28,000mm hydrostatic head 34 recovered bottles per jacket €0.80 a kilo, paid at the quay
A jacket that holds 28,000mm of rain and 34 recovered bottles.
Tidewalk shells are cut and taped in a workshop in Alcântara, from fabric woven out of plastic collected off the Portuguese and Galician coasts. We publish every number because we test for every number.
01
The material, and where it comes from
Three fishing cooperatives — Peniche and Matosinhos in Portugal, A Coruña in Galicia — bring back the plastic their nets drag up along with the catch. We pay €0.80 per kilo, weighed at the quay, cash the same week. In 2025 that came to 22.4 tonnes across the three ports.
It is sorted by polymer in Guimarães, rinsed in cold water rather than hot, shredded into flake, spun into yarn and woven into a 70-denier ripstop at 96 g/m². No virgin plastic enters the yarn at any point.
Then it gets coated, which is the step most brands skip over in their copy. The backer is laminated with a non-porous hydrophilic PU membrane, 18 micron, applied solvent-free. It is a plastic layer, it is 6% of the jacket, and it is why the jacket is waterproof at all.
02
Four steps, none of them hidden
Almost no waterproof outerwear is made in Western Europe any more, because it is cheaper not to. We keep it in Lisbon for two reasons: we can walk downstairs and check the taping, and a repair takes nine days instead of nine weeks.
Collect
Fishing crews in Peniche, Matosinhos and A Coruña bring back the plastic their nets drag up. We pay per kilo, by weight, cash on the quay.
Wash and flake
Bottles are sorted by polymer, rinsed in cold water and shredded into flake in Guimarães. No virgin plastic is added at any point.
Weave and coat
Flake becomes yarn, yarn becomes a 70-denier ripstop, and the backer is laminated with a PFC-free membrane — the part most brands will not name.
Cut and tape
Nineteen people in Alcântara cut, sew and tape every seam. Each jacket is pressure-tested at the shoulders before it is boxed.
03
Tidewalk against a typical $120 shell
We bought six jackets at this price, cut them open and sent the panels to the same lab that tests ours. This is what came back.
| Measured | Tidewalk Breakwater | Typical $120 shell |
|---|---|---|
| Waterproof rating | 28,000 mm | 5,000–8,000 mm |
| Breathability | 20,000 g/m²/24h | 3,000–5,000 g/m²/24h |
| Seam treatment | 100% taped, 19 mm tape | Critically taped only |
| Recycled content | 94% by weight | 0–30%, rarely stated |
| Water repellent finish | PFC-free, C0 | Often C6/C8 fluorocarbon |
| Repair policy | Free, 5 years, then cost price | None offered |
| Warranty | Lifetime on seams and zips | 12 months |
Method: ISO 811 hydrostatic head, ISO 11092 breathability, panel testing by an independent laboratory in Porto, March 2026. Comparison jackets bought at retail and anonymised.
“I ride forty minutes each way in this. Two winters, no wet shoulders, and the tape has not lifted once.”
Marta · Porto · Breakwater Shell, two winters
04
Three things we have not solved
If a sustainability page has nothing unfinished on it, it is not a report. It is advertising.
-
The membrane is still virgin PU
There is no recycled waterproof membrane on the market that passes our testing at 28,000mm. That 6% of the jacket is fossil-derived, and we have not found a supplier who can change that yet.
-
Shipping is not clean
A jacket sent to Germany carries roughly 400g of CO₂ in transport. We buy removals for it, which is a payment, not a solution.
-
29% of our fabric offcuts
Those go into building insulation rather than back into jackets. Downcycling is better than landfill and worse than we would like.
05
The range
Eight products, every one repairable. A jacket sewn in Portugal costs us roughly $71 more to make than the same jacket sewn in Asia, and that is most of the difference between our $340 and a $180 shell.
06
Not sure which one. Send us three numbers.
Height, chest and the size you usually buy. A person in Lisbon answers with a recommendation, usually the same working day. Rated 4.8 out of 5 from 1,204 verified reviews.