SWINGING IN THE RAIN

We tell you the secrets of the rain gear

By Inesis

March 17^th, 2021

Golf is an outdoor sport. The fresh air, beautiful scenery, natural surroundings. That's what we love about it. But that also means teeing off, whatever the weather. It's not like the PGA Tour on TV, where the sky is ALWAYS blue. For us, sometime, it rains.

At Inesis Golf Park, near Lille, we get rain 177 days per year. It's not exactly ideal. But it does mean we found ourselves in exactly the right place to design exceptional rain gear for golfing.

5 LEGGED FROG

To create great rain gear, you have to choose the right fabric. It has to be waterproof, lightweight, breathable, silent, stretchy, and comfortable. Clearly, we're looking for a "4-leaf clover"; It's impossible to find a material that has all of these characteristics at once. So we used a fabric made up of 3 bonded layers to bring these qualities together:

1. a stretchy, water repellent mesh: it's the first line of defence against rain, because water runs off of it. Perfect for light drizzle. And it stretches to follow your rotation during your swing.

2. a breathable waterproof membrane: this is the wall between you and the rain. It keeps you from getting wet on the course. However, it does let water vapour pass from the inside to the outside to avoid a pressure cooker effect.

3. a lining which keeps the membrane from coming into contact with whatever you're wearing underneath your rain gear, for extra comfort.

ACTION. AND CUT!

To produce the rain jacket, we need 2.25m² of fabric. We cut 35 pieces from it, which are then stitched together. But where there's stitching, there are holes. And where there are holes, water can seep in. To solve this problem, we glued down "seam tape", which is a fabric a few centimetres wide glued over top of the seam. Now it's perfectly watertight. This rain gear was designed specifically for playing golf. The cut of the sleeves was specially designed for a golf swing. We also chose not to add a hood, and to design a collar that ensures maximum ease and freedom of movement.

Une veste de pluie, ça commence comme ça.

YOU DIDN’T SAY ZIP

Pockets are another area of potential water infiltration. So we used water repellent zips on both of the pockets on the rain jacket, and on both front pockets on the trousers.

As you'll need quick access to the things in the back pockets of your trousers, we opted for flaps. There are also 2 large waterproof zips on the lower legs, allowing you to put them on over your trousers quickly should the rain suddenly invite itself to join your round.

TESTED FROM EVERY SEAM

Nothing was left to chance when designing this rain gear. At Decathlon, we have a radical test that we call: "the shower". We think you get the idea. A mannequin wears the rain gear, and then we throw 60L of water per square metre at it for 2 hours. It's the equivalent of 12cm of rain! After 2 hours, we check for even the slightest trace of humidity on the mannequin and, if it's dry, we approve the rain gear.

Ludivine, Rain engineer: "We figured out how to create waterproof clothing by carrying out tests in the most extreme conditions possible: on the ocean during Vendée Globe or on the slopes of Mont Blanc"

TIPS FOR CARE

To preserve the waterproof qualities of your rain gear, don't wash it too often. It's better to spot clean with a damp cloth than to put it in the washer after each round. Either way, only use a small amount of detergent and rinse your clothing well. Once dry, you can reactivate the water repellent treatment by drying it in a dryer.