No, not used Paramo I'm afraid. I do understand their technology however.
Paramo have a very close link with Nikwax and rely on the Nikwax DWR system to make the garment waterproof without the use of a membrane. Not having a membrane makes their clothing more breathable than Gore Tex or any other membrane based fabric and for those people who are constantly active, like the hill walking brigade, it makes a lot of sense.
However - and there's always a compromise - there are two issues. Firstly the water head on the fabric is not great - fine for dealing with rain but start crawling through the wet stuff or sitting/kneeling down on it and it's going to struggle. It might cope when it's new but as the DWR ages it's going to leak. The Nikwax system requires regular reapplication of their DWR treatment to keep it working well, something a membrane garment does not to keep it waterproof. Personally I would rather have the reliability of a membrane in my garments and know that crawling about and kneeling isn't going to be an issue and I'm not the sort of chap who's disciplined enough to keep up the regular maintenance required to keep them at their best.
DWR is an issue at the moment. DWR (durable water repellancy) is a chemical finish that's applied to the outside of a fabric to make the water bead off. In a membraned garment it is NOT the waterproofing element, it just helps prevent the outer face fabric from wetting out and getting heavy. DWR wears out and can be reapplied by washing or spraying and then heat activating in something like a tumble dryer. Most DWR's used by fabric makers are Flouro based and over the past 15 years they have slowly been watered down by international regulation because of the Flouro content. The original stuff (C8) was great and would last for months at sea. The C4's we are using now have been watered down by about 80% and I'm now lucky to get a week out of a garments before the DRW has had it (this is non stop use at sea). Within a few years we will be at C0 which will be next to useless. Non Flouro based DWR's have no oleophobic properties so garments get contaminated more easily and get much dirtier as a result. The industry has not really found a good solution yet - not one that can be laminated to a membrane and seam taped. We are using much finer yarns for our outers to minimise the absorption and wetting out that will inevitably take place when the DRW is no longer effective - I can't ask a bloke on a race boat to put his foulies in the tumble dryer.
A bit of a meandering answer to the question but hopefully helpful.
