Winter’s arrival is imminent—and Gore-Tex and Mountain Hardwear are making sure skiers everywhere are prepared to pursue the sport, regardless of what the weather may bring.
On Tuesday, Mountain Hardwear said it’s working with Gore-Tex and its tough, technical fabrics for a new collection that brings the textile maker’s C-Knit technology to a range of multilayered jackets, bibs, insulated pants and gloves fit for the mountain slopes.
“The goal was to build a ski collection that not only felt authentic to the Mountain Hardwear brand but was driven by the needs of real users whose lives are built around racking up as many days as possible on the mountain,” Mountain Hardwear’s creative director, Paxton, said in a statement.
“To do this, we reached out to a variety of locals at different mountain towns; conducted interviews; looked through their closets; and got a feel for the way they approached the kits they used for different modes of skiing,” Madison added.
That approach led to the brand’s Fall 2019 Ski assortment, a collection of apparel in both 2-layer (2L) and 3-layer (3L) shell fabrics built with Gore-Tex technology—a throwback to Mountain Hardwear’s first-ever collaboration with Gore-Tex in 1994: the Exposure Jacket. Mountain Hardwear said that the original jacket “represented a fresh new approach to technical shells,” adding that the new collection was the next step in the brand’s commitment to producing “the best products possible in the most sustainable way.”
Related Stories
To support sustainability, the fabric shells used in the Fall 2019 collection are all recycled and solution-dyed and incorporate Gore-Tex and C-Knit.
Each product available in the new line is made with C-Knit, a three-layered fabric that Gore-Tex described as softer, lighter and equally as durable as other 3L products it has produced in the past. According to Gore-Tex, C-Knit is a fusion of three separate layers of material that are waterproof and weatherproof while remaining breathable, allowing its wearer to stay dry without adding extra weight or bulk.
Patent-pending C-Knit is crafted from a “dense, extremely thin circular knit,” Gore-Tex said, that is then purposed as a backing laminate on products like those found in Mountain Hardwear’s.
“From our own consumer and market research, we got feedback and information around what consumers are looking for, seeking and expecting: softer, lighter weight, and more breathable,” Christian Mayer, a product specialist with W.L. Gore & Associates. “The backer simply contributes to optimize the wearing comfort of a garment, gives a different hand and drape to a garment, and allows consumers to not be distracted and stay focused on what they are intending to do.”
The Mountain Hardwear 2019 Fall Ski Collection is available on the brand’s website and through select retail partners for prices ranging up to $550 for the upgraded “High Exposure” ski jacket.