Momentum 90 breathability paired with Polartec Alpha

[Greg Pehrson]

I was given a thru-hiker.com Kinsman pullover kit from a friend, and I’m planning on making a hooded version. I’m considering swapping out the Primaloft insulation for 80 or 90 g/m2 Polartec Alpha, potentially even forgoing the liner fabric like on Rab’s Alpha Direct jackets for even more weight savings. Was wondering about people’s experience with Momentum 90 and if you feel like it is breathable enough to use as a shell for Alpha. If not Momentum 90, and you were making a Polartec Alpha jacket, what shell material would you use? Thanks very much.

[Jeff McWilliams]

Sorry I can’t help answer your question but I’ll be interested to see what others say.

 

Can Powered Alpha be purchased somewhere online in small quantities?

[Greg Pehrson]

Hi Jeff, yes, 2nds quality Alpha can be purchased from http://www.millyardage.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1842

If the link doesn’t work, it’s MillYardage.com then go to “Off Quality Fabrics” then 2nds: Polartec for shelter in the left-hand menu.

I have no affiliation with them. This would be my first time as their customer, but I from what I understand Mill Direct Textiles and Mill Yardage have replaced the old outlet/ fabrics store that used to be part of the Polartec Malden Mills factory back in the day.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Momenum 90 is like tissue paper  it has no abrasion resistance.   Good for sleeping bags quilts, poor for outerwear.  Just my 2 cents .

[Paul McLaughlin]

I have some wind pants I made from M90; seems fairly breathable, good wind resistance, and pretty tough for alight fabric. But I wonder about the value of using the Alpha in place of Priamloft or climashield. Any shell fabric is going to be less breathable than either primaloft or Climashield. It seems to me that only if you can eliminate one of the shell layers is using Alpha going to get you any advantage in breatheability.

But, just talking shell fabrics; I’d go for something non-calendared if you can find such a beast in a light weight. That should be more breatheable.

[Greg Pehrson]

Thanks for the replies. The non-calendared lead was helpful, as well as the different perspectives on M90’s durability. Would love to use the M90 since it’s what I already have, but it may not be appropriate to this application.  Ideally I’d be looking for a non-calendared, very breathable nylon or poly-nylon blend with stretch somewhere under 2.5 oz/yd. Trying to come as close as I can to the fabric on a nano air but maybe a bit tougher, but I know it’s a proprietary fabric. So far I haven’t seen anything similar.

[Jeff McWilliams]

Thanks for the link, Greg!  This sounds like a really cool project.

You might try contacting RibStopByTheRoll and see if they have anything that’s non-calendared/breathable.  They have a live chat option on their web page, so it’s pretty easy to get in touch with the guy who runs the company.

One interesting incarnation of an Alpha mid-layer, aside from Nano-Air, would be Marmot’s IsoTherm jacket.  They use Pertex Quantum on the front and back, but panels of Polartec Power Stretch along the sides and seemingly partway up the insides of the sleeves.

I wonder if it wouldn’t be too difficult to incorporate a similar design into the Kinsman, and Millyardage has several different types of Power Stretch available.

 

 

[Greg Pehrson]

I’ve contacted a few places, and think that Argon 1.6 might be the best option. I know Argon 90 has a really good CFM (~40) but is pretty delicate; haven’t been able to get a CFM for Argon 1.6 yet but have been told it’s very breathable.  Also has a small amount of stretch and a soft “cotton-like” feel. And going up to 1.6 oz/sq. yd seems worthwhile for strength, especially if I can save weight with no liner.

Mill Yardage is sending me sample swatches (of the Alpha); their opinion is that Alpha without a liner could snag easily, but I’ll report back when I get the sample.

[Jeff McWilliams]

Are you evaluating the 4403 and 4004 materials I see online?  On their website it says the stuff should be sandwiched between two layers of Power Shield Pro.  Huh.  Rab’s Alpha Direct jacket uses Polartec Alpha, and it looks like there’s no inner.

http://rab.equipment/us/mens/softshell/alpha-direct-jacket/

But based on the one picture, it looks a bit different compared to the little photos of 4403 and 4004 on the Millyardage.com site.

I talked to Justin at Ripstopbytheroll to see if they had specs on their HyperD fabrics, but they couldn’t get any from the mill.

Keep the group updated on your progress!  I wonder if the 90g Alpha would make a good cool weather climbing and/or trail running jacket with the right breathable fabrics.

 

[Author]

Posts