The DUCKSBACK Pullover is Here!

Sleeping Bag Testimonial & Other Thoughts

Hello, I have been wearing your Lamilite boots since mid-September and I am convinced that they are everything you claim them to be. I would like them to continue to perform as they do so how do you recommend cleaning and caring for them. It is tempting to use leather conditioners, saddle soap or the like but I'm betting you have a better suggestion.

I love my Hunter Ultima Thule by the way. It's rather bulky to carry backpacking but worth the effort come bed time!
Thanks for making great stuff!

–Robert

My advice was to use any of the products mentioned, and then shoe polish.

"A businessman cannot force you to buy his product; if he makes a mistake, he suffers the consequences; if he fails, he takes the loss. A bureaucrat forces you to obey his decisions, whether you agree with him or not ... If he makes a mistake you suffer the consequences; if he fails, he passes the loss on to you, in the form of heavier taxes."
–Ayn Rand

Brilliant observation!

DUCKSBACK Pullover

On the website you can see the new DUCKSBACK pullover and pre-order if you want, knowing that I will not be shipping until mid-February of 2017. For those who order early, you will have a choice of either the Lamilite socks in either 8" or 13" height or the shoe dryers. The cost for the pullover is $220.00, which is a delivered price via ground service to your door in the contiguous 48 United States. 

When you receive the pullover, run water over the fabric and you will see what I have seen: water running down the fabric like water running down a duck's back—hence the name. As for its vapor permeability, it will work best if you wear under garments that are themselves vapor permeable. I strongly recommend—for the absolute best results—that the very first layer you wear is the fishnet top. It will allow the entirety of moist vapor coming out of your pores to move quickly away from your skin surface. The fishnet underwear should always be loose fitting. Remember the fishnet material is a barrier separating the surface of your skin from the next layer of fabric; that is its primary purpose: so that the vapor can easily move away from you. All subsequent layers of clothing should also be loose fitting so as not to be constricting of your movements and never coated with anything. This will give the moist vapor the very best chance of moving through all layers (including the Lamilite) and out of the garment—meaning through the DUCKSBACK cloth as well.

If you wear any close knit fabric as a first layer you will restrict the flow of vapor away from your body causing it to condense within the clothing you are wearing. This is a contributing factor as to why people get a chill, retention of moisture. Literally every company that sells under garments that they claim wick away moisture have never actually worn one of those garments when they were sweating. If they did, they would find that their claim is as false as the Gore-Tex claim. The synthetic material that the garment is made from is polyester and polyester does not wick any form of moisture. Natural fibers such as cotton, wool and silk wick all forms of liquid.

If you view the picture of me on my horse associated with the story of me getting lost, after I was found you can readily see the frost on my Fossil Ridge parka. First layer was fishnets, second layer a cotton shirt and third layer the 12 ounce Lamilite of the parka. The exterior shell fabric is Novasuede which is very dense but the heat of my body was actively driving the vapor out of all that I was wearing with ambient air temperatures of -20°F and colder.

Now we readily know that the torso emits moisture through the pores of the human body and this process is not isolated to the torso; as a matter of fact we have pores all over our body which includes our feet. While we quickly feel the chill effect from perspiration cooling on our torso it does not happen so readily with our feet until it is too late. Once our feet get cold the chance of getting them warm without removing our footwear in a warm place like our house is not likely. The reason has to do with blood flow. Now things get even worse for our feet.

Our blood flows through our entire body in one minute. It is bringing warmth to all areas of our body including our extremities such as hands and feet. When our hands and feet are subjected to cold and not protected, the human body senses this and acts to stop the flow of blood to our extremities keeping the warm blood going to our vital organs. This action that the body takes can only be reversed if you enter a warm area such as 70°F. However, while you are out in the field you can do nothing to correct the situation except being put in one of our hypothermia bags or a Wiggy’s bag. Whenever rescue helicopters fly out of Kodiak to people in trouble in the Bering Sea most of the time they put them in the Wiggy’s hypothermia bag that they carry on the helicopters. Recently I was told about a woman hunting in Alaska and her boat turned over. Some other hunters pulled her out of the water and put her in her Wiggy’s bag, it saved her life. I have asked for her to document the experience so I could share it.

The reality is we humans cannot get away from the importance of not stifling the flow of moisture away from our skin surface from all parts of our body. Moisture from our own body in cold conditions is our enemy and as far as I am concerned the clothing sellers serving the outdoor industry just don’t get it and that goes from the fabric suppliers to the retailers and everyone in between who is responsible for these products being sold.

I wonder if companies that are currently selling the wondrous winter jackets that contain fillers called insulation like Thermoballs or any of the primaloft products have happy customers who may have bought these jackets that live in the northern states. From what I have seen they are so slim fitting you can’t get much on under them. I wonder if the people who own or work for these companies are wearing them in sub-freezing temperatures as well since this company is located I believe in Albany , N.Y.

Having a cold torso will also further be detrimental to feet loosing heat because the body wants to keep the blood going too the vital organs and when they start cooling you begin to shiver, the bodies mechanism to get it warm so the extremities now will not get blood flow. Of course these outerwear suppliers strive to make garments that are lighter and lighter, they have a competition I think as to who can make the lightest weight garment with the supposed greatest amount of insulation that doesn’t perform. All in my opinion have successfully made garments that equally do not perform.