The good news is that while PFAS are disappearing from outdoor gear, in many cases it was overkill anyway.
One example is Patagonia’s Black Hole line of travel bags, said Matt Dwyer, who leads materials innovation at Patagonia. “When we looked at that product and found that it used a durable water-repellent coating, we realized it didn’t actually need it where we were using it, so we just stopped,” said Dwyer in an interview. (Wirecutter’s own testing of the new Black Hole packing cubes supports this claim.)
Blum, a mountaineer, noted that “most use of outdoor garments is for casual activities like birdwatching or walking the dog,” where the highest possible performance is unnecessary. “Maybe if you’re climbing Mount Everest,” she said. But Blum shared that she has been wearing PFAS-free jackets from The North Face and Black Diamond for mountaineering for five years without issue: “My jackets would work fine on Mount Everest without PFAS.”
In other words, for staying dry, many PFAS-free alternatives are available already. Some have been around for years, including waxed fabrics (centuries!), polyurethane coatings (usually listed as PU, consisting of a flexible plastic coating over a woven back, creating that classic rubbery raincoat feel), silicones, and hydrocarbons.
And new high-performance replacements for PFAS treatments are as effective as the old coatings, say industry representatives. They declined to share details about the PFAS-free chemistry, but we know that these replacements aim to pair waterproofing performance with thin, lightweight profiles and that coveted breathability.
Some include C0 (used by companies like Rumpl and J.Crew), Nikwax’s Direct.Dry (launched with Outdoor Research in 2024), Fjällräven’s Eco-Shell, Marmot’s NanoPro, and Nemo’s Osmo, among others.
And one of the most widespread replacements comes from Gore-Tex itself: a waterproof, breathable membrane called ePE (short for expanded polyethylene). This new Gore-Tex membrane has been adopted by leading outdoor-apparel brands such as Patagonia, REI, and Arc’teryx (it’s used in the men’s and women’s Arc’teryx Beta Jacket, which we recommend in our raincoat guide). Gore-Tex claims that ePE offers a performance improvement on the old ePTFE coating it became famous for, and that ePE is thinner and has a smaller carbon footprint.
At Wirecutter, we’ve already tested some gear that uses new PFAS-free coatings. Staff writer Claire Wilcox, who covers outdoor blankets, sleeping bags, and tents, found that some PFAS-free DWR coatings seem better at repelling water than others and listed coatings on products from Mountain Hardware, Nemo, and Patagonia as notably high performers.
Senior staff writer Zoe Vanderweide suggests the Patagonia Torrentshell 3L Rain Jacket as a good option in our raincoat guide, though it was notably “stiff and noisy” in comparison with other raincoats she tested. Patagonia’s Dwyer, when I asked about it, said the shell “tends to be a little crisp when it’s brand-new” but should break in after a few wears. “That’s a reflection of the construction of that fabric,” said Dwyer, versus its PFAS-free waterproofing. (Still, our long-term testing has not found the fabric to become less crinkly after about 15 wears, though our testers say the coat is comfortable and performs well.)
Crucially, PFAS are used in the outdoor industry for more than just waterproofing, and companies will need to thoroughly vet their supply chains for potential sources of contamination to truly be PFAS-free.
For added assurance, look for the Bluesign label, a third-party certification that assesses and reviews chemicals used in textiles for wearer, worker, and environmental safety; as of January 2025, the certification will no longer permit PFAS in any of its approved products. Oeko-Tex also prohibits PFAS in the textiles it certifies.
PFAS are a glaring example of how slow people may be to learn about chemical toxicity in the products that everyone uses every day. As Dwyer shared, Patagonia switched its DWR to longchain PFAS from shortchain PFAS less than 10 years ago, believing the longer chemical structure to be safer. “We finished that transition, everybody was psyched, and like that same week, scientific data and journalism came out that said, ‘Hey, you know, what you just switched to might be just as bad as what you switched from,’” he recalled.
Companies are tight-lipped about what exactly is in their new PFAS-free replacement coatings, but they assure us that the replacements are safe. For our part, at Wirecutter, we can only give advice based on what we know. And we are absolutely certain about one thing: Taking good care of your garments will help them last as long as they can. That’s a clear win for your wallet and the environment.
This article was edited by Hannah Rimm and Maxine Builder.
