If flannel is Seattle’s signature style, a rain jacket is our utilitarian necessity. Here, people own multiple waterproof top layers, maybe rain pants as well. So what happens when Gore-Tex and all the other waterproofing materials become illegal?
Thank New York and California. Both states banned the sale of clothing with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, otherwise known as PFAS, starting in January 2025. (As the EPA conservatively puts it, exposure to the chemicals “may lead to adverse health outcomes”; they’re not great for the environment, either.) But those PFAS are what made Gore-Tex repel water.
And not just Gore-Tex either. Although the Gore-Tex brand name is often generalized as
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