One of the tragic ironies of my job is that I get super-sneak previews of fishing tackle and other gear months—sometimes as much as a year—before anyone else knows about it.
Yeah, it sounds cool (and is), but it’s also torture, because when I try something I really like, I have to wait an eternity before I can buy the stuff.
But I’ll take it, warts and all, because it’s awesome to be the first to know.
Case in point:
Columbia Sportswear is about to release a line of fishing clothing featuring a new technology they call Omni Freeze ICE. And it actually gets COLDER as you wear it in warm weather!
 |
| Columbia's Airgill Chill: Coming Soon! |
They’ve had plain ol’
Omni Freeze for awhile now…its flat weave dissipates body heat more quickly than standard fabrics, which helps you stay cooler in the heat. ICE is different in that it has a corn-based material (that’s all the Columbia folks would tell me) built into the fabric. This substance changes chemical state when it comes in contact with sweat, and the resulting reaction lowers the physical temperature of the material.
If you flunked chemistry as badly as I did, make it easier on yourself. Think of it like a refrigerator you wear.
When I put this stuff to the test down in the Florida Keys a few weeks ago, it was about 90 degrees, with dew points in the tropical range. Sweat doesn’t do much to cool you down in conditions like this—conditions many of us fish in almost year-round.
That’s where the Omni Freeze ICE technology in the prototype Airgill Chill shirt I was wearing came in handy. It actually felt cold to the touch, especially when I first started sweating.
Don’t believe it? I took
video of an experiment that proves it works.
The stuff is so new that it’s not even up on the Columbia website, but according to my contact, it’ll be there around the time it hits shelves in January or February 2012. I’ll be waiting ... -- Ryan