Sustainable Durable Water Repellants

We use Durable Water Repellants (DWR) in many of our core fabric platforms (Kinetic, Doppler and Momentum) to give them the ability to repel water and stay dry in the rain.

Waterproof vs. Water Repellant

Because they sound similar and are methods of keeping you dry, these terms are often used interchangeably by brands, but there is a key nuance. 

• Waterproof: is about keeping water from going through the fabric

• Water repellant/resistant: is about keeping water off the fabric

With enough rain, though, water-repellant fabrics will become soaked and become wet. 

Why do we need Durable Water Repellant? 

In our outerwear, even if we have a waterproof membrane, the outer fabric can get soaked. When this happens it impedes the breathability of the membrane below. For non-membrane fabrics, small amounts of rain can easily penetrate the fabric and get you wet. 

1) Oil & Water

First, oil and water don't mix because water is polar (has a + / - charge, like a magnet) and oil is not. This is the reason, early methods of keeping clothes dry were through waxing, or oiling canvas to repel the water. 

2) Repelling through the magnetic charge. 

You can turbo-charge this effect by taking advantage of the fact that water is slightly electronegative, basically, the Oxygen molecule dominates the water molecule and has a negative charge. When you have two magnets with their North or South poles facing each other - we know they push themselves apart. This is what happens with Perflourinated (PFC) -DWRs (Below). They work by using the Flourine molecule to push away the Oxygen molecule because they are both negatively charged. 

When you push away the water, it causes water to "bead up", by increasing surface tension. 

The water droplets act like balls and simply roll off the fabric. 

PFC-Free DWR & Sustainability. 

Most garments to-date use PFC/PFAS (Perflourinated Carboxylic Acid) DWR, however, there is growing research that indicates PFCs can affect our endocrine / hormonal system, and so the industry is now moving away from PFCs, relying more on the principle of Oil & Water to keep fabric dry. 

DWR with 8-carbons (C8-DWR) is more durable than 6-carbon DWR, however, it lasts in our water supply much longer. Over the past 12 months, we've been shifting all of our DWRs to C6 and non-PFC, Silicon-based DWRs, which has come to market in our recent Mercury Jacket, and Momentum Chinos, Doppler Mac and Kinetic Jacket.