Tags: Hill People Gear
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This is a fabulous video, literally loaded with info. It’s a must view for anyone serious about outdoor clothing. Thanks for the link
Solid knowledge bombs, especially the fur collar edging, first time I’ve heard that explained after years of seeing it as a fashion option. Cotton being quick drying is a surprise one on me though I must admit, not what I’ve found, but I’m presuming the implication was “by comparison to..”.
There’s a fair amount of nuance to that question. Most synthetics don’t actually hold moisture in the fiber itself so tend to dry very quickly. Cotton dries much quicker than wool of course. But a lot of people’s reference for cotton is blue jeans or a jersey sweatshirt or even the classic t shirt. In those cases, you’re talking about relatively thick fabric that holds A LOT of water to start with.
Understood, that’s what I was thinking. I’ve spent some time in denim that got saturated, wasn’t a nice time.
Excellent vid…the brothers always dropping that knowledge…
There is no fibers or yarns used in traditional knit base layers that perform as well as wool in terms of temperature regulation. No synthetic is anywhere close to it’s performance. Moisture also sits on the inside of the yarn, rather than on the outside as it does with synthetics, which is why wool stays wet- but this also makes it better than other options since it doesn’t cause evaporative cooling to the same degree as other fibers and yarns because there is very little actual moisture that touches your skin.
But there is some great info in here, thanks for making it.
Part of the issue with wool vs. synthetic is where the moisture is held while it is evaporating (or not evaporating in the case of wool). Next to the skin or wicked to the outside of the fabric. We bought into the wool baselayer hype you outline above and used several of the top brands exclusively for 2 years. On the cold winter day I went back to synthetic (not even a high end synthetic) on a whim, I discovered that the emperor had no clothing. Why be cold in wool when you can be warm in synthetic? Wool baselayers were the reference standard for decades and I really wanted them to work for nostalgia’s sake. That notion didn’t hold up to field experience.
One thing I forgot to mention in the video — for cold (winter) weight baselayers, there is a use of wool that I’ve found to work well. If you wear a lightweight synthetic baselayer next to your skin and then a lightweight wool baselayer over that, it gets the moisture quickly off of your skin and then buffers the evaporation in the wool layer. I don’t think it works quite as well as the thin fleece layer next to the skin I discuss in the video, but it does work nicely.
It also helps when there is an no-melt, no-drip requirement for the wearer. I’m a fan of synthetics myself. If you ever get a chance to get a hold of a copy, the PCU system came with a great DVD on layering.
I didn’t have time to watch all your video, but what I saw was very informative.
There is no question that wool works the best when you combine it with other fibers, to the point where you almost remove the negative features (at least negative in the winter). Layering as you described also works, and layers are always better than a single heavy option.
“Lothar…… of the Hill People”
The fur ruff was on the M 65 Parka hood. It was also a “snap on” accessory for the second gen Gore-Tex parka and the USMC Gore-Tex parka. I wore it and it was fantastic for pre-warming the air in cold conditions.