Nanotechnology and Clothing
 

I came across this:


I make no representations about this company--I'm just using it as an example.

Question: Are we in the process of seeing the development of innovative new waterproof clothing for cycling? Or are these kind of products plagued by the usual breathability issues?

This is an odd thread for you.

He was caught in a downpour earlier. ;)

While it looks interesting, I would question it's durability and ability to work when dirty ( it may repel water, but what about dust? ), or after several washings. As long as it is applied only to fabric fibers, breathability should not be affected. Wicking might be affected though.

My kids need shoes like that. Holy hell can they ruin a new pair of shoes quickly.

I watched a minute and a half of the video without sound. It's impressive. I'm curious about the drawbacks, but if it was reasonably priced ( like DWR ) I'd buy some and test it out.

Well, if liquids just fall right off it, wicking would be totally impaired, unless the fibers let water through one direction and not the other. I watch that video and imagine the sweat droplets trickling down my body eventually ending up in my shoes.

Wet diaper.

How would you wash a sweaty jacket?

And what's up with all the blank video? It's like they had all this extra annoying music that they'd bought and they were damned well gonna use it. Why waste it, eh?

And does anybody really wear white tennis shoes?

I have been looking at it as well. You can find it on a fair number of cycling products. The reviews I have read all say the same thing, within a year it is gone leaving you with a big sponge. The search goes on.

Correct. I'm a hypothermia survivor. Although on Wednesday, I probably wouldn't have been wearing rain gear even if I had it.

Girls.

That's an old Marine Corps Drill Instructor trick. They Scotch-Guard the inside of their uniforms so that the sweat never shows through, giving the recruits the impression that they are superhuman. Little do they know that the DI's shoes and socks are soaking wet.

The weave doesn't need to be waterproof as there could be a breathable waterproof layer such as GoreTex below. A regular wicking base layer would allow everything to work properly. But durability and breathability are hard to get in one package. I'd love to test this stuff.

that reminds me of a pair of khakis i had once

i think they were dockers

Do what my parents did when I was little. Make them clean their shoes on the weekends. It'll teach them to treat them with more care :)

Schoeller has been doing neat stuff with textiles for a while now. Schoeller Nanosphere