Light weight rain apparel

Abstract

An article of apparel such as a rain jacket includes a composite fabric formed of a textile layer including a plurality of yarns, each yarn including five to twenty-five filaments having non-circular cross-sectional shapes and a sealing layer applied as a coating directly to the interior surface of the textile layer and having a thickness of about 10 micrometers to about 30 micrometers.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A rain jacket including arm sleeve sections and a torso section, the rain jacket comprising a composite fabric, wherein the composite fabric comprises:
 a textile layer comprising a plurality of yarns, each yarn including five to twenty five filaments, and each filament having a cross-sectional shape that is non-circular; and   a sealing layer applied as a coating directly to the textile layer and having a thickness of about 10 micrometers to about 30 micrometers.   
     
     
         2 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein the filaments of the yarns forming the textile layer have the same polygonal shape. 
     
     
         3 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein each yarn includes 5 to 12 filaments. 
     
     
         4 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein each yarn includes 7 to 10 filaments. 
     
     
         5 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein each yarn has a denier ranging from about 20 to about 50. 
     
     
         6 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein each yarn has a denier ranging from about 20 to about 30. 
     
     
         7 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein the denier per filament of each yarn ranges from about 2.0 to about 4.0. 
     
     
         8 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein the denier per filament of each yarn ranges from about 2.7 to about 3.1. 
     
     
         9 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein the sealing layer comprises polyurethane. 
     
     
         10 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein the sealing layer is free of fluorine. 
     
     
         11 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein the sealing layer is applied as a coating so as to continuously contact a surface area of the textile layer. 
     
     
         12 . The rain jacket of  claim 1 , wherein the sealing layer forms an interior surface of the rain jacket so as to face a user wearing the rain jacket. 
     
     
         13 . A method of forming a composite fabric structure, the method comprising:
 applying, via a coating process, a liquid or semi-solid material to a surface of a textile material so as to form a solid material sealing layer directly on the textile material surface having a thickness of about 10 micrometers to about 30 micrometers;   wherein the textile material comprises a plurality of yarns, each yarn including five to twenty five filaments, and each filament has a cross-sectional shape that is non-circular.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein each filament of the yarns forming the textile layer has a cross-sectional shape that is polygonal. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the applying via a coating process comprises:
 (a) spreading the liquid or semi-solid material over the surface of the textile material;   (b) drying the liquid or semi-solid material spread over the textile material surface to form an intermediate coating layer having an intermediate thickness that is less than 10 micrometers; and   (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) to increase a thickness of the solid material until forming the sealing layer of solid material having a thickness of about 10 micrometers to about 30 micrometers.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein steps (a) and (b) are repeated a plurality of times. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising forming the textile structure by:
 forming islands-in-the-sea fibers, wherein the filaments are formed within a sea polymer component; and   removing the sea polymer component from the non-circular filaments to form yarns comprising the filaments.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein each yarn is formed with 5 to 12 filaments. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein each yarn is formed with 7 to 10 filaments. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising incorporating the composite fabric structure into a rain jacket.