Why is a membrane needed?

After publishing an article based on an interview with me, there were many questions in the comments, one of them about the membrane: why don’t we use it in our winter jackets. I decided to write in more detail about the membrane, because in my opinion, this is a material that everyone knows about, but few people understand what it is and why it is needed. So: why don't we use membrane in our winter jackets? In short, it is not needed in winter clothes. We don’t sew clothes for sports or other physical activities, so there is no practical point in them.

What is a membrane anyway? This is a synthetic film that can be applied to any fabric. It allows some substances to pass through and retains others. The purpose of the membrane on the fabric is to allow moisture to pass through from inside the jacket and not to pass through from the outside. In other words, if you wear a jacket with a membrane, you will not get wet in the rain, and the moisture that accumulates under clothing during physical activity can be removed through the fabric. However, you need to understand that a membrane, even the best one, is a barrier. If you go in good weather in a jacket with a membrane, and then in a jacket made of the same fabric, but without a membrane, it will be more comfortable in a jacket without a membrane, because moisture from the body will evaporate better, the membrane will prevent the rapid evaporation of moisture. But in the rain, a jacket with a membrane fabric is, of course, preferable.

When it comes to winter clothing, fabric with a membrane makes little to no sense. In winter there is no heavy rain, and wet and regular snow will be stopped by ordinary impregnated fabric. In addition, moisture from the body will evaporate better in a jacket made of regular fabric, so in winter it will be more comfortable in a jacket without a membrane.

Here we need to say a few words about the membrane itself.

The membrane was invented in the late 1970s by Gore, and is now known as Gore-Tex. A few years ago I contacted them to find out who I could buy their membrane fabric from in Russia. They told me that you can’t just go and start buying fabric with a membrane from them, you need to go through many checks, meet certain requirements, and only then will they sell you the fabric. So I realized that ninety percent of GORE-TEX on our market is just a fake. There are good membranes from other manufacturers, but they are very expensive. I believed, even before 2022, that a windbreaker made of impregnated polyester cost me 5,000 rubles in retail, and one made of high-quality fabric with a membrane would cost 15,000 rubles – this is much more expensive. Most membranes on our market are, to simplify, a polyethylene film that is glued to fabric. It, of course, does not allow moisture to pass through, but it does not “breathe” at all.

In general, if you do everything correctly with a membrane, such clothing will be expensive, but its advantage in everyday life over high-quality fabric without a membrane is minimal. Therefore, there is no practical sense in making winter jackets from it yet.