Rab Lab – Isolation
mountaingroup
INSULATION
Keeping you warm and comfortable in hostile conditions is the foundation of our brand.
So how do we do it? What do we use? How does it work and why should you pay attention to the insulation of your equipment?
Keeping you warm and comfortable in hostile conditions is the foundation of our brand.
So how do we do it? What do we use? How does it work and why should you pay attention to the insulation of your equipment?
What is insulation and how does it work?
We use two types of materials in our gear to insulate you from the cold: duck or goose down and artificial synthetic fibers.
Both work the same way by trapping air within their structures. The down or synthetic fibers themselves don't keep you warm, it's about their ability to effectively trap air and keep it stable.
You'll find that air acts as an insulator in all sorts of places… In the walls of your home, in your mattress or even in your take-away coffee cup. Insulated gear usually uses down or synthetic insulation, although some products may use both in their construction.
Down and Synthetic
Insulated gear uses down or synthetic insulation, although some use both in their design.
Down are the fluffy clusters found beneath the tougher outer feathers of ducks and geese. If it's good enough to keep them warm, then it's good enough for us. the down?
When people talk about down, they often refer to it as feathers. However, feathers are only a very small proportion of the insulation. We use much more down than feathers in our gear.
What's good about down?
Down is made of very fine fibers that provide the lightest and most efficient medium for trapping and holding air in place.
This trapped air provides an incredibly efficient thermal barrier. Its performance is unrivalled by any other natural or synthetic equivalent. Individual down clusters expand (or loft) to fill an area that is vast in relation to their size. The volume of down is almost entirely made up of trapped air, so any down-filled gear remains incredibly light and compressible.
Down Cluster Ratio
This is the amount of feather and down mixture found in your down clothing.
The higher the ratio, the more down the item contains.
For our duck down equipment, we have a cluster ratio of 80:20, where there is a maximum of 20% feather content. For our goose down items, this ratio changes to 90:10, where the minimum down content is 90%.
The higher the percentage of down, the better warmth-to-weight.
Down and Underneath
Fill Power Explained
What is hydrophobic down?
Rab and Nikwax Hydrophobic Down Test
Responsible Down Standard
The Responsible Down Standard independently certifies down against animal welfare requirements and tracks it from source to final product.
The Synthetic Details
Synthetic insulation is completely man-made. It is usually created from polyester to form either sheets of wadding or lofted (blown) structures that behave much like down.
Filaments of varying sizes are entangled together to create air pockets that insulate you from the cold.
What’s good about synthetic insulation?
Synthetic insulation is strong and resilient. It’s lightweight, fast-drying, and remains effective in damp conditions. Synthetic sheet insulation can be especially helpful for gear used in stop-start activities or fast ascents because it can be used with highly breathable fabrics. It’s designed to respond to your output, insulating or breathing to regulate your temperature in a wide range of conditions.
How is synthetic insulation made?
Generally, sheet insulation is a non-woven material. It’s produced using polyester fibres, which are entangled to form a 3D net-like structure. This structure is held in place by binder fibres that are heat activated (melted) so they bond at points where fibres cross to hold them in place.
Explore PrimaLoft®
We use a variety of different types of PrimaLoft® synthetic insulation in our products. Some of them mimic down’s structure in a featherless package, others are made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic.
Discover how it works to keep you warm:
Down Vs Synthetic
While both down and synthetic insulation share many of the same properties, there are certain situations where one outperforms the other.
