Pacific Trail adds Gore-Tex to the company's product mix

Pacific Trail and Black Dot outerwear will be featuring 2-layer Gore-Tex fabric in key styles beginning in fall 2003. The 2-layer Gore-Tex fabrics will debut in Pacific Trail’s Pac Tech performance outerwear line and the company’s Black Dot brand of snowboarding apparel.

“Gore wants to provide everyone, from the casual hiker to the extreme outdoor enthusiast, with the highest quality protection and comfort,” said Steve Shuster, Gore’s Brand Manager in a statement released recently. “Our new relationship with Pacific Trail allows us to offer Gore-Tex products with the ‘Guaranteed To Keep You Dry’ promise to a broader consumer base.”

SNEWS View: Gore-Tex will give Pacific Trail a slight edge in the game to garner mainstream consumer attention. This is a partnership the industry would never have seen several years ago, but times have changed. Pacific Trail is no longer just a price-point brand with basic products best suited for urban adventures. The company’s designs and quality are garnering deserved attention even at the specialty level, and Gore certainly recognizes that. Too, Gore-Tex needs Pacific Trail to keep the brand name in front of a broader consumer base which might not know of, but will appreciate the Guaranteed To Keep You Dry promise. What? Heresy! Of course everyone’s heard of Gore-Tex, you say? Well, times do change and on several occasions this last year, on backcountry outings with quite a few other non-outdoor-focused folks around, the SNEWS team encountered the question, “Ummm, what is Gore-Tex?” Yeah, we know, we were shocked too, but it was a reality check for us. While Gore is still the market leader, Gore-Tex is perhaps not quite the buzz word it once was and establishing partnerships such as the one with Pacific Trail will help the brand retain or reestablish a connection to the mainstream consumer.