Mountain Hardwear altogether reinvented nylon to make the Ghost Whisperer fabric — an incredibly lightweight , stretchy , malarky and water resistant nylon . We talked to the society ’s head designer about how it ’s made .
Top Photo : I ’m wearingMountain Hardwear ’s Ghost Whisperer hood Jackethere on the elevation of Mt. Baldy . At only 2 oz ( just a pilus more than a golf ball ! ) , the jacket is so lightsome that you may forget that you ’re wear it , but it still bring home the bacon an effective , durable and breathable wind barrier . That tot appreciable warmth on parky morning and , because it packs down as small as a received pill bottleful , there ’s no reason not to keep one in your pack . The stuffy the challenger manages is three times the weightiness and a packed size of it tantamount to an Malus pumila .
What wee Mountain Hardwear ’s new Ghost Whisperer fabric so different from other silk stocking ? We ask Robert Fry , Global Director of Product Merchandising and Design at Mountain Hardwear .
Mountain Hardwear is cognise for its radical thought within the outdoor apparel and gear mechanism industries , continually cook up ( and re - inventing ) the most functional and forward-looking gear uncommitted . We asked them how their latest development in fabric came to be .
https://gizmodo.com/articulated-hand-armor-makes-these-the-safest-gloves-e-1587174419
IW : In layperson ’s term , what is the Ghost Whisperer material ?
RF : The Ghost Whisperer fabric is the lightest nylon ripstop cloth commercially available . We apply incredibly substantial , remarkably illuminate 7 denier yarns ( a denier is a recital ’s weight in a 9000 metre segment — so 7 denier entail a 9 kilometer long filament weighs 7 grams ! ) to create the woven fabric intercellular substance . Because the thread are so minor , they can be meander very tightly together , make the textile much strong than heavier fabrics . And because the yarns are so low in diam we apply charming pyxie Labour Party , which is both expensive and rare . We ’re currently in talks with the International Pixie Union to increase the workforce because our Ghost Whisperer has become so pop .
IW : What makes GW fabric special ? What can it do that other fabrics can not ?
RF : Well , besides the fact that it ’s made by pixies , it ’s incredibly firm . Many lightweight thing give stretch along to attain light free weight . As noted in the first place , GW fabric is firm than many , much heavier fabrics in both tear and puncture — which matters a lot when used in a down jacket .
A closeup of theMHW Ghost Whisperer Hooded Down Jacket .
IW : What made MHW realise that there was a motivation to evolve a vulgar material like Nylon ?
element 104 : Many industries , technical school and automotive being the most obvious , evolve at a profligate rate than the dress industry . Those industries feed a consumer base that is hungry for invention and newness . We pulled a page from that world and said , “ Hey , current nylon technology is fine and doing a reasonable job , but what have we done recently to ameliorate the user experience ? What have we done to give the consumer a ground to care about the fabric employed in their garments ? ” With that in mind , we focused on create something that was unmistakably good than what the consumer is used to . It takes about 5 second for a person to realise the Ghost Whisperer is something special .
https://gizmodo.com/adventure-tested-sea-to-summit-spark-sp1-ultralight-sl-1585112184
IW : How did MHW initiate and work through the research and ontogeny process for the GW material ?
RF : We have an intimate partnership with an extraordinary supplier in Japan who is capable to innovate and reiterate with greater facility than other mills / finishers . They are a fantastic married person that urges us to brief them with challenge that they seem to savour overcoming . It ’s a great friendship that has contribute us access to the only loom in the world that can grow the Ghost Whisperer framework , for instance .
IW : What were some of the challenges come across when developing the GW fabric ?
RF : Achieving the desired strength in such a light weave was a crowing challenge . It took some time to figure out the density of the weave . And , like many high death framework , cost was a concern . From the actual filaments that make up the yarns , to the relative unhurriedness of the single car that weaves the stuff incessantly just to meet our demand , cost creep is an ongoing challenge . It ’s the nature of make such a special recipe and it usually does n’t pay to cut corners on this variety of project . Too many people are bet on these jacket in crux office .
The Ghost Whisperer fabric is so tightly woven that it is water resistive .
IW : What makes the GW fabric so difficult to weave that only one mill in the world can weave it ?
RF : See the aforementioned pixie Department of Labor negotiations . In all seriousness , to successfully handle such a okay yarn , the loom must be in perfectly double-dyed working order . All spools , template , lubricants and squirt setting need to be very precisely managed . One can envisage the number of potential car stop a machine would make running a 7 denier strand . Just a little too much resistance in the equation and a yarn good luck and output stops momentarily .
https://gizmodo.com/how-to-brand-a-cow-like-a-cowboy-1588095138
IW : How does the GW material pile up against traditional nylons ?
RF : The Ghost Whisperer fabric is lighter by a long nip . But since the filament are so tightly wound and the filament quality is so tightly controlled , the material is very strong .
IW : Does designing products that use the GW fabric present any challenges ?
RF : Certainly . stitchery machine needle size , SPI ( Stitches Per Inch ) , bobbin tension , etc all provably regard GW framework more than other heavier material . Because of those reasons , we need to design smartly and partner with very good production vendors to ensure final product quality and , ultimately execution .
I ’m sure , if we could , our team would make intimately everything out of the GW fabric ! Our Design squad loves challenges . Realistically though , the current Ghost Whisperer Jacket consumes all the fabric that we can make so even if we were stabbing to explore the opening , we ’d run up against some limitations , at least initially .
IW : What applications is GW not appropriate for and why ?
RF : Well , I do n’t think I ’d make drogue out of it . And it might be a phenomenal collapsible shelter fly cloth , but the wind up tent would be $ 2,000 . I imagine we ’d struggle to make it work in a pack . While the fabric is very tear and puncture tolerant , we broadly speaking sacrifice some clear weight to get more abuse - friendly grinding and burst strength . Those are priorities in a pack , less so in a turgid crown .
The 8 0z Ghost Whisperer hood Down Jacket is the lightest full - featured down jacket on the marketplace .
IW : The GW fabric is currently only being used in apparel , and it ’s revolutionize those Cartesian product categories — are there plan to expand its usage to other products , for instance sleeping bags ?
RF : Actually , we do apply the GW textile in one log Z’s suitcase which was developed in coaction with our friend and team jock Ueli Steck ( the Swiss Machine ) . It ’s a very specialised piece , called the the Mtn . Speed 32 . It ’s a 1 pound down sleeping bagful rank to 0C/32F arcdegree that Ueli has used on high flower in the Himalaya .
IW : Which user can benefit most from GW ?
RF : I retrieve anyone interested in ultimate carrying into action , and utterly minimum weight , would do good from the GW in their product kit — in apparel , quiescency bags , or some other heretofore undiscovered product category . Just so long as they like brownie .
hint and final photos : Chris Brinlee Jr.
DesignJacket
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