The rain is drenching Darryl "Curtains" Jackson. It's coming down in sheets from a machine overhead that's been programmed to dump water droplets at the rate of 3.25 inches an hour. "This is a nice, steady rain," he says, as drops fall from the ceiling and drain into the grated floor below.
Curtains, Converse's[1] apparel director, is standing in the middle of the rain tower, a silvery box inside the biophysics lab at the Maryland campus of Gore, the company that makes waterproof and breathable Gore-Tex[2] fabrics. The tower is designed to simulate nasty weather of all kinds—slanted downpours, harsh winds, insistent drizzle—so Gore can test the efficacy of the materials it manufactures.
Even in this fabricated deluge, Curtains doesn't need an umbrella. Today, he's wearing a hooded black zip-up jacket and orange and green high top sneakers. They're part of the Urban Utility collection, a new line of weatherproof mens shoes and outerwear Converse has produced in partnership with Gore. Urban Utility is Converse's first crack at truly technical products, and Curtains is putting them through the ringer. Ten minutes into the rain test, and the jacket and shoes are holding up. Curtains still isn't wet. "I feel like I'm walking on dry land," he says.
Keith Yahrling for WIRED
The line is a departure for Converse. The Nike-owned brand, which just released its first collection of basic apparel last year, is new to clothes. At the same time, Converse's shoes aren't traditionally known for their ruggedness. A drizzly day can make the company's trademark Chuck Taylor canvas sneakers feel like damp paper towels. For a certain type of consumer, the shoe's lightweight flimsiness is part of its charm; the more weathered your Chucks, the better...