Waterfallproof Mitts

The Waterfallproof Mitts are designed to combat the megastorms of the future, where crazily intense rainfall becomes the norm. Highly waterproof, windproof and breathable, they’re constructed with an advanced three-layer Swiss material from Schoeller, with an intelligent membrane that opens and closes in the heat, and self-drying nanotechnology borrowed from plants. Building the material alone requires a total of 28 separate construction processes.

The outside of the Waterfallproof Mitts mimics one of nature’s most brilliant pieces of engineering – the lotus leaf. Over millions of years the lotus leaf has adapted to life constantly surrounded by water. Although the surface of each leaf looks completely flat, it’s covered with a complex landscape of microscopic bumps which helps it stay clean and dry.

When a water droplet lands on a normal flat surface, it sticks easily and quickly begins to absorb. But when water hits the surface of the lotus leaf, it can only balance on the peaks of the tiny bumps, meaning any movement or a breeze will cause the liquid to simply roll away. The outside layer of the mitts replicates the leaf’s microscale bumps using Schoeller’s nanosphere® technology. The bumps are completely imperceptible to the naked eye, but allow the mitts to resist water, oil and dirt.

The mitts are constructed with two different types of insulation to keep your hands warm – one inside the palm and one on the back of the hand. The palm insulation has been developed by PrimaLoft® to cope with the opening, closing and flexing movements of hands. Built with heat-trapping fibres made entirely out of recycled plastic bottles it goes through a process called needling to make it extremely flexible and compressible, without losing grip or breaking down over time. It’s also lightweight, breathable, and water resistant so it keeps insulating even when wet.

The second type of insulation on the back of the hand is also made by PrimaLoft®. Engineered out of recycled plastic, it’s designed to trap pockets of warm air around your hands while remaining breathable when you work up a sweat. Constructed with two-way stretch it lets you comfortably move your hands around without feeling resistance.

The entire inside of the mitts is lined with an ultrasoft brushed fleece to keep your hands warm and comfortable. We’ve made it not too thick so that you don’t overheat, and it’s made from an innovative biodegradable nylon that insulates at the same time as being breathable.

Palm materials on gloves and mitts are typically made from materials like silicon, which do their job for a while before peeling off. So instead you’ll find the palm of the Waterfallproof Mitts covered in a cutting-edge combination of polyacrylate resin dots, a polyurethane film and adhesive hot melt. It’s so durable that it outperforms some of our hardest-wearing fabrics on abrasion resistance tests, while remaining grippy and highly flexible.

You can cinch the mitts tightly around your wrists to keep cold air out with the heavy-duty Velcro belt. And we’ve used a smooth Velcro with low profile hooks that are more resistant to wear and tear over time.

The issue with creating something crazily waterproof is breathability. The more water can’t come through one way, the harder it is to let it come out the other. A rubber wetsuit for instance would never let any rain through, but if you tried to go for a run in one you might pass out as it won’t let heat or sweat escape efficiently. So the middle layer of the mitts uses Schoeller’s c_change® membrane. Instead of remaining static, the membrane can open and close to respond to different weather conditions as they happen, while remaining permanently waterproof and windproof.

This c_change® membrane mimics natural structures like flowers and pinecones, opening and closing in response to changes in temperature, humidity and sweat. It’s designed to keep you at a consistent temperature by combining really high breathability with heat retention. While it can open up like a series of microscopic vents to let heat escape, in the cold it closes itself like a protective barrier to stop heat leaving. So as soon as the temperature drops, or you stop moving, the membrane contracts to insulate you and retain heat close to the body.

As the air temperature rises, the membrane opens up so that excess sweat and heat can escape through the mitts. But while the membrane’s polymer structure opens up to become extremely permeable to water vapour leaving the body, it remains completely waterproof on the outside. It means that even if you hold the mitts under a downpour in extreme heat, they’ll only ever let water out and not in.