The Layering System - GO Outdoors

You only need a handful garments to stay warm, dry, and comfortable in rain, wind or snow. In this video, Jonathon Simons & Jenny Dennis (from GO Outdoors) talks you through the versatile clothing system known as the Layering System.

The first part of the layering system is the base layer, which designed to trap a thing layer of warm air against my body and pulls or wicks sweat vapor away from your skin. As part of this base layer, Jon begins by wearing a base layer made of Marino wool, which helps to neutralise body odor and is an environmentally friendly renewable fabric. Jenny explains that she finds that synthetic base layers are a great alternative to Marino garments as they also dry even faster. They also cost less.

However, there is one base layer fabric that you need to avoid and that's cotton. Cotton soaks up sweat like a sponge and this is bad news because when cotton gets wet it draws heat away from your body -- and this can lead to hypothermia.

The next part of the layering systems, is the mid layer. The mid layer is design to trap body heat and to allow sweat vapor carrying keep moving through the layer system. The most popular mid layer fabric is fleece as its affordable, durable and quick drying, the thicker the fleece the more heat it traps, so you want a mid weight fleece for colder weather and thin or micro fleece for milder conditions.

Jenny explains that broadly speaking, all mid layers can be divided into either active or passive garment categories. Fleece garments for active use are worn whilst on the move as they allow sweat and excess heat to escape. Some mid layers are made from material that repels wind, rain and snow -- known as soft shell, these garments leave you comfortable in poor weather and work especially well on blustery days in Spring and Autumn.

The next part of the layering system, is the outer layer and is known as the shell which blocks wind and rain. There are 3 types of shell, Paramo, membrane and coated nylon -- they all do a great job in keeping out the elements -- but they vary how quickly they allow sweat vapor to move from the inside to the outside of the garment.

Finally, you can use the layering system on your legs to. You can layer a pair a Marino or synthetic leggings underneath your wind resistant summer trekking trousers and you can pull on pair of breathable waterproof over trousers -- should the weather come in. An alternative to the leg wearing layering system is pair a soft shell trousers -- like these. Soft shell is a popular leg wear material, as its time consuming to adjust multiple layers on the move.