@theironsnail
Instagram · Speaker address
@theironsnail ALPHA DIRECT! Common Qs from TikTok: - Why not just use a wool sweater? TBH, right there with you — alpha fabric is a thing for drying speed, strength, and cost. A wool sweater at this weight, open knit, etc. wouldn’t be nearly as durable and would be SUPER expensive. - Isn’t this fabric fragile? Oh yes. - So, you can be defeated by wind? Yup! A windproof/resistant layer with this though is the big “level up”. The military version of this fabric is usually just Alpha, not meant for direct contact with skin, so it’s always within a shell. The 3A part of the PCU, typically. - Doesn’t the shell defeat the purpose of the breathable nature? My original thought too, but after researching the true innovation here seems to be reducing the overall amount of layers needed and the breathability of an insulating layer. This seems like a hybrid fleece, down/synthetic layer. A fleece is too warm but pretty breathable, down/synthetic fill by nature need to be pretty sealed to contain the fill, so the natural iteration is a high pile fleece mesh sealed in a far more breathable sandwich? I suppose if you’re outdoors a lot and you wear a lightweight insulating layer and then switch to this — you’d notice it’s a similar weight but far more breathable and thus you can wear it through multiple situations easier. My friend is sending me his 3A so I can test it. I’ll keep you all updated. - Are you enjoying fall, little man? Yes. And don’t call me little man.
