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42-493: Huffer had its origins in the New Zealand professional snowboarding scene in the late 1990s which was then a reasonably small and close-knit community. According to Dunstan, at the time, snowboarders "didn’t want to wear ski overalls because you want to look like a skateboarder on the snow" and there was demand for well-designed, casual clothing that could withstand the elements of New Zealand's freezing alpine conditions. Initially,

84-434: A belt at the waist. Sometimes, the suit has built-in suspenders on the inside for added support. One-piece ski suits are often just made as a shell layer , with the skier adding warm underwear of own choice adapted to the current weather situation. Other suits may be padded for warmth, but when intended for skiing they are still not as insulated as a snowmobile suit . A new style of soft-shell ski suit has become popular in

126-469: A fluorescent yellow Huffer jacket. The item of clothing had been provided to him by Huffer during his 2019 tour of New Zealand but the company had not entered into any promotional arrangement with Malone. Skiwear A ski suit is a suit made to be worn over the rest of the clothes when skiing or snowboarding . Ski suits made for more casual winter wear outdoors may also be called snowsuits and are often used by children as everyday outerwear in

168-417: A hood, may also be called a parka , anorak , down jacket or winter shell . Ski pants, also called salopettes , when part of a two-piece ski suit, are usually made in the same fabric and color as the corresponding ski jacket. It is sometimes in the form of bib-and-brace and the jacket is worn over it. In North America, there are many charity networks providing less fortunate children with snowsuits for

210-399: A negative Poisson's ratio due to the expansion of ePTFE along all directions, contrasting the more expected reduction in the directions perpendicular to the stress in cases with volume conservation. ePTFE has tunable porosity based on the processing conditions and can be made permeable to certain vapors and gases. However, it is impermeable to most liquids, including water, a property that

252-455: Is bonded to a fabric. This membrane had about 9 billion pores per square inch (around 1.4 billion pores per square centimeter). Each pore is approximately 1 ⁄ 20,000 the size of a water droplet, making it impenetrable to liquid water while still allowing the more volatile water vapor molecules to pass through. The outer layer of Gore-Tex fabric is coated on the outside with a Durable Water Repellent (DWR) treatment. The DWR prevents

294-403: Is enabled by the unwinding of PTFE molecules to create large pores within the structure. This favors highly ordered, crystalline PTFE that allows the molecules to disentangle more easily and uniformly when stretched. The porosity is largely determined by the stretching temperature and rate. Changing the stretching rate from 4.8 m/min to 8m/min can increase the porosity from 60.4% to 70.8%. Due to

336-498: Is exploited in certain applications such as raincoats. These additional properties in combination with the inherent properties of PTFE-based materials more generally (chemical inertness, thermal stability) make ePTFE a versatile material for a range of applications. The most common process used to produce large sheets of ePTFE at scale is a tape stretching process through the following steps: Factors such as strain rate, oven temperature, sintering time, and sintering duration can affect

378-471: Is leaking when it is not. Wear and cleaning will reduce the performance of Gore-Tex fabric by wearing away this Durable Water Repellent (DWR) treatment. The DWR can be reinvigorated by tumble drying the garment or ironing on a low setting. Gore requires that all garments made from their material have taping over the seams, to eliminate leaks. Gore's sister product, Windstopper , is similar to Gore-Tex in being windproof and breathable, and it can stretch, but it

420-412: Is nearly inert inside the body. Specifically, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (E-PTFE) can take the form of a fabric-like mesh. Implementing and applying the mesh form in the medical field is a promising type of technological material feature. In addition, the porosity of Gore-Tex permits the body's own tissue to grow through the material, integrating grafted material into the circulation system. Gore-Tex

462-412: Is not waterproof. The Gore naming system does not imply any specific technology or material but instead implies a specific set of performance characteristics. Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene is used in clothing due to its breathability and water protection capabilities. Besides use in rainwear ePTFE can now be found in space suits . Gore-Tex is also used internally in medical applications, because it

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504-487: Is said to have been designed by Italian Olympic skier and fashion designer Emilio Pucci in the late 1940s. Often referred to as race suits or speed suits, these are the suits worn by professional and junior racers at competitions to improve their speed. They are mostly made as one-piece suits. Made mostly of Polyurethane (85-90%) and Polyester (15-10%), these suits can reduce wind resistance by as much as fifty percent. Since wind resistance accounts for ninety five percent of

546-404: Is to keep a person warm while participating in winter sports, especially Nordic (cross-country) or Alpine (down-hill) skiing. It is generally a unisex garment. A ski suit is meant to be worn with a base layer, which consists of long johns and a warm shirt, usually designed for skiing. Ski suits are often made of Gore-Tex or similar materials. They are often in the form of a shell suit, to which

588-534: Is used in a wide variety of medical applications, including sutures, vascular grafts, heart patches, and synthetic knee ligaments, which have saved thousands of lives. In the form of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (E-PTFE), Gore-Tex has been shown to be a reliable synthetic, medical material in treating patients with nasal dorsal interruptions. In more recent observations, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (E-PTFE) has recently been used as membrane implants for glaucoma surgery . Gore-Tex has been used for many years in

630-607: The Federal District Court of Ohio . The District Court held Gore's product and process patents to be invalid after a "bitterly contested case" that "involved over two years of discovery , five weeks of trial, the testimony of 35 witnesses (19 live, 16 by deposition), and over 300 exhibits" (quoting the Federal Circuit). On appeal, however, the Federal Circuit disagreed in the famous case of Gore v. Garlock , reversing

672-448: The 2000s. Considered a smarter and more stylish option, with more stretch, warmth and comfort than hardshell fabrics offer whilst maintaining a high level of water resistance, wind resistance and breathability, these new suits are insulated with a fleece backing, avoiding the bulk of down filled snow suits, but still allowing room for layering. They also tend to be more affordable than hardshell Gore-Tex suits. The first one-piece ski suit

714-476: The Huffer brand has been attributed to its popularity in the snowboarding scenes. The brand was also embraced by the skateboarding scene and other subcultures. In a 2017 interview, the only founder still involved with the business, Steve Dunstan, said that the company had since "evolved from a skate and snowboard brand to a more contemporary lifestyle brand." One of Huffer's designs attained widespread recognition on

756-647: The back of a plug by actor Orlando Bloom who sported it at the 2003 premiere of the New Zealand-made film Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in Wellington. The design riffed on the I Love NY design by substituting the stylized heart with the Huffer separated triskelion design. In 2019, Huffer's brand received additional attention when American rapper Post Malone posted an image of himself on Instagram wearing

798-522: The best mode for using its patent, and the main claim of Gore's product patent was declared invalid in 1990. In 1996, IMPRA was purchased by Bard and Bard was thereby able to reenter the market. After IMPRA's vascular graft patent was issued, Bard sued Gore for infringing it. Gore-Tex is used in products manufactured by many different companies. Gore's patents on ePTFE based fabric expired in 1997 and ePTFE membrane waterproof fabrics have become available from other brands. For his invention, Robert W. Gore

840-528: The company had eight of these stores across locations in New Zealand and an additional three in Australia. The company also had a foray into the United States market, including supplying to Urban Outfitters . Co-founder Daniel Buckley sold his share in the company in 2012. In 2019 he was appointed as chief executive officer of the New Zealand used car dealership chain 2 Cheap Cars . The early success of

882-460: The company knew about the dangers of PFOA/PFAS since the 1990s. Gore-Tex materials are typically based on thermo-mechanically expanded PTFE and other fluoropolymer products. They are used in a wide variety of applications such as high-performance fabrics, medical implants , filter media, insulation for wires and cables, gaskets , and sealants. However, Gore-Tex fabric is best known for its use in protective, yet breathable, rainwear . Before

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924-404: The company's first production runs were directed solely at the snowboarding community but by the end of 1997 the company had expanded its reach into a number of retail clothing stockists and had begun to also target the skateboarding community through lighter-weight summer items. In 1998, Huffer first began producing Kiwiana -themed t-shirts featuring classic local motifs. Within several years

966-409: The conservation of illuminated manuscripts . Explosive sensors have been printed on Gore-Tex clothing leading to the sensitive voltametric detection of nitroaromatic compounds. The "Gore-Tex" brand name was formerly used for industrial and medical products. Gore-Tex has been used since the 1980s to make bagpipe (woodwind instrument) bags as an alternative to bags made of animal hides as it

1008-538: The core technology will continue to be based on PTFE, which is a PFAS compound. Many Gore-Tex products have a durable water repellent coating and the version that do not contain PFCs of environmental concerns are marketed as "Gore PFC EC Free DWR". Unlike the "Gore DWR", it lacks any form of oil repellency. The company intends to replace ePTFE membrane with expanded polyethylene membrane by 2025 in consumer fabrics. The new material, while intended to perform comparably to

1050-532: The existing ePTFE material, will cost more, and require more frequent washing. in 2023, two lawsuits have been filed against Gore on the matter of PFAS related water pollution around its Cecil County, Maryland manufacturing plant and the Maryland Department of the Environment has ordered an investigation and residents in the monitoring area have been offered bottled water. One of the lawsuits alleges that

1092-403: The force stopping skiers from going faster, wearing one of these suits can potentially give you nearly double the speed. They are very tight and form hugging and can take a while to adapt to the body. Olympic athletes can reach over 160 km/h in a race suit, while even a junior racer may struggle to get past 80 km/h without one. Suit costs range from $ 210 for a beginners suit to $ 1,200 for

1134-460: The high work hardening rate of PTFE, ePTFE is significantly stronger than the unstretched material. On a microscopic level, this work hardening corresponds to the increasing crystallinity of PTFE as the fibrils untangle and orient upon the application of an external stress. ePTFE has a strikingly high ultimate tensile strength (50-800 MPa) relative to its full-density counterpart (20-30 MPa) as a result of its high crystallinity. This behavior also yields

1176-443: The introduction of Gore-Tex, the simplest sort of rainwear would consist of a two-layer sandwich, where the outer layer would typically be woven nylon or polyester to provide strength. The inner one would be polyurethane (abbreviated: PU) to provide water resistance, at the cost of breathability. Early Gore-Tex fabric replaced the inner layer of non-breathable PU with a thin, porous fluoropolymer membrane ( Teflon ) coating that

1218-584: The lower court's decision on the ground, as well as others, that Cropper forfeited any superior claim to the invention by virtue of having concealed the process for making ePTFE from the public. As a public patent had not been filed, the new form of the material could not be legally recognised. Gore was thereby established as the legal inventor of ePTFE. Following the Gore v. Garlock decision, Gore sued C. R. Bard for allegedly infringing its patent by making ePTFE vascular grafts. Bard promptly settled and agreed to exit

1260-506: The main outer layer from becoming wet, which would reduce the breathability of the whole fabric. However, the DWR is not responsible for the jacket being waterproof. Without the DWR, the Gore-Tex layer would become soaked, thus preventing any breathability, and the wearer's sweat being produced on the inside would fail to evaporate, leading to dampness there. This might give the appearance that the fabric

1302-508: The market. Gore next sued IMPRA, Inc., a smaller maker of ePTFE vascular grafts, in the federal district court in Arizona. IMPRA had a competing patent application for the ePTFE vascular graft. In a nearly decade-long patent/antitrust battle (1984–1993), IMPRA proved that Gore-Tex was identical to prior art disclosed in a Japanese process patent by duplicating the prior art process and through statistical analysis, and also proved that Gore had withheld

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1344-585: The popularity of these designs had helped grow recognition of the brand and allowed it to gain shelfspace in up-market retailers in Wellington and other larger urban centres across New Zealand. In the mid-2000s, Huffer continued to expand across New Zealand and into Australia including opening a store in Bondi , an area popular with New Zealanders living in Australia. In 2011, the company launched its own-brand retail outlets where only its merchandise would be sold. By 2018,

1386-452: The right conditions for stretching PTFE was a happy accident, born partly of frustration. Instead of slowly stretching the heated material, he applied a sudden, accelerating yank. The solid PTFE unexpectedly stretched about 800%, forming a microporous structure that was about 70% air. It was introduced to the public under the trademark Gore-Tex. Gore promptly applied for and obtained the following patents: Another form of stretched PTFE tape

1428-407: The skier adds more or less warm underwear depending on the weather. Pockets are usually made to be waterproof, so items put in them can stay dry. A one-piece ski suit is sometimes called a "freedom suit". It covers the whole torso, arms and legs. They usually have one or sometimes two zippers down the front of the suit, sometimes additionally closed by a flap with velcro or buttons, and often have

1470-445: The specific properties of the resulting ePTFE sheet which can be tailored to match particular applications. PTFE is a fluoropolymer made using an emulsion polymerization process that utilizes the fluorosurfactant PFOA , a persistent environmental contaminant. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified PFOA as carcinogenic to humans. Gore pledged in 2017 to eliminate PFCs such as PFOA by 2023, although

1512-402: The suits generally worn by Olympic athletes. Ski suits of this kind are not unisex garments due to the need to be skin tight and must be sized properly to be effective. Most athletes wear a base layer beneath their suit, but some may wear only the suit on race days, as the base layer will decrease the efficiency of the suit slightly. A ski jacket covers the arms and torso , sometimes just to

1554-400: The waist while other times reaching down over the buttocks. It can be a separate item or part of a two-piece ski suit together with matching ski pants. From the introduction of ski jackets in the middle to late 1950s through the early 1980s, the dominant style was for a ski jacket to resemble a safari jacket in having a similar belt and shirt-like collar. A similar jacket, especially one with

1596-479: The winter season. Some suits are specifically made for snowboarders but most are used by either skiers or snowboarders regardless of the style. A ski suit can either be one-piece, in the form of a jumpsuit , or two-piece, in the form of a ski jacket and matching trousers, called salopettes or ski pants. A ski suit is made from wind- and water-resistant or waterproof fabric, and has a non-removable liner made of nylon , silk , cotton or taffeta . Its main function

1638-520: The winter. Ski suits and snow suits are a natural part of some sporting events. There are also some events which emphasize the use of the snowsuit as such. At the annual winter outdoor music festival Igloofest in Montreal in Canada, there is a contest for wearers of one-piece suits. Gore-Tex Gore-Tex is W. L. Gore & Associates 's trade name for waterproof, breathable fabric membrane. It

1680-613: Was inducted into the U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2015, Gore was ordered by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals to pay Bard $ 1 billion in damages. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Federal Circuit's decision. ePTFE has a porous microstructure composed of long, narrow fibrils that intersect at nodes. Increasing the processing temperature or increasing the strain rate leads to more homogenous expansion with more spherically symmetric pores and more intersections between fibrils. The formation of ePTFE

1722-568: Was invented in 1969. Gore-Tex blocks liquid water while allowing water vapor to pass through and is designed to be a lightweight, waterproof fabric for all-weather use. It is composed of expanded PTFE (ePTFE), a stretched out form of the PFAS compound polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Gore-Tex was co-invented by Wilbert L. Gore and Gore's son, Robert W. Gore . In 1969, Bob Gore stretched heated rods of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and created expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE). His discovery of

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1764-403: Was produced prior to Gore-Tex in 1966, by John W. Cropper of New Zealand . Cropper had developed and constructed a machine for this use. However, Cropper chose to keep the process of creating expanded PTFE as a closely held trade secret and as such, it had remained unpublished. In the 1970s Garlock, Inc. allegedly infringed Gore's patents by using Cropper's machine and was sued by Gore in

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