{"id":265767,"date":"2025-11-06T15:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T15:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/265767\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T15:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T15:09:09","slug":"cycling-apparel-pioneer-gore-to-close-gorewear-clothing-division-after-40-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/265767\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling apparel pioneer Gore to close Gorewear clothing division after 40 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

It looks like WL Gore & Associates is set to close its Gorewear cycle and running clothing business after more than 40 years \u2013\u00a0although Gorewear is a relatively small part of the company\u2019s wider textile business,\u00a0which employs 12,000 people and has revenue of $4.8 billion (2024).<\/p>\n

Gore Bike Wear was established way back in 1985 \u2013\u00a0when it launched the first waterproof and windproof Gore-Tex cycling jacket \u2013\u00a0and has been a big name in the bike clothing market over the years before being combined with Gore Running Wear to become Gorewear in 2018.<\/p>\n

Now German bike industry publication velobiz.de reports that Gore contacted retailers a few days ago to announce that it will discontinue the Gorewear business next year.<\/p>\n

velobiz.de says, \u201cIn the letter to retailers, which velobiz.de has obtained and which is signed, among others, by Michael Hullik, Managing Director of WL Gore & Associates GmbH, Gore cites economic reasons for this drastic step, which is being announced now after \u2018careful consideration and in-depth analysis of long-term prospects.\u2019 The letter informs retailers that \u2018for more than 40 years, we have strived with great dedication and considerable investment to successfully position the Gorewear brand in an extremely competitive environment. However, despite all these efforts, we see no realistic possibility of sustainably achieving our business and financial goals.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

velobiz.de says that orders will be accepted and fulfilled until 31 March 2026 while the Gorewear.com website will remain online to process orders and sell existing inventory.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all we know so far \u2013\u00a0just this report from velobiz.de. We\u2019ve contacted Gorewear for comment but we\u2019ve yet to hear back.<\/p>\n

\"20242024 Gorewear Spinshift Gore-Tex Jacket.jpg (credit: road.cc)<\/p>\n

Gorewear has continued to make some fabulous clothing including, for example, the Spinshift Windbreaker Mens<\/a> that got a 9\/10 review here on road.cc in September\u00a0and the Spinshift Gore-Tex Jacket<\/a> that was similarly impressive last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The whole waterproof\/breathable textiles market has been hugely impacted by the need to move away from PFAS \u2013\u00a0known as \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 \u2013\u00a0because they don’t break down easily in the environment. Gore’s Shakedry fabric (below), used by a number of clothing brands,\u00a0has been\u00a0one of the best-known casualties in cycling.<\/p>\n

\"20222022 Gore Shakedry – 1 (credit: road.cc)<\/p>\n

Way back in 2017<\/a>,\u00a0Gore Fabrics set itself the goal of \u201cworking towards the elimination of PFCs [a subcategory of PFAS] of environmental concern from its durable water repellent (DWR) treatments and membrane manufacturing processes\u201d, to be completed by 2023.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite that, we reported earlier this year<\/a> that WL Gore & Associates\u00a0was facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that it engaged in a \u201cgreenwashing campaign\u201d to hide the environmental impacts of PFAS from eco-conscious consumers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These days, Gorewear uses \u201cnext-generation Gore-Tex ePE (expanded polythene) fabric that\u2019s made without intentionally added PFAS chemicals.<\/p>\n

Although Gore\u2019s massive textile business is set to continue \u2013 so you\u2019ll still see Gore fabrics used in clothing from other brands \u2013\u00a0it looks like this is the end of the road for Gorewear.<\/p>\n

More info when we get it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It looks like WL Gore & Associates is set to close its Gorewear cycle and running clothing business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-265767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}