally have fiber spacing variability which results in a low HH for a windshirt or down filament migration for an insulating garment. The fiber spacing is uniform in this fabric.

Ben does great work, he’s done a couple of items for me.  Once I confirmed what I wanted I received all the items in less than seven days.  The most recent is a down cover bag for my lunch bag; I can now take ice cream sandwiches on day hikes and they’re still frozen solid after eight hours!

I highly recommend Ben/Goosefeet, great service and products.

I don’t have any specific numbers for the breathability of my fabrics, but based on seeing numbers attached to fabrics at the OR show this year, this is what I would rate my fabrics:

All 20d: 3-5 CFM

Purple 10d: ~10 CFM

Black, Orange, Brick Red, Navy, Forest Green, Lime Green 10d: 20-30 CFM

Gray 8d: ~10 CFM

Ben Smith

GooseFeet Gear