BW-01
3-layer shell Unisex $340
Breakwater Shell
★★★★★ 4.8 from 312 reviews
The jacket we built the company around. A 70-denier recycled ripstop outside, a PFC-free membrane in the middle, a thin tricot backer against your back. Fully taped, hood that survives wind, and a two-way front zip so you can sit down in it.
Every seam is taped with 19 mm tape and pressure-tested at the shoulders at 0.4 bar before the jacket is boxed, because the shoulder is the first place a shell fails. The fabric is woven in Guimarães from plastic landed at Peniche, Matosinhos and A Coruña, and the jacket is cut and sewn at Rua da Boavista 118 in Alcântara, where the people who make it can also repair it.
Ordered before 14:00 Lisbon time, leaves the workshop the same day. Two to four days inside Portugal and Spain, three to six days across the rest of the EU, five to nine days worldwide. Free shipping over $120, free returns for 30 days.
01
Everything, measured
These are the numbers from the lab report that ships in the box with the jacket, not marketing ranges.
| Waterproof rating | 28,000 mm hydrostatic head (ISO 811) |
|---|---|
| Breathability | 20,000 g/m²/24h (ISO 11092, RET 4.2) |
| Weight | 412 g in size M, including hood and zip pulls |
| Recycled content | 94% by weight — 34 recovered 500ml bottles per jacket |
| Face fabric | 70-denier recycled ripstop, 96 g/m², PFC-free C0 finish |
| Membrane | Non-porous hydrophilic PU, 18 micron, solvent-free lamination |
| Seams | Fully taped, 19 mm tape at 0.4 bar, 100% of seams |
| Pockets | Two 22 cm hand pockets, one 17 cm chest pocket (zip), one inner drop pocket |
| Hood | Three-point adjustment, wired brim, fits over a helmet |
| Zips | YKK AquaGuard, two-way main zip, recycled tape |
| Care | Machine wash 30°C, no softener, tumble low 20 min to reactivate DWR |
| Repair | Free for five years, then at cost price for the life of the jacket |
| Tested | Independent laboratory, Porto · report dated March 2026 |
Two honest limits: the membrane is PU, not ePTFE, so it is heavier than the lightest shells on the market. And the DWR will need reactivating about every twenty washes — tumble drying does it.
02
Looking after it
A shell fails in the wash more often than on the hill. Four things, in this order, and the jacket will outlast the zips.
Wash at 30°C, never with softener
Softener sits in the membrane and the jacket stops breathing. A plain detergent at 30°C is all it needs.
Tumble dry on low for twenty minutes
Heat is what reactivates the PFC-free C0 finish. Line drying leaves the surface flat and the water stops beading.
Reactivate about every twenty washes
That is roughly how long the C0 finish lasts before rain stops running off. Twenty minutes on low, and it beads again.
Send it back rather than replace it
Seams, zips and taping are repaired free for five years, then at cost price for the life of the jacket. Average turnaround nine working days.
03
Three that work with it
The shell covers the rain. These cover the days when it is not raining yet, and the two things that live in its pockets.