Skip to main content

Fortress Clothing keeps you warm even after diving into icy waters

One of the best ways to stay warm during cold weather is to keep dry. Whether it’s rain, snow, or sweat, there is always something to fend off. Garments have claimed to be both waterproof and breathable before, but most such fabrics typically become overwhelmed by water. This leads to a build-up of moisture that causes you to get cold.

Fortress Clothing works a bit differently. This base or midlayer garment is designed to keep you warm even when wet. No matter how soaked the material gets, moisture is pushed away from the body to keep the wearer dry and warm in temperatures as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Due to its success, Fortress Clothing has been provided to a number of industries including several oil and gas companies. Before the garments could be approved they had to be tested first. After hundreds of washings, fire testing under a pair of fire retardant coveralls, and three years of use, no garments have ever needed replacing for commercial customers.

It’s one thing to make a claim about a product’s performance, it’s another to actually put it to the test. That is exactly what Fortress Clothing has been doing to promote the quality of its gear.

The Plunge - John's uncut version

After digging a hole through almost four feet of ice at the Huntington Reservoir in Utah, the company’s “director of warmth” took a plunge into the water. As would be true for anyone else, he was immediately freezing cold. However, after getting out the clothing began to work its magic. The longer he stood out in the cold in his wet clothes, the warmer he got. The 1/4-inch fabric still did its job even as water was being squeezed out.

All sorts of Fortress clothing are available now directly from the company’s website. Jacket and pant liners will range between $250 and $350 depending on how far below zero they are rated for. Mittens, boots, and hoods are also available between $50 and $130. With Fortress, we may finally have solved the problem of cold.

Garrett Hulfish
Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…
Goodbye, coolers. The EcoFlow Glacier doesn’t need ice — it makes it
The EcoFlow Glacier is a fridge shaped like a cooler with its own battery,

Every cooler operates on borrowed time. It leaves for your camping trip brimming over with crisp produce and ice-encrusted beer that looks straight out of a Super Bowl commercial, and returns with a soggy block of foil-wrapped cheddar cheese floating in a pool of mustard water. Mother Nature always wins.

Perhaps that’s why I was so enamored when I saw the EcoFlow Glacier at CES 2023. Less a cooler than a mobile battery-powered fridge on wheels, the sleek electric Glacier not only obviated the need for ice, it would make ice for me in 18 minutes. My home fridge can’t even do that, and I didn’t even know I wanted it to until just now. When EcoFlow offered to let me try the Glacier, I envisioned sipping a perspiring glass of whiskey in the tropics and accepted the occupational hazards of my job.

Read more
I was wrong. E-bikes are so practical, they’re a transit cheat code
An Aventon Level 2 ebike sits outside a grocery store.

Confession: Despite loving both bikes and gadgets, e-bikes never excited me. Compared to my bicycle, e-bikes seemed unfair. Compared to my motorcycle, they seemed slow. Compared to my car, they seemed impractical.

But with $1,500 federal e-bike rebates potentially on the horizon at part of E-Bike Act, I decided it was past time to reconsider. Not just because 30% off would make them way more accessible, but because the entire idea that e-bikes could be worthy of a rebate changed the way I looked at them: less as toys, more as transit. Had I written off an entire way of getting around because I was looking at it the wrong way?

Read more
Upway launches one of the best marketplaces for certified e-bikes, new or not
Man holding ebike from Upway in a field, lifestyle image.

This content was produced in partnership with Upway.
It wasn't too long ago that e-bikes were a rare sight, but all of that has changed, and rightfully so. Electric bikes are all over the road these days, and there are many brands either venturing into the technology, to launch their own versions of the sustainable transportation option or reiterating existing and traditional designs. From Aventon to Schwinn, or RadPower to Momentum, with so many opportunities, the prevailing question is, where do you go to find the best deals and the best information about these brands and their e-bike models? The answer is Upway, the number one certified electric bike provider and an official partner to many of the aforementioned brands.

What is Upway, exactly? It's a marketplace, specializing in e-bikes, featuring an inventory that's sourced from some of the best brands in the world. There are American brands -- like Specialized, Cannondale, and RadPower -- and European brands -- like Riese, Muller, and VanMoof. The best part is the discounts, offering up to 60% off retail, for a plethora of brands. Upway is on a mission to make sustainable mobility affordable for everyone. It's also one of the best places to go for a new or pre-owned e-bike, and here's why:

Read more