I might have made a significant find in synthetic thermal layering. Testing?

“BPL will next come out with real world testing article about said mystery layering system.”

As long as it’s not a ‘first look’ review….

“

The term “general public” recreating outdoors in multiple locales facing a variety of conditions in their outings does not typically go with “fragile” and “must never get dirty”. What do I do if my “fragile” thermal layer is ruined? Pull out my backup? Those few ounces start to look like a bad bargain… And then I discard this “exclusive” layer that now looks like a nasty and/or ripped mess? So to the questions of “general public” as a target audience? No, I don’t think so.

Curious where you recreate that the layer described works… I cannot imagine a place free from flying sand or snow, pocky branches or abrasive jagged rocks. Yeah, and alpine meadow here and there. But to get there, usually I got to fight talus, sometimes in winter with flying snow…

Limited locales under limited conditions… Looks like you got a winner if enough people recreate in those conditions. People have created plenty of brands and products marketed to a limited audience. But as you say, it is easy to copy… Patent? Good luck!”

It’s not a stand-alone shirt that can just be worn as a shirt in many cases. When worn under another layer, it holds up very well as long as one is careful when putting it on and taking it off. I have one that is several years old. It’s a bit beat up but still functions at 90% of new. I would say it’s no worse for being fragile than an UL down jacket. UL, non-silnylon jackets get wrecked by branches. It’s also incredibly easy to repair the shirt I have designed.

There’s a 95% chance I will just write up an article on my website on how to make these shirts, vs about 5% chance I try to make them into a product I can sell.

I suffer from disabilities that prevent me from sitting or working at a desk, for more than short durations. The only thing I can do is walk lots of miles. I’m also relatively poor compared to most backpackers, due to said disability. So, I don’t have the physical capacity to build them myself, and I don’t have the free money to invest into a business where I have others make the products, which still requires a lot of desk/computer/phone time.

It’s sort of sad, in a way, that if this really does prove to be a great way to insulate for super cheap and light, somebody else in the industry will just make money off anything I develop and share to the world. There’s nothing to patent, which would be a jerk move anyway. I would rather see people using cool new gear than try monetizing it for my own greed, but at the same time, I have to eat as well, and I put a lot of effort into coming up with the product.

“There’s a 95% chance I will just write up an article on my website”

What’s the address of your website.

I wouldn’t write off the possibility just yet, perhaps there would be someone on here who already has experience in manufacturing outdoor products that could help. Perhaps even a kind of profit share thing where they would be able to use their experience/contacts to get most of the work done, but you could get a share of the profit for your ideas, mean you’re not losing out totally.

My website is: https://johanriver.com/

If anyone likes looking at pretty nature photos, I have a ton of them on my site. (semi-pro nature photographer)

Here’s what I will do. I will write up an article for my website in the next month or two and post a link to the article on BPL. I will show how to make the most basic version of the product, which is super easy to MYOG as the fabric is already in use by many MYOG folks.

That way if people want to test the system out, they can do so on their own. Hopefully it is proven to be a false hope and we can get back to our regular programming. But, if it does prove to work, then great.

What I have been working on as products focus more on how to make these things last a bit longer without adding any  significant weight or ruining the performance of the fabric.

Here’s the funny thing, y’all are going to laugh when you see what the fabric is. In fact, many MYOG people have probably made the same shirt without knowing it, but went along with some different steps that added bad weight and ruined the performance of the fabric.

Johan,

I like the photos on your website.  Looks like Olympic National Park rain forest in Washington?

I also saw a sponge.  Is the mystery garment made of sponge material?

Wow, beautiful images Johan, thanks for sharing.

I’m fascinated to hear what it is you are suggesting so watching this thread with interest.

Cheers, from New Zealand, Scott

Johan thank you so much for sharing you endeavors. I totally agree about the inner liner, which is why I use a Polartec Alpha w quality windshirt. It has reduced my cold weather sweating substantially (more than half). But my system is twice the weight of yours at 7 oz! And cost 4 times as much!

Johan,

Are the garments made from fiberfill batts?

Is it Air Mesh?