Here's something that I've always been curious about:
When I look at Ventile, I get the feeling that it's actually quite a loose weave, and only starts to become showerproof once it's saturated. Of course, this is how it works, once wet, the fibres swell, blah blah blah there's a hundred threads on this topic.
On the other hand, when I look at proofed gabardine (Burberry, anyone?) I get the feeling that's it's actually a much tighter weave that Ventile and it's that weave coupled with a good proofing that gives it it's water shedding properties.
In that case, why was Ventile even created? Why didn't the RAF simply make immersion suits from proofed gabardine instead of heckling the Manchester Institute to work with oxford woven cottons?
Yes, this is a slightly useless thread and this forum gets far too many of these, but I think this is probably the first time this particular question has been posed.
Adam
When I look at Ventile, I get the feeling that it's actually quite a loose weave, and only starts to become showerproof once it's saturated. Of course, this is how it works, once wet, the fibres swell, blah blah blah there's a hundred threads on this topic.
On the other hand, when I look at proofed gabardine (Burberry, anyone?) I get the feeling that's it's actually a much tighter weave that Ventile and it's that weave coupled with a good proofing that gives it it's water shedding properties.
In that case, why was Ventile even created? Why didn't the RAF simply make immersion suits from proofed gabardine instead of heckling the Manchester Institute to work with oxford woven cottons?
Yes, this is a slightly useless thread and this forum gets far too many of these, but I think this is probably the first time this particular question has been posed.
Adam