Engineered specifically to meet the demands of the modern free ride skier, Outdoor Research is poised to unveil a new men’s and women’s ski collection featuring a softshell version of Pertex Shield+, a first-to-market fabric technology for Fall 2014.

This unique fabric was designed through a co-development process with Pertex, a leader in performance textiles. Outdoor Research will show the new ski collection, including this innovative new fabric, starting in January at the Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City.

Sofshell Pertex Shield+ will be used in the new Outdoor Research Trickshot collection, which consists of men’s and women’s freeride ski-focused jackets and pants. It melds three key components into one highly functional fabric.

The fabric’s performance starts with a bombproof, soft, quiet nylon/spandex stretch softshell face. The inside layer consists of a grid-fleece backer that provides excellent warmth and wicking.

Sandwiched between those two layers, Pertex’s highest performance waterproof/breathable membrane, Pertex Shield+, provides excellent weather protection while retaining good breathability and moisture management. Finally, all pieces in the collection are fully seam taped to guarantee waterproofness. In this case, the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts.

“Freeride skiers are looking for a wide range of performance attributes in their product. They’re relentless in their pursuit of adventure – they’re looking for versatile apparel that works as well in the skin track as it does on the descent,” said Jordan Wand, Vice President of Product and Marketing at Outdoor Research.

“Our goal in working with Pertex on this innovation project was to create one fabric that could address the diverse array of needs presented by the ski athlete,” Wand said. “This pairing of materials in this fabric really balances all the competing demands of weather protection, warmth, great movement, breathability and moisture transfer to ultimately create apparel that is better, not just new or different.”

Beyond this first-to-market fabric technology, the Trickshot Jacket and Pants meld an uphill-oriented feature set with downhill-focused performance and style. On the uphill, CrossFlo zippers on the jacket and inner and outer thigh vents on the pants allow quick, efficient ventilation, even while wearing a pack.

Outdoor Research worked with athletes to build in a complete skier-focused feature set, including jacket details like a removable powder skirt with LockDown technology that integrates with the pants to seal out snow, an in-pocket goggle wipe with tether, an integrated RECCO reflector, and ThumbDrive wrist closures that integrate with undercuff gloves.

The Trickshot Pants feature an avalanche beacon pocket with clip-in retention, stretch mesh internal gaiter with Power Strap slot, and adjustable tabs at the waist for a perfect fit.

Outdoor Research also uses a variation of this unique fabric, utilizing a soft, wicking tricot backer instead of grid fleece, in the hybrid mapped Trailbreaker Jacket and Pant. Compared with the freeride-focused Trickshot pieces, the men’s and women’s Trailbreaker collections were designed with a pure ski-touring focus in mind.

As a result, Outdoor Research and Pertex developed a version of Pertex Shield+ more suited to high-exertion ski touring. The Trailbreaker collection uses this Pertex Shield+ waterproof fabric in areas more exposed to the elements – shoulders and hood in the jacket, and knees and lower legs in the pants. In more core areas, the Trailbreaker Jacket and Pants map in a highly breathable double-weave softshell without a membrane to allow temperature regulation and moisture management.

About Outdoor Research

Outdoor Research is Designed by Adventure. We provide Innovation and Inspiration for the Relentless Adventurer. Based in Seattle – with in-house manufacturing and prototyping capabilities at our company headquarters – Outdoor Research was founded in 1981 after a failed piece of gear on an Alaskan climbing expedition inspired ideas for a better design.