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If you ever wore clothing specifically made for the outdoors then you need to take a moment of silence. The father to one of the greatest fashion inventions is no longer with us.
As spotted on High Snobiety Bob Gore, the inventor of GORE-TEX, has passed away on Thursday, September 17. In 1969 Bob Gore stretched heated rods of polytetrafluoroethylene and created expanded polytetrafluoroethylene. His discovery of the right conditions for stretching PTFE was a happy accident, born partly out of frustration. Instead of slowly stretching the heated material, he applied a sudden, accelerating yank. “I decided to give one of these rods a huge stretch, fast, a jerk and it stretched 1000%” he said.
After some more testing he introduced it to the public under the GORE-TEX trademark. The synthetic material afforded the wearer a water repellent and breathable shell. This never seen before fabric would go on to be synonymous with some of Hip-Hop’s most coveted brands including The North Face, Timberland, SUPREME, New Balance, Carhartt and more.
Rest easy Bob.
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