Every seasoned traveler will agree the packable lightweight rain jacket is essential gear for the road: it’s a compact, portable, utilitarian garment that promptly emerges from your pocket or bag to shield you from the rain no matter where your adventures find you.
And so it goes for a day hike where weather at the summit might be vastly different from conditions at the trailhead: the packable lightweight rain jacket is indispensable gear that rises to the occasion so you won’t need to run for cover, even if you must sidestep a few puddles on the path. But they’re not all the same. A closer look suggests key questions to ask when choosing this essential piece of outerwear.
DWR, or Durable Water Repellent, is a preparation applied to virtually all outer fabrics in rain jackets; it causes rain to bead up and roll off the material. This makes a jacket water-repellent, which is not the same as water-resistant or waterproof. The DWR treatment on a jacket is a maintenance item and must be reapplied occasionally (“reproofing”) if you expect it to continue to perform as it did when the jacket was new. And although allowing the DWR treatment to erode will not deplete a jacket’s waterproof qualities, it can affect its breathability. Reproofing your jacket with repellent is a fairly simple process.
Fast Fact: The first waterproof membrane was GORE-TEX®, pioneered in 1969 by W.L. Gore and Associates, but many other similar materials have emerged in the intervening decades.