Material features

The clothes on our website almost always feature all kinds of material characteristics. These should make it easier for you to find the garment you want. However, it is necessary to have a good understanding of what is meant by each of these characteristics. To ensure this, we list all these features and their meaning on this page.

Breathable

Materials we label as breathable have high breathability. By this we mean that the material used is able to move heat and perspiration away from your body to the outside. With poor breathability, this movement is blocked or made very difficult, which can make you clammy or wet from the inside. We look at this important property of materials in much more detail in our blog on breathability.

When an item on our website is called breathable, this is always relative to the category it belongs to. What exactly do we mean by this? A hardshell jacket may have excellent breathability, but it will not be as good as that of a softshell jacket, for example. This is because a softshell jacket normally always breathes better than a hardshell jacket. In turn, a fleece jacket almost always breathes better than a softshell jacket. So when we state that a hardshell jacket is breathable, we don't mean that it breathes as well as a fleece jacket. What we mean is that it breathes well for a hardshell jacket.

Elastic

Material labelled as elastic has the ability to stretch and then return to its original shape. It is very stretchy and ‘stretchy’. Elastic fabrics are often partly made of elastane. Elastic fabrics are often used in fleece vests, softshells and thermal clothing because of their ability to adapt to the shape and movements of your body.

Odor neutralizing

The term odour-neutralising refers to the property of a particular fabric to reduce or eliminate odours. This can be because, for example, an anti-bacterial effect emanates from the material. Wool is a good example of this. Bacteria hardly have a chance to attach themselves to the wool fibres, preventing the development of odours.

Insulated

Material is insulating when it is able to retain heat and protect your body from cold ambient temperatures. This is usually achieved by using materials that have good insulating properties, such as wool, down, synthetic insulating materials or a combination of these. Insulating clothing can also trap air between layers of fabric, retaining heat and keeping out the cold. You can read more about insulation in our blog on common insulating materials such as down, wool and synthetic materials.

Abrasion-resistant

Abrasion-resistant materials are materials that are relatively resistant to abrasion. By wear and tear, we mean the gradual process of damaging or reducing material due to friction, abrasion or repeated use. Wear-resistant fabrics are designed to be durable and last longer, even under conditions where they are exposed to intense friction or contact with rough surfaces. A good example for a product that needs to be abrasion-resistant is a trekking jacket. Especially at the shoulders, there is constant friction from a fairly heavy backpack.

Quick drying

The word clearly indicates it. Materials called fast-drying dry quickly. Examples of such materials are polyamide, polyester and lyocell.

UV-protection

Every material offers some protection from UV radiation. However, synthetic fabrics such as elastane, polyamide and polyester offer more protection than natural materials. UV protection is even better if fabrics are specially treated with certain dyes or UV filters.

Cooling

Even the term cooling already clearly defines what it stands for. This is because fabrics that we describe as cooling have a cooling effect. An example of such a fabric is lyocell or linen.

Moisture regulating

Moisture-regulating materials are excellent at wicking moisture away from the body and dispersing it across the surface of the fabric, allowing it to evaporate quickly. This helps to keep the body dry and comfortable during strenuous physical activities or in hot weather. Garments with high moisture-wicking properties are usually made of breathable materials such as polyester, polyamide or merino wool.

Water resistant & Waterproof

There is often some confusion around the terms water-resistant and waterproof. Quite simply, water-resistant refers to a little protection against water, while waterproof can be translated to a lot of protection against water. However, these definitions do not cover the full picture. Therefore, we would also like to refer you to our blog on water-resistant, waterproof and water-repellent, where we explain to you the subtle but very important differences between these terms.

Wind resistant & Windproof

There is slightly less confusion around the terms windproof and windproof, but this is probably mainly because the term windproof is not used as much and we tend to be slightly less concerned with wind protection. We use more or less the same simplified logic for the difference between the two terms as we do for protection against water. Wind-resistant fabrics block the wind to a (large) extent, while windproof materials do so completely.