High quality ski wear Free delivery - Free returns Free delivery & returns Guaranteed to keep you Dry and Warm

Technical Tuesday – Ventilation Zippers

By Oktober 16, 2015 Technical Tuesday

VENTILATION ZIPPERS

Control your body temperature and make sure you feel comfortable during intensive action or on great sunny days on the slope.
VISOR uses technical engineered, breathable fabrics to manufacture its ski clothing so body heat can travel through the materials. But in some circumstances it can be essential to add more ventilation to a technical engineered jacket. Extra ventilation can be necessary when you instantly want to get rid of extensive body heat. This mostly happens when you decide to ski some intensive or difficult slopes and you body heat instantly rises. Your body will produce much more warmth (sweat) that can be easily transported through the ventilation areas. Also in perfect sunny warm ski days it can be really comfortable to add more ventilation to your jacket.

The key in feeling comfortable in your ski clothing is to control your body temperature. When you feel too hot, you will open your jacket. This can directly cause a quick drop down of your body temperature and can have a huge negative impact on your body. Even the most technical breathable outer layer fabrics are not able to directly transport an intensive rise of the body heat (intensive sweat) through the fabric of your skiwear. This is why the use of ventilation zippers is essential in performance skiwear. Without this extra ventilation the intensive transpiration causes sweat areas (wet areas) that feel uncomfortable and can even result in a permanent drop down of your body temperature. Ventilation zippers are like air-conditioning in your jacket, use them to create and control your own preferred comfortable (body) temperature.

MORE TECHNICAL INFO

There are a few items that are very important when you engineer ventilation zippers in your jacket or pants. The position is definitely the most important but it also depends on the material, the size and width of the opening. The size and width determine how much cold air will travel inside your garment. Too much cold air can cause an instant drop down of the body temperature. Also, if the ventilation opening is pointed to a single small area, it will cause a very uncomfortable cold spot on your body. The art is to engineer a controlled opening that directs the optimal amount of the cold air exactly to the warm areas of you body.
The ventilation openings in the VISOR ski jackets are located underneath the arms. This traditional position is still the best location because it directly brings the cold air to the warmest areas (under the arms). The second main area to supply cold air is the back of the jacket because this area is most tight to you body when you are in a bended ski position. Inside the ventilation opening VISOR uses a special mesh lining that diverts the cold air coming in the jacket. The mesh lining brings the cold air directly under the arms and diverts it to the back of the jacket. The complete opening (length and width) is depended on the size of the jacket (person) and cannot be too large, otherwise this will cause an uncomfortable drop down in temperature.

Ventilation items in the pants are actually less needed than ventilation in the jacket but are also essential. When you feel hot and warm, the first area you will feel uncomfortable will be your upper body. Nevertheless, ventilation areas in the pants are definitely a huge advantage. The ventilation zippers of the pants are located on the inside of the upper legs. This area is, together with the backside of the upper legs, the most important location. Air can easily be diverted through the complete upper part of the pants.

VISOR’s engineers its technical ski garment to create the most optimal and comfortable situation.