Bad weather has a way of finding the gaps in your gear. GORE-TEX® solved that problem back in the 1970s, and outdoor brands have built around the same idea ever since. It shows up on labels from rain shells to serious mountaineering kit and now on trainers, boots, and trousers too. But what actually is GORE-TEX®? How is it made, and where did it come from?
What is GORE-TEX?
GORE-TEX® is a membrane, not a fabric. Manufacturers bond it to the inside of a jacket's outer layer. Its one job: block liquid water, release water vapour.
The membrane is made from expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, or ePTFE, and it's packed with roughly nine billion pores per square inch. Each pore is 20,000 times smaller than a raindrop, so rain simply can't get through. Each pore is also 700 times larger than a molecule of water vapour, so sweat escapes with ease.
That gap between two numbers is the entire trick. Rain stays out. Sweat gets out. That's what "waterproof and breathable" actually means.
GORE-TEX traces back to W. L. Gore and Associates, founded by Bill and Vieve Gore in Delaware in 1958. Their son, Bob Gore, was experimenting with PTFE, the same base material used in non-stick pans, trying to stretch it into thin tubing.
In 1969, he tried something different. Instead of stretching a heated rod slowly, he yanked it fast. It should have snapped. It didn't. It expanded into a strong, porous structure instead, and that accident became ePTFE, the membrane behind every Gore-Tex product since. Gore patented the process and spent the 1970s developing it for outdoor clothing, jackets first. GORE TEX jackets hit the wider market by the early 1980s. Footwear followed once the membrane had already proved itself on the hill.
Over fifty years later, that same basic structure still sits at the heart of every Gore-Tex product, even though everything built around it has moved on.
The membrane wasn't the only innovation, either. In 1979, Gore introduced its own seam-sealing tape, branded GORE-SEAM, which turned taped seams into the standard the whole industry still follows. A decade later, Gore backed its products with a "Guaranteed to Keep You Dry" promise, putting its own name behind every jacket, boot, or pair of trousers built with the membrane.
Rated in Numbers
Waterproofing is measured with a hydrostatic head test: how many millimetres of water a fabric column can hold before it leaks. GORE TEX jackets typically sit somewhere between 5,000mm and 45,000mm, often written as 5K to 45K. Higher means tougher conditions handled before water forces its way through.
Breathability gets its own number, measured in grams of water vapour that pass through a square metre of fabric in 24 hours. Most GORE-TEX® builds fall between 5,000g and 20,000g or more. The higher the figure, the faster sweat clears out during hard exercise, which matters most to anyone working up a real sweat on a climb or a long run.
Windproofing, Too
GORE-TEX® blocks wind as well as rain, measured in CFM: cubic feet of air that pass through the fabric per minute. Lower means better windproofing. A garment needs a reading of 1 CFM, or under to count as properly windproof, and most high-performance GORE-TEX® builds land somewhere between 5 and 10 CFM. Compare that to an ordinary fleece, which typically lets wind through at around 60 CFM, and the difference is obvious the moment you step out into a gale.
How GORE-TEX is Made
A GORE TEX jacket is built from layers, and the number of layers determines both the price and the performance. Four builds cover almost everything on the market today.
2-Layer Construction: The membrane bonds to the outer fabric. A separate lining hangs loose inside the jacket. Cheaper to make, and fine for everyday use in town or on short walks.
3-Layer Construction: The membrane sits sandwiched between the outer fabric and a thin inner lining, all bonded into one piece. Tougher, faster-drying, and the standard choice behind most hiking and mountain jackets.
GORE-TEX® Paclite: A lightweight build, technically a 2.5-layer construction. It swaps the inner lining for a printed protective layer instead, so it counts as "half a layer" lighter than a full three-layer build. Packs down small, built for hikers and travellers chasing low weight over raw toughness.
GORE-TEX® Pro: The toughest build in the range, always built to a full three-layer construction using tougher face fabrics than a standard three-layer jacket. Made for mountaineering, ski touring, and long days in brutal weather. Heavier than the rest, but built to survive conditions that would wreck anything else. This is the construction behind most GORE TEX Pro jacket options on the market.
One more spec worth knowing: denier. It measures how thick the threads in the outer fabric are, often written as a number like 30D or 70D. A higher denier means a tougher, heavier outer layer, more resistant to snags and abrasion. It's a separate rating from the membrane itself, but it decides how long the outer fabric survives rough treatment, regardless of which GORE TEX build sits underneath it.
The UK sees rain on 150 to 200 days a year, depending on the region, according to the Met Office. No wonder a decent waterproof jacket tops most British hikers' kit lists.
Why GORE-TEX Works
Blocks Rain
Nine billion microscopic pores, and not one lets water through.
Rain hits the surface and goes nowhere.
Vents Sweat
Vapour molecules slip out before sweat ever builds up.
Heat clears as fast as it forms.
Lasts for Years
Tucked between other layers, the membrane never takes the hit.
Care for it right, and it keeps working season after season.
Works in All Conditions
One membrane, every activity: hillwalking, running, commuting.
Only the fabric around it changes to match the job.
Which Brands Use GORE-TEX?
As mentioned above, GORE-TEX isn't a brand of jacket by itself. It's a membrane that outdoor brands buy and build into their own products, then mark with a small GORE-TEX tag to show the technology inside. You'll find it across a wide spread of the market, including:
Each brand cuts the fabric differently, adds its own pockets and hood design, and sets its own price. What stays constant across all of them is the membrane doing the waterproofing work underneath. A North Face GORE TEX jacket, for example, tends to lean toward everyday styling as much as hill use, while jackets with GORE TEX from Arc'teryx usually aim at harder mountain conditions.
Discover our GORE-TEX Collection
Jackets are the main event. That's where the technology started, where most of the testing happens, and where the widest range is found, for both men and women. Everything else on this list borrows the same idea and shrinks it to fit a shoe, a boot, or a pair of trousers.
Men's Jackets
GORE TEX waterproof jackets build the membrane into the outer shell itself, using the two-layer, three-layer, or Paclite construction covered earlier, with every seam taped from the inside. A standard waterproof jacket usually relies on a sprayed-on coating instead, which sheds light rain well enough at first but wears thin with washing and everyday wear.
Women's Jackets
The build is identical; the membrane does exactly the same job, and only the cut and styling change to suit a women's fit. A GORE TEX jacket built for women handles the same rain, the same sweat, and the same seasons as the men's equivalent, so the choice between builds still comes down to activity and conditions rather than gender.
Walking & Hiking Boots
GORE TEX walking bootspair the membrane with a tougher outer material, built for rock, bog, and standing water rather than short spells of rain. A standard leather boot holds off light rain for a while through wax or oil treatment, but that fades with wear and needs topping up. A GORE TEX boot keeps its waterproof layer sealed inside the boot itself, so performance never depends on how recently the leather was treated.
Walking Shoes
GORE TEX shoes sit between a trainer and a boot, aimed at everyday walking, commuting, and light trail use. The membrane construction is the same as in trainers, but the outer material and sole tend to run heavier, closer to a walking shoe than a running shoe. A standard leather or fabric shoe depends on a surface treatment that wears off with use and needs regular reapplication, while the membrane inside a GORE-TEX shoe keeps working underneath even once the outer surface starts to look tired.
Running Shoes
GORE TEX trainers build the membrane as a sock-like layer between the outer material and the foot, rather than as a coating on top of the fabric. Standard trainers rely on the outer material alone to hold off water, so a soaked upper eventually lets water reach your foot on longer wet runs. A GORE-TEX build stops that water at the membrane instead, while still letting sweat pass out, so feet stay dry through a puddle or a stretch of wet grass that would soak through an untreated pair within minutes.
Ready to Get Out There?
Rain isn't going anywhere, but now you know exactly what stands between you and it. The membrane does the same job every time, in every product it's built into: keep water out, let sweat go. Pick the right build for what you're doing, look after it properly, and it'll keep performing for years. Browse the current range of Gore-Tex jackets, footwear, and trousers at Cotswold Outdoor to find yours.
FAQs
Gore-Tex is waterproof, not just resistant to water. The membrane blocks liquid water from passing through under normal use, thanks to pores far too small for water droplets to pass through, while taped seams stop water sneaking through the stitch lines.
Yes. The same pores that block liquid water are large enough to let water vapour escape, which means sweat can pass out through the fabric while rain stays out. Breathability changes between the different Gore-Tex versions, with lighter builds generally allowing more airflow than heavy duty ones.
A well maintained Gore-Tex jacket can last many years of regular use, since the membrane sits protected inside the fabric layers. Regular washing and reproofing extends that life by keeping the outer coating working properly.
Yes. The membrane's pore structure keeps working at low temperatures, which is why Gore-Tex sits behind most serious ski and mountaineering gear. Extreme cold can make fabric feel stiffer, but it doesn't affect the membrane's ability to block water or release vapour.
The core idea is similar across most premium waterproof membranes: block liquid water, let vapour through. The differences come down to pore structure and how each brand builds and tests its fabric. Gore-Tex holds an edge in brand recognition and in the strict testing every product must pass before it can carry the label.
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