Swiss sports apparel brand KJUS has come up with a ski jacket which it says eliminates sweat at the touch of a button, claiming that it's the most significant innovation in breathability since the introduction of waterproof/breathable membranes over 40 years ago. Is this the best ski jacket around? Let's take a look.
The 7Sphere jacket features what KJUS is calling Hydro_Bot technology – an electronic, user-controlled membrane which actively pumps out sweat from inside the jacket to keep skiers dry and warm.
The jacket actively pulls sweat away from the inner garments and out of the jacket using a process called electro-osmosis. This overcomes the issue of sweat getting trapped inside a skier’s clothing system, and the dreaded post-activity chill that results from having saturated inner garments.
The Hydro_Bot technology is incorporated into the jacket via two panels located on the high-sweat zone of the back. Those panels consist of a membrane made up of trillions of pores per square metre, surrounded by conductive fabric. When a small electrical pulse is applied, the pores turn into micro-pumps, actively pumping sweat away from the body and out of the jacket. The jacket can we switched on and off with the integrated control unit or via Bluetooth from the iPhone and Android compatible app.
KJUS says that its new jacket solves one of the biggest challenges in the ski and sportswear sector – breathability, and the issues that arise when a skier builds up a sweat in sub-zero temperatures, while wearing warm, waterproof clothing. Up until now, ski jackets using regular membranes have not been able to wick moisture away from the body fast enough, especially in colder temperatures when the breathability of regular membranes take a plunge.
The jacket is claimed to be up to 10 x more efficient than jackets with regular membranes, and is not adversely affected by freezing temperatures.
By measuring the amount of sweat passing through the panels the app is also apparently able to make practical recommendations on how to regulate body temperature, enabling skiers to minimize sweat production in the first place.
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Order the 7Sphere Hydro_Bot jacket now for £1299 / €1399 / $1699 at kjus.com.
Paul Douglas is Global Digital Editorial Strategy Director at Future and has worked in publishing for over 25 years. He worked in print for over 10 years on various computing titles including .net magazine and the Official Windows Magazine before moving to TechRadar.com in 2008, eventually becoming Global Editor-in-Chief for the brand, overseeing teams in the US, UK and Australia. Following that, Paul has been Global Editor-in-Chief of BikeRadar and T3 (not at the same time) and later Content Director working on T3, TechRadar and Tom's Guide. In 2021, Paul also worked on the launches of FitandWell.com and PetsRadar.