Membranes

In our range of rain and hardshell clothing, you will find various types of membranes. On this page, we will go through almost all of them. These can be membranes from manufacturers that are fully specialised in this field (such as Dermizax and Gore-Tex) or membranes developed "in-house" by clothing brands themselves. This overview is an ambitious project, as not all manufacturers are always clear about their membranes or other fabric technologies. It is a complicated world full of woolly language. Also, while some manufacturers use test data (think water column, for instance), others do not. Of course, this makes comparison quite difficult. In addition, don't get blinded by that possibly available data either, because there are some things to be said about the reliability and representativeness of all these tests. Read more about this in our blog on waterproof membranes in clothing. In this blog, we also explain what membranes are in the first place, the different types you might encounter and how exactly they work.

Berghaus

Hydroshell is a waterproof and breathable membrane developed by clothing brand Berghaus. Read more on our page about Berghaus.

Black Diamond

BD.dry is the main asset in Black Diamond arsenal to keep precipitation out while remaining breathable. The other components are waterproof zips, taped seams and storm hoodies. Black Diamond uses BD.dry in both a 2.5-layer and 3-layer construction, both coated with DWR. Black Diamond clothing equipped with the BD.dry membrane is not only waterproof, windproof and breathable, but also elastic

Fjallraven

Fjällräven has also developed a number of "in-house" solutions for making waterproof and breathable clothing. Eco-Shell is het eigen membraan van het Zweedse merk en Hydratic is the Swedish brand's own membrane and Hydratic is a collective name for several solutions. Read more about this on Fjällräven's page.

Gore-Tex

Gore-Texis such a big and dominant player in the world of membranes that we have dedicated a full page to it. In it, we explain exactly what Gore-Tex is and delve deeper into the US company's various membranes: Gore-Tex, Gore-Tex Active, Gore-Tex Infinium, Gore-Tex ePE, Gore-Tex Paclite, Gore-Tex Performance, Gore-Tex Pro, Gore-Tex ShakeDry en Gore-Tex Labs Windstopper.

Hestra

CZone is the membrane developed by Hestra itself and used in part of their glove range. The membrane is both waterproof and breathable.

Jack Wolfskin

The membranes Jack Wolfskin uses for its waterproof clothing are developed by the German company itself. They do this under the name Texapore. For more information on Texapore Core, Texapore Pro or the Ecosphere variants of Texapore, read our page on Jack Wolfskin.

Leki

Soft-Tex is a membrane developed by Leki itself, which is used in much of its own glove range. The membrane is both breathable and waterproof.

Mammut

The DRY Active, DRY Expedition and the DRY Tour are membranes developed by Mammut itself, which the brand uses in some of its rain and hardshell clothing. Read more about these membranes on our information page about Swiss-based Mammut.

Marmot

NanoPro is the name given by Marmot for their self-made membrane material. More information can be found on the page of Marmot.

Patagonia

H2No Performance Standard is a term associated with Patagonia. It is not so much a specific technique or material. The label is given by Patagonia to the part of its rain and hardshell clothing that contains a waterproof and breathable membrane developed by Patagonia. For more information on the H2No Performance Standard, read our page on Patagonia.

Pertex

Pertex is a manufacturer of an awful lot of different clothing technologies. To these technologies, including the versatile Pertex Shield and the extremely breathable Pertex Shield Air membrane, we have therefore dedicated a full page.

Schöller

C-Change is a membrane from Schöller Textiles AG. Apart from this membrane, the Swiss company produces many other fabrics for the outdoor industry. We have therefore dedicated a full page to some of Schöller's interesting technologies.

Spyder

EXO Shield is a fabric technology, part of Spyder's EXO Technology. It includes a membrane designed by them. Read more about it on our full Spyder dedicated page.

Sympatex

Sympatex is the collective name of high-quality membranes from German company SympaTex Technologies GmbH. However, Sympatex was founded in the Netherlands in 1986 by Akzo Nobel. Sympatex's headquarters have always been in Germany, though. In 2003, it finally came into German hands when Ploucquet Textiles took over. It retained the name SympaTex Technologies GmbH. Sympatex is a combination of the two words "Sympathetic" and "Textile". Unlike Gore-Tex, it is a nonporeus membraan, made of polyester and therefore 100% recyclable. Sympatex membranes are of course also breathable, waterproof and windproof and function more or less in the same way as Dermizax. You can find Sympatex in shoes, clothing and gloves.

Ternua

Shelltec is a membrane developed by Ternua itself and used in part of its own clothing range. The membrane is both waterproof and breathable. The Shelltec Active Flex is a variant of this. It has more elastic properties than the original.

Toray

Dermizax from Japan's Toray Industries is a major player in the world of membranes. As a nonporous membrane, it is an excellent alternative to the microporous membranes of Gore-Tex, for example. We have therefore also written a separate page about Dermizax. There you will also find more information on the company's different membranes: Dermizax (sometimes called Dermizax DT), Dermizax EV and Dermizax NX.