Time for a rant. I hate misinformation.
I made and continue to make the best foul weather clothing in the world. I've done it for 35 years and there are not many better qualified than me to talk about it, so here are some facts.
There are two basic types of breathable membrane, microporous and hydrophilic. Microporus are indeed full of holes (pores), like Gore Tex. Hydrophilic move moisture through the membrane by chemical transfer, like Dermizaz - used by Kuiu. There are good and bad microporous and good and bad hydrophilic. Hydrophilic is cheaper to make so the lower end of the market tends to me mainly hydrophilic.
Gore Tex is a bicomponent membrane, expanded PTFE gives the base microporous component and a hydrophobic/oleophobic coating prevents contamination of the pores. Gore Tex is the most durable option on the market today. When I meet with companies like Toray and ask them for a product to match Gore durability for me to test in the Southern Ocean they run for the hills.
However, there are 5 or 6 different grades of Gore Tex. They have three membranes, Gore Tex Infinium, Gore Tex Pro "Most Breathable" and Gore Tex Pro "Most Durable". There is then what you laminate the membrane to in order to give it the protection it needs. Drop liners are the most delicate form and are used as an interlining between an outer fabric and an lining. 2 Layer fabrics have the membrane laminated to an outer shell. This is more durable than a drop liner but there is still no protection against abrasion on the inside of the membrane. 3 Layer fabrics sandwich the membrane between an outer shell and an inner shell, giving it the best protection possible.
You then have the question of what you use as a fabric for an outer shell. You can have a nice quiet knitted shell fabric that is inherently weak, or a nice light weight woven 40 gram shell that is great for walking or biking and keeping the pack weight down. At the other end of the spectrum is a a super durable heavy shell that is built like a brick out house and will not tear or abrade but is heavy and often too noisy for stalking. You choose your laminate depending on the end use...and the price - which is the rub.
Make a shooting garment with a light weight drop liner and take it to the woods, climb over barbed wire fences etc and you're asking for trouble. But it will be a bit cheaper or more profitable if sold at the same retail price. It's the specification the manufacturer decides on that decides the qualities of the garment. Specify it properly and make it properly and Gore Tex will be the best that money can buy - get it wrong and it will fail like anything else.
As for the comments on Chinese manufacturing being of poor quality, it's simply untrue. Why do brands like Arcteryx, Mountain Equipment, Kuiu, Musto, make in China? Because the quality is better than we can now get elsewhere. They sew straighter, cut more accurately and have invested in the technology to make product better and more consistent.
Companies go wrong in China because their systems, controls, specifications and quality inspections are not good enough. You can't nip into the factory and check things every morning any more. The Chinese follow instruction better than anyone else in the world but if you don't specify exactly what you want they will use the quickest and simplest method to get the job done which is often not the best. Companies often go out to save money and do so by allowing the use of local fabrics for trims, zips, linings etc which again is usually a mistake and leads to product failures. Do the job properly and you will get stunning product. Do it badly and your quality will fall off, but it's not the fault of the Chinese, it's the inexperience or greed of the manufacturer that's to blame.
I'm working on a new project at the moment. My first call was to a factory in China. Our specifications are 12 pages long, there are a further 20 odd pattern piece artworks going with each spec and before they even start on the first sample my production manager will spend a week going through every detail with them making sure they understand everything. There will probably be 3 iterations of samples while we fine tune and test the product and when it comes to bulk manufacture we will have someone on site for the whole production run doing QC on site as product goes down the line. No less that we did when we had our own factories in the UK.
Would I buy Harkila today? No. Their choice of Gore Tex membranes is not the most durable and from what I hear they have not made the transition to far east production very well. I now buy Kuiu and Sitka, Kuiu being a very high performance Hydrophilic membrane - the best available from Japan and 3 layer laminated to robust but quiet shells, and Sitka being Gore Tex fabrics being constructed in the same way. Where are both manufactured? China. But they have done it right.
Rant over.
