Out of the three major choices, Climashield, Insultex, and Primaloft, which one would be best for cloths and why. Also do all of these require a liner between it and your skin? I am interested in making some cold weather gear, jacket and pants. Outer will be Fleece then insulation and then inner liner, if required. If you have other suggestions, I am open. Thanks.
I question your layers. I would do wind shell, insulation, fleece. More effective use of the fleece that way.
I'm with nothermark, fleece on the outside is going to render it almost useless, it doesn't do very well against the wind at all.
Standard setup is, inside to outside:
Base Layer: Moisture management is the idea here. Some insulation. (Poly thermals, Merino Wool, etc)
Mid Layer: Non wind-proof insulation. This is where the real heat retention is. (fleece, breathable down, etc)
Shell: Can be breathable or wind/water proof, depending on weather and activity. In dry, calm conditions or when you are extremely active in dry, windier conditions, fleece could work here.
Outer Jacket: For when it's bloody cold, or really wet. (More down/heavy insulation here)
The base layer is going to stay on in almost all conditions. The mid layer should be something that can be removed easily in case you get warm, but still need wind/water protection. In the event of extreme cold, additional mid layers are added, and the outer jacket may also be wind/water proof so that, if you warm up and take it off, you still have some protection on lower layers.
As far as which is best for clothing, I don't know that insultex is a particularly good choice in most cases. Yes it's light, but it isn't as breathable as wool, down, or synthetic fiber insulations. Also, the small sample I got to tinker with didn't strike me as particularly tough. Seemed like it wouldn't take a lot to do damage to it and maybe create cold spots. I didn't get a chance to really mess with it though, so maybe that was just an incorrect impression on my part.
I was just having the climashield/primaloft debate in a thread over the last couple of days and the consensus seems to be....
Primaloft One has Climashield beat by about 15% in the warmth/weight department. Primaloft One appears to be fairly new though, and I haven't found anybody who has gotten to mess about with it much, so I don't yet know which compresses better, which drapes better, and which is a bigger pain in the butt to work with. If history holds though, it looks like Climashield has thus far been easier to work with and more supple to the touch than other versions of Primaloft.
Down can be had a heck of a lot cheaper than standard bulk prices with a little careful shopping, and particularly in clothing, it has some big advantages, so don't totally discount it. It just doesn't do well when wet, so care has to be taken when using/wearing it.
If - if he stood! Enough of ifs!
He knew a path that wanted walking
He knew a spring that wanted drinking
A thought that wanted further thinking.
A love that wanted re-renewing
"A Lone Striker" Robert Frost
I would go with the fleece as the inner layer as well.
Sunny
With my very limited knowledge, I believe that Climashield is good for larger panels since it only requires stabilizing at the edges, which reduces how often the thickness is compromised by each stitch of quilting. Climashield would do well in quilts.
In the past, primaloft needed more quilting but that helped it in the curved shapes of clothing, i.e. sleeves.
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