LOC 3-D Mesh Tech™ Wader

That’s right. Our waders do not breathe. The first thing we did when we started our journey was to identify the main issues with waders on offer today. We quickly concluded that the weakest link was the breathable membrane. In our experience, membranes are too fragile and simply doesn’t stand up to the constant wear, tear and abuse a wader is subject too.  Add to this, in our experience, no membrane breathes effectively enough to keep up with the body’s heat and sweat production in real life situations. For these reasons it was obvious to us, breathable membranes were not an option for our waders. There had to be another way.

The Secret Is On The Inside!

The decision not to use a breathable membrane meant that we had to come up with a new, more suitable way to keep condensation and moist away from the body.  Our solution to the condensation challenge is a patented, hydrophobic 3-D Mesh lining system integrated in our waders. The 3-D mesh Tech™ System creates unrestricted airflow and a constant distance between the outer fabric and your body, keeping condensation and moist away. The 3-D Mesh Tech™ System also delivers great resistance to pressure, minimising squeeze and delivering a completely new wading experience when it comes to comfort. Or as one of our customers put it – “I feel embraced by them”.  Add to this that the 3-D mesh Tech™ system also delivers fantastic isolation capabilities, keeping you warm and cosy. In fact, it has proven so effective that during our years of testing we found that we only needed to dress in the thinnest merino wool base layer, even in water temperatures down to 6 degrees Celsius and air temp below zero, to keep us warm and comfortable.  The LOC 3-D Mesh Tech™ wader ships with a black 30 Denier mesh, suitable for all conditions.

Military Grade Outer Fabric

Let’s move on to the outer fabric. We’ve already covered that the fabric is non-breathable. Now let us talk toughness and durability. The outer material used in our waders is an extremely tough, military graded, soft & stretchable Tri-laminate Butyl fabric. The same fabric used in scuba diving dry suits developed for a number of military forces around the world as well as for extreme and safety critical scuba diving like cave and wreck diving.  So rest assured, if the fabric is trusted to be used in hostile environments and safety demanding situations, you can trust that you will get a wader that will stand up to whatever you can throw at it by the river or in the sea.  Will it work in the salt? Yes, the fabric will perform equally well in both fresh- and saltwater. Just give the wader a good rinse with fresh water after using them in salty environments.

PFAS FREE

The outer fabric used in our waders are 100% free from harmful PFAS chemicals. So rest assured, when using our waders you will not be exposed to or responsible for adding more “Forever Chemicals” into the eco-system.

Kevlar® Reinforced!

As if the industries toughest outer fabric isn’t enough. For an extra layer of confidence, we have added Kevlar® reinforced panels of soft, military grade DuPont™ Kevlar® fibre over the knees and lower legs to further improve tear and abrasion. The DuPont™ Kevlar® panels are nearly indestructible and will protect not only areas that are prone to heavy wear and tear, but also act as a knee and lower leg guard against rocks and other nasty submerged objects. A bit of extra personal protection if you like.

The Feet

We’ve had quite a few questions around the neoprene quality used in the feet of our waders.  When you take a look and try on the LOC neoprene feet for the first time you might think – “What is this? Is this neoprene?”.  The simple answer is: Oh yes it is. It’s just like no other neoprene you’ve never seen before in waders.  The LOC neoprene feet are made of the best heat, pre-compressed neoprene. We opted for the strongest and most durable Neoprene quality available as we came to the conclusion during the development of the waders, that ordinary neoprene doesn’t cut the mustard.  The LOC neoprene will withstand wear and tear better than ordinary neoprene and also deliver a much more comfortable fit in your boots. The fact that it is thinner also allows you to control how warm you want to be, by using the layer-on-layer principle.

Other interesting facts: The neoprene panels making up the foot are machine cut for best possible fit, the next step in the process is to cut away the fabric from around the edges of the cuts. This is done by hand with a sharp tool, to ensure that the neoprene surfaces will be 100% clean from fabric before putting them together and thereby ensuring a perfect, waterproof seal. Then, for extra strength and protection we stitch the cuts with hard-core thread on the outside (and no, you will not fell the stitching:). On the inside of the neoprene sock, tape is then glued on by hand for extra protection.