Páramo

Fabric breathability on its own is not enough – it’s essential to avoid a build up of water in your clothing when you are working hard. Too much moisture in your clothing will lead to sudden and rapid cooling when you stop and rest.

Sweat is produced more at some parts of your body’s surface than others – unless that moisture is spread it can’t evaporate to cool you down. The less efficient your evaporation of sweat is, the more sweat you produce – leading to even greater build up of condensation inside your clothing.

Directional® Fabrics keep you more comfortable and safer because they move both sweat and liquid water to where your body needs it to be:

To the outside of your garment to keep you dry and therefore warm
or
spreading it evenly around your body to keep you cool and prevent it ‘pooling’.

Combine Directional base layers and fleeces with Directional waterproofs and you get a clothing system which lets you control water and air movement to achieve the optimum body temperature whatever the weather and whatever your activity.

Nikwax® Directional Textiles between them provide the four key functions that are important in any outdoor clothing system:

Comfort in the outdoors depends on achieving the right balance between these four functions to suit the weather conditions, your activity level and your physiology.

What it does: Parameta® A is a Directional polyester fabric that wicks very effectively, rapidly spreading perspiration over a large area to provide maximum evaporation to keep you cool at higher temperatures. It also blocks out virtually all damaging UV rays. It makes garments that are ideal for travel and warm weather activities.

Key benefits:

Lightweight and comfortable – you hardly know you’re wearing it.
Exceptional UV protection
Wind resistant
Insect resistant because of dense weave
Antibacterial finish for freshness
Maximum evaporation and cooling through spread of perspiration over a large area
Rapid drying – eliminating cold spots after exercise by reducing ‘pooling’ of perspiration
Ideal when travelling – minimal weight to wear and carry and quick and easy to wash and dry on the move

How it works:

1. Skin surface

2. Parameta® A fabric draws perspiration away from the skin and spreads it rapidly over a large surface area.

3. Moisture spreads and evaporates to ensure maximum cooling

Nikwax Analogy® got its name because of the way it mimics animal fur in providing both insulation and water-shedding which works in all conditions.

In the same way that seals, otters and bears keep warm in very wet conditions, the Nikwax Analogy® Pump Liner pushes liquid outwards to keep you warm and dry inside.

Not only does this give superior waterproof protection from the elements – while both Soft Shell and conventional waterproof breathable fabrics can only cope with around 20% of the sweat you produce when working hard, Nikwax Directionality will pump away all of it.

The special characteristics of Nikwax Analogy result in significant advantages over conventional waterproofs and Soft Shell:

Testing and standards
As well as our in-house laboratory facilities in East Sussex and our panel of very critical gear testers all around the UK, we call upon the independent testing facility at Leeds University, the ‘Rain Room’, to ensure that our stringent standards for the Nikwax Analogy® label are consistently maintained.

Nikwax Analogy Pump Liner - the Directional liner that transfers liquid water from one face to the other.
Minimum static water transfer face to face	300gms per hour
Maximum water content after 30 minutes static draining	20%