At Foxa we always try out new fabrics ourselves. It's much easier to talk about the product when you have your own experience of it. I didn't plan on wearing our new Action Ripstop, but by chance, I was given the opportunity.
My youngest son's family is building a house near Helsinki. They have agreed on earthwork contract with a local contractor. Unfortunately, at very late notice, the contractor informed us that they were not able to implement the job. Luckily, my son quickly found a good excavator driver who promised to handle all the digging work, but said that any additional work had to be done by the house owner. And that's how I was 'hired' as a temporary site worker.
The December climate in Finland is quite demanding for construction work. The day is very short, with daylight lasting only from 9.00am until 3.00pm. It may snow, rain, or sleet, which is very unpleasant. Awful conditions if you don't have a good work jacket. When I started my career as semi-professional site worker, I wore my 25-yearl-old Snickers winter jacket made of 'Viking' fabric. It was warm, but not very waterproof. When my son also informed me that the jacket reminded him of a homeless drunkard's coat, I decided to update my outfit. So, I bought Dimex's fantastic shell jacket made from Action Ripstop.
Action Ripstop is a light and strong fabric with good water tightness and breathability. Its performance is referred to as 10k/10k (water vapour permeability >10,000g/m2/24h and water tightness > 10,000 mm). Based on three weeks of trial use I can warmly recommend Action Ripstop as a first-class outermost layer in a variable climate. Of course, you must also wear a warm middle layer if the jacket does not have an insulation layer.
In six weeks, we succeeded in finishing the earthworks and foundations. After that came the wall elements and now a roof has also been installed. It was interesting to be on a building site after so many years. It is never too late to learn new skills. Now I know how to drive a vibrating roller and sand dumper. I also became familiar with installing drainage pipes and insulation panels.