TERREX Techrock Primeknit Rain.Rdy Anorak is stretch waterproof & breathable, protects like a hardshell but fits like a softshell ! According to our athletes + end-consumer insights, classic waterproof woven garments can sometimes feel stiff & restrictive. The need for soft & supple fabrics is especially mentioned by female consumers. Another athlete/consumer insight, specific to mountaineering activities & female‘s wish, is to avoid bulk or extra volume and look towards more fitted garments, without restricting freedom of movement. Therefore we decided to work with knit, to maximize stretch & softness, by using our Primeknit technology. All Primeknit pieces are cut in grain direction, to optimize stretch according to the movement.Since we are talking about exigent weather conditions, we also decided to combine Primeknit with our highest level of waterproofness & breathability: our Rain.Rdy Pro membrane. After different trials, the 2.5L laminate was offering the most stretch + protection at the same time. After many rounds of lab- and field-testing, we also made sure & proved that our Primeknit Rain.Rdy fabric could sustain exigent mountain terrain, by being extremely resistant to abrasion. To finalize the brief, our athletes gave us the feedback that stretch garments are great, but the pay off is often the weight. Therefore, to balance out the overall product weight, we mixed fabrics & utilized an ultra-light Rain.Rdy 3L woven where stretch is less needed.
As already explained earlier, all our insights come from mountaineers in general, but some appeal most specifically to women:
- soft and supple fabric yet fully waterproof (not having the feeling of a stiff armor when going in the mountains !)
- full stretch, allowing a very athletic fit, which is very functional (no bulk, no extra fabric on the way)
- full stretch allowing also a very flattering fit
Overall, the feedback of all our women testers was very positive. Some of them, used to wear classic waterproof woven garments, mentioned the unique feeling when wearing this outfit in the mountains: „never worn anything like this before“, evocating feelings of protection, femininity and empowerment.
Another important point, very specific to women, is the pocket design and positioning. Eventhough men‘s and women‘s anoraks have the same central pocket design, this positioning is especially appropriate for female body for 2 reasons:
- classic technical jackets tend to feature 2 handpockets + 1 chest pocket. As much as this is easy to accommodate on men‘s body, the women‘s body is shorter (especially if we consider, for example, XS or asian sizing garments) and more curvy
- traditional chest pockets always end up placing belongings right on the chest, which can be uncomfortable and unaesthetic
"What MATERIALS is your product made off? "
Primeknit Rain.Rdy 2.5L (87% nylon/13% elastane) + Woven Rain.Rdy 3L (100% nylon).With sustainability in mind, in an effort to create garment with longer life, we developped and selected nylon materials, which offer better resistance to abrasion. Note that, mainly due to the pandemic, it was not possible to implement recycled versions of the fabrics on time. This is in development for SS23.
"Tell us more about your COMPANY / PRODUCT SUSTAINABILITY... "
COMPANY: Please visit the „SUSTAINABILITY“ section on our corporate website https://www.adidas-group.com/en/sustainability/managing-sustainability/general-approach/
PRODUCT: Garment is „made to last“: it has been designed and engineered to have a long life and be durable. Fabric is proving very good resistance to abrasion, both in field testing and in lab testing (passing 10+ times the martindale adidas standard). Both fabrics have also been developped, on purpose, to be nylon, in order to provide better resistance to abrasion.
"We know there are FUN FACTS and / or a BACKSTORY! Please share!"
Here are 3 fun stories about the creation process of this TERREX Techrock Primeknit Rain.Rdy family:- At the briefing stage, when part of the team came up with the idea of using Primeknit technology, there was quite some resistance in the room. Most of the audience emitted big concern that this wouldn‘t be durable enough to sustain the abrasion requirement of mountaineering activities. Therefore, the first round of prototypes were kicked off with a maximum of woven fabric and few inserts of Primeknit. And after the first round of testing (athletes and field testers), the surprise was huge: most of the damages where happening on the woven fabric and very few damages were on the Primeknit.- When the lab was testing the Primeknit fabric for abrasion, at the Martindale, and after having let the machine run for over 100K rubs, the fabric was still not showing any signs of damage. Lab employees did therefore ask for permission to stop the testing, because the standard had already been exceeded by more than 10 times (and they also probably wanted to shut down the machine and go home !)- During field testing, 2 of our testers went for some winter mixed climbing, one wearing an outfit made of well-known woven waterproof fabric and the second wearing our new Techrock Primeknit outfit. At some point in the route, there was a nasty move with putting the knee in a rock crack. Both climbers climbed it the same way but the first one destroyed his pants, while the Primeknit pants didn‘t even show scratches. This was mainly thanks to the stretch of the material.
