Let’s peel back some layers
Fly anglers are inquisitive. Catching fish makes us happy but understanding why makes us happier. You might be happy knowing that our performance jackets will keep you warm and comfortable on the water, but you also might want to learn exactly how our insulation works and why. This will get a little geeky, but we’ll do our best to build context around the jargon.
The 3DeFX+ insulation we use is a big part of what makes our cold weather gear so effective. Designed and built by Japanese advanced materials manufacturer Toray®, it’s the synthetic insulation we use in the Fusion 3/2 Puffy, Fusion Hybrid, Fusion 90 Pant, Fusion Snap Shirt, and RS Outpost Jacket. We could tell you this proprietary concoction of spiral-bound, poly-diametric synthetic fibers balances breathability with high clo-value to optimize thermal retention. But that’s kind of obnoxious and probably not very helpful, so let’s back up.
Insulation traps air. The heat from your body dissipates through your skin. On hot days, you want that heat gone, but when the temperature drops, you’d prefer to hold onto some of that precious warmth your system worked so hard to create. The more air you can hold close to your body, the more effectively you can stay warm. That’s what puffy jackets do, they create a thick buffer between you and the elements. Down is the OG insulator because it’s so fluffy. All those little feather tendrils hold onto air which absorbs your body heat. But if down is the Superman of insulation, water is Kryptonite, and water is pretty essential to fly fishing.
Another weakness of both down and conventional micro-fiber synthetic insulation is what materials geeks call migration. As you wear it, the insulation tends to move around inside the garment (that’s why down coats have baffles) leaving you with too much insulation in some areas and too little in others. Manufacturers using conventional synthetic insulation combat migration with heavy exterior fabrics that hold everything in place. While that keeps your insulation from moving around, it also prevents your jacket from breathing...at all. And that’s a problem.
Have you ever gone skiing on a bitterly cold day and decided to wear a down jacket? On that first lift ride up, you’re comfy, but the exertion of skiing heats you up. After the third or fourth run, you’re sweaty, and sweating in frigid conditions is bad. On the next lift ride, you get very cold very fast. While fly fishing usually doesn’t demand the same level of exertion as skiing, it’s still an active sport, especially if you’re wading or rowing in heavy current, or post holing through deep snow. That’s the benefit of Skwala’s insulation. Because it won’t migrate inside the garment, we’re able to use highly breathable face textiles. That means both the temperature and humidity levels inside your clothing remain stable, even when you lean hard on the sticks to reach that juicy bucket on the far bank, or hike way upstream to the deep bucket where trout stack up in winter.
The other significant, measurable benefit of 3DeFX+ is mobility. This insulation combines four different types of intertwined, spiral shaped fibers that are designed to stretch and then return to their original shape. If you wear Skwala gear or pay attention to what people say about it, you know that mobility is a big focus for us. We use four-way stretch outer fabrics on all our insulated pieces. When paired with insulation that also stretches, you’ll notice a huge difference. When you move your shoulders or bend your elbows, you get less than one third of the constrictive pressure you would feel in a standard insulated garment. That’s a difference you’ll feel on a full day of casting or rowing.
The Skwala “difference” isn’t psychological. We’re not building a reputation on marketing hype. We say our gear is unlike any other fly fishing apparel on the market because it is. We build high-performance, fly fishing specific apparel using cutting edge textiles, and when you wear it, you’ll feel that difference.