The story of GORE-TEX and the future of outdoor trade shows

GORE-TEX Deep-dive, and why it’s important for the industry right now

“Essentially, GORE-TEX can be defined as a highly durable, breathable, waterproof and windproof fabric. That’s why you’ve likely found it being used to make outdoor clothing, footwear and accessories.”

As usual, let’s start at the start.

Bill and Genevieve (Vieve) Gore founded Gore - the company - in the basement of their home in Newark, Delaware in 1958. Bill had been working at DuPont and left to ‘explore the untapped potential of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene)’. And he was successful - even becoming involved with the NASA space program. It was, however, 1969 before his son, Bob, later developed ePTFE (expanded polytetrafluoroethylene) by, in layman’s terms, stretching PTFE under specific conditions. This innovation resulted in a robust, microporous material renowned for its low water absorption and excellent weather resistance, among other outstanding properties. And legend has it that this happened by accident - when testing for something different entirely!

A little of the science. Creating a fabric that blocks rain is relatively straightforward. There are many. However, developing a fabric that not only blocks rain but also allows sweat to escape (breathable) is a much more challenging task.

The key to GORE-TEX's success lies in several unique features. At the heart of technology is an extremely thin membrane. This membrane contains over 9 billion microscopic pores – which are approximately 20,000 times smaller than a drop of water, but 700 times bigger than a molecule of moisture vapor.

What this means is that water, in its liquid form, is unable to pass through to the inside of the membrane. But, water as a moisture vapor (e.g. from sweat) is allowed to pass to the outside.

Another key feature of GORE-TEX is its laminate structure. This involves bonding, or sandwiching, the membrane with the main body fabric, typically a synthetic material like nylon.

GORE-TEX is available in various fabric constructions, including:

• Three-layer constructions: The membrane is bonded to face fabrics on both sides.

• Two-layer constructions: The membrane is bonded to a face fabric on one side, with the option to add a liner on the other side for insulation.

• Insulated and uninsulated options: To suit different requirements and conditions.

The technology is robust - so much so that nearly all the main outdoor apparel and shoe brands use it in some form or another. Gore originally applied for and was granted 3 patents -

• U.S. patent 3,953,566, issued April 27, 1976, for a porous form of polytetrafluoroethylene with a micro-structure characterized by nodes interconnected by fibrils

• U.S. patent 4,187,390, issued February 5, 1980

• U.S. patent 4,194,041 on March 18, 1980 for a "waterproof laminate", in collaboration with with Samuel Allen

While another form of stretched PTFE’s was used prior to GORE-TEX in1966 by John Cropper in New Zealand. “Cropper had developed and constructed a machine for this use. However, Cropper chose to keep the process of creating expanded PTFE as a closely held trade secret and as such, it had remained unpublished.”

In the 1970s, Gore sued Garlock, Inc. in the Federal District Court of Ohio, alleging that Garlock had infringed Gore's patents by using Cropper's machine. After a "bitterly contested case" involving over “two years of discovery, five weeks of trial, testimony from 35 witnesses (19 live, 16 by deposition)”, and more than 300 exhibits, the District Court ruled Gore's product and process patents invalid.

However, on appeal in the landmark case of Gore v. Garlock, the Federal Circuit reversed the lower court's decision. The Federal Circuit found that Cropper had forfeited any superior claim to the invention by concealing the process for making ePTFE from the public. Without a public patent filing, the new form of the material could not be legally recognized. As a result, Gore was established as the legal inventor of ePTFE.

This led to a host of suits by GORE, who were obviously intent in protecting their IP interests to the full extent of the law. And they were right. Gore sued first C.R. Bard for allegedly infringing on its patent by producing ePTFE vascular graft. Bard promptly settled and agreed to exit the market. Gore then filed a lawsuit against IMPRA, Inc., a smaller manufacturer of ePTFE vascular grafts, in the federal district court in Arizona. Interestingly here, IMPRA had a competing patent application for the ePTFE vascular graft. And this proved very problematic for Gore.

By the end of a 9 year long patent and antitrust battle (1984–1993), IMPRA demonstrated that Gore-Tex was identical to prior art disclosed in a Japanese process patent. They achieved this by replicating the prior art process and conducting statistical analysis. Additionally, IMPRA proved that Gore had withheld the best mode for using its patent. The end result was that the main claim of Gore's product patent was declared invalid in 1990.

In 1996, Bard purchased IMPRA, allowing Bard to reenter the market. Following the issuance of IMPRA's vascular graft patent, Bard sued Gore for patent infringement and in 2015, Gore was ordered by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals to pay Bard damages. Here is a summary of some, but not all of those, It’s insightful to examine. We’ve had some IP protection interactions over the last few years. One thing is for sure - they are expensive. Even for consideration. But for companies like these, where IP is lifeblood, I can see why they would find it necessary.

Big numbers! And there have been lots of other legal ‘wranglings’ since. No doubt there’s an IP legal firm that’s reaping benefits. For all his troubles, Bob Gore was inducted into the U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.

Although the patents have since run out, GORE TEX is undoubtedly the market leader in outdoors at least for the application of ePTFE, utilizing first mover advantage to the max. And the figures show it. Revenues have grown consistently, if not breathtakingly - from $3.2 billion in 2012 to $4.8 billion last year, apart from a slight dip in 2015/2016. This may well have been as a result of the legal distractions around that time.

Today Gore is still family owned, and run by Brett Snyder (Chair and CEO), who has been with the company for nearly 16 years. Interestingly Brett comes from an engineering rather than a finance background, which gives a little insight around core values. One of the major challenges in the immediate future lies around the use of Gore’s key ingredient - PTFE. This belongs to a subgroup of PFAS called fluorinated polymers which in turn, along with PFC’s, are known as ‘forever chemicals’. As the name suggests, this class of chemical accumulates in air, water, food, even our bodies, and they raise serious health concerns, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And a lot of high profile brands have waged war on them. Patagonia, for instance, have declared that:

And Gore has responded.

“The company intends to replace ePTFE membrane with expanded polyethylene membrane by 2025 in consumer fabrics. The new material, while intended to perform comparably to the existing ePTFE material, will apparently cost more, and require more frequent washing.”

Conclusion:

It’ll be really interesting to see how this pans out, in particular. With the new materials work as well? Does this pose an opportunity in the next scientist to be in the right place at the right time? Bob Gore literally stretched material science to the limit. During a series of failed experiments, Gore became frustrated and gave a hard yank to a rod of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The result revolutionized a range of fields from clothing to defense to medicine, and would make his company a household name. While the company develops everything from guitar strings to implantable medical devices, it’s really core are the fabrics. So they must really tread with care over the next 5 years. However, the fact that there is a strong engineering presence in senior management is key. (I would say that!). The company is now forced to ‘redesign’ if not kill the golden goose. And they will need buy in from the big brands. But they still have the name, and their innovative mindset - which has been there from the start - gives them a huge head start. I also like that Gore is frequently voted amongst the best places to work. This is also important during key periods as it produces buy in. I’d be inclined to say that they will navigate the future rocky waters.

Outdoors Trade Shows - what is the future?

I think it’s safe to say that the current and past version of a trade show is dead. I spoke with a rep once who described all the trade shows that he visited as a ‘sea of sameness’. While they had a real purpose in the 80’s, when Outdoor Retailer first opened its doors, and then later as ‘deal writing’ opportunities, the need has passed. And Covid only accelerated this mindset. The industry has to come up with the next thing. I have some thoughts on this. Firstly - Niche the niche. General industry trade shows, whether outdoors or other, are now not sufficient. If I run a mountain biking business, I want a mountain biking specific show. And I don’t need the razzmatazz and crap. I just want innovation, contacts and collaboration. And lean hard into both. Even micro-focused events, that offer a very real value add.

Which leads me to the second thought. Sponsor free think-ins. No trying to sell me something. I’d love the chance to sit in the room with industry peers and discuss the industry - warts and all. Kevin Van Trump and others do this for Agriculture, for example. And it is very useful. Just getting like minded people together. Attendees can be surveyed for subject matter ahead of time, and chaired workshops organized. I don’t need big expensive hotels in Vegas (although I wouldn’t say no!), rather ‘real’ smaller relevant discussions. That’s something I’d travel for. And of course the benefit of really relevant connections though the networking. We see these in other industries. It’s now time for ours.

Hopefully you continue to get some value from the newsletter. Thanks for reading and please pass it on to anyone you think will benefit.

Until next Tuesday, and chapter 8, Go n-éirí leat!

Derek