Pertex Shield Technology Explained
Mar 27, 2025
Pertex Fabrics
Since our foundation, we have worked at the cutting edge of engineering. Our fabrics are the result of extensive development work in the laboratory and in the outdoors. Lightweight, packable, soft and quiet, our fabrics distinctively combine performance and comfort. By altering design, construction and finish, we engineer fabrics tailored to a range of applications that uniquely meet the needs of our customers and end users.
For Intense Pursuits in challenging conditions, where weight and breathability are a priority.
Pertex Shield fabrics provide waterproof and breathable solutions precisely specified for a variety of conditions and activities. Pertex Shield fabrics are a system comprised of woven face fabric, membrane and optional backer. These elements are available in a variety of options and numerous combinations, each with specific performance attributes.
Pertex Shield Construction
2 Layer
1st Layer: Tightly Woven Face Fabric
2nd Layer: Pertex Shield Membrane
Light weight option, primarily for use in insulated garments. Weight is kept to a minimum to allow insulation to fully loft.
2.5 Layer
1st Layer: Tightly Woven Face Fabric
2nd Layer: Pertex Shield Membrane with Print
Designed for lightweight and packable garments. The printed inner surface of the membrane provides protection. A Dry Touch print finish option is available for enhanced next-to-skin comfort.
3 Layer
1st Layer: Tightly Woven Face Fabric
2nd Layer: Pertex Shield Membrane
3rd Layer: Fabric Backer
The most durable construction, designed for long lasting protection in challenging conditions. A fabric backer protects the membrane, whilst providing excellent next-to-skin comfort.
Heritage & Background
Pertex Shield was first created in 2007. In true Pertex fashion, the fabric was borne from a creative synthesis of expertises: the skill in weaving face fabrics from very fine yarns, long held at Perseverance Mills, combined with the mastery of coatings and membranes provided by our Japanese fabric partners. Drawing on this expertise in weaving, the creation of membranes and lamination, Pertex Shield fabrics provide waterproof and breathable solutions precisely specified for a variety of conditions and activities.
Pertex Shield fabrics are a system comprised of woven face fabric, membrane and optional backer. These elements are available in a variety of options and numerous combinations, each with specific performance attributes.
We develop Pertex Shield Fabrics in close collaboration with our partners, providing rich product differentiation, and delivering maximal end user benefit.
Woven Together
Partnership is in our DNA: Pertex is much a service as it is a product. Our textile innovations continue to be rooted in collaborative relationships, both with other experts and our customers, often enduring over decades.
We don’t supply our partners with product. We listen to their needs, and those of their end users, and design our fabrics accordingly, working closely with our partners every step of the way. Our bespoke solutions uniquely address our customers’ needs, often in the form of exclusive technologies that raise performance and significantly aid market differentiation.
Because our customers’ requirements inevitably shift over time, discussion and invention is an on-going, constant process of ‘slow innovation’.
Responsible Material Options
In the face of the climate emergency, it’s our belief that we should keep limited resources in circulation for longer, using and reusing them in a joined-up process that uses as little energy as possible. Pertex excels in the creation of extremely lightweight fabrics without compromising on durability, and we’re continually exploring new ways to raise this standard.
Pre-Consumer
Recycled Nylon
We recover waste material from the production process, to be recycled into nylon pellets, thereby reducing use of virgin fossil fuel derived inputs.
Post-Consumer
Recycled Polyester
Post-consumer PET waste is mechanically recycled back into polyester pellets.
Netplus Post-Consumer
Recycled Nylon
Waste fishing nets are collected,
sorted, and recycled into nylon pellets, spun into yarn and woven to create Pertex fabrics.
Renewable Bio-Based
Nylon
A polymer blend using castor oil from the castor bean plant, substitutes renewable for fossil fuel derived materials whilst reducing CO2 emissions.
Rab's Pertex Shield Range
Pertex Shield fabrics are a system comprised of woven face fabric, membrane and optional backer. These elements are available in a variety of options and numerous combinations, each with specific performance attributes. Our unrivalled knowledge and expertise in lightweight woven fabrics gives access to a multitude of construction options, allowing deep product differentiation.