Rothco M-51 Fishtail Parka Discussions | Drop

Nov 24, 2016

Is it made of Ventile or a similar naturally waterproof form of cotton, I wouldn't much fancy a parka that relied only on DWR coatings to keep you dry in winter.

RMC0109

137

Nov 24, 2016

warriorscotI second this question. Must know how water resistant this parka is before I can consider purchasing it.

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TomasV

1685

Nov 24, 2016

warriorscotThe outer shell is 100% untreated cotton. You can proof it using sprays/washes or manually wax it, if you'd like.

Nov 24, 2016

warriorscotSo about as useful as a chocolate fireguard then as a parka, the purpose of a parka primarily keeping you dry.

RMC0109

137

Nov 24, 2016

warriorscotAgreed, and from the Amazon reviews the overall quality is garbage. I'll take a pass on this one.

Nov 24, 2016

warriorscotMaybe it's just me (child of the late 50's early 60'=:-)but Parkas were never meant to be water proof...Rain Specific Ponchos, yes, Parkas, no
Use of a good DWR will do wonders but to modernly waterproof an outer garment nowadays, Gore-Tex membranes etc. so the fabric breathes. Others may have better and different ideas

Nov 24, 2016

shakin_jakeA parka in my book is a long winter jacket and pretty much always needs to have some degree of waterproofing(originally they were made of animal skins). If it was made out of the watertight cottons like Ventile it would actually be waterproof, I've got a cracking ventile jacket, would love a similar parka. In fact the Parkas worn in the early 1900s by arctic explorers were all either traditional or made with ventile cotton, and still are to this day.

Nov 25, 2016

warriorscotclose, but no cigar According to the American Heritage Dictionary par-ka 1. A hooded fur jacket worn as an outer garment by Eskimos. 2.A similar garment of warm cloth, worn for sports or outdoor work. [Aluetian, skin, from Russian, pelt of a Reindeer, from Samoyed.] No mention of waterproofness

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Nov 25, 2016

shakin_jakeIts kind of implied by the materials. Furs and skins of parkas tend to be unprocessed and retain the natural oils that allowed them to shed water. When they start getting wet then they are about ready for replacement. It wasn't until the 20th century when thry started to be produced by countries that they werent native to that they started using cloth stuffed with down or fur for parkas. But even then as I mentioned when they were made properly for Arctic use they were made with ventile rather than plain cotton. Really it's only the cheap imitations that are made out of materials that have some degree of waterproofing as the real thing usually has.

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Nov 26, 2016

warriorscotimplied by the materials...meaning warm cloth is waterproof?!? One needs quite the imagination to conclude cloth will be waterproof, W/O adding a DWR, but I digress

Nov 26, 2016

shakin_jakeNo furs and skins that still have their oils are waterproof or more water resistant to be technical. More modern ones are made of polyesters that are more water resistant, and most modern commercially produced parkas are heavily DWR'd, and the real parkas made for serious work are all made out of Ventile a waterproof form of cotton or seriously heavy cloth that is very water resistant(such as native spun wools). It's pretty much only these cheap 60s US Army crap things that don't have any water resistance whatsoever. They've always had a degree of resistance to water, the cheap standard cotton ones are literally sponges and they aren't remotely consistent with the traditional design at all that wouldn't have access to cotton and even if they did it's far from what anyone would consider a suitable warm cloth.
But the point remains these things are about as useful as a chocolate fireguard in winter, they aren't at all waterproof, and they aren't even that warm. In fact if you are going to nitpick about parkas this isn't really a parka given it's not made of the right materials and no parka would have used the design like that.