Odourless Rubber Macs

[Janine]

Have just taken delivery of a gorgeous "rubberised" mac. Beautiful rubber lining - but so thin and odourless! Why are rubber macs so sterile and odourless. Where does one buy a good rubber lined mac that has a genuine rubber lining with a genuine rubber smell - that is of a good weight and drape?

[wellyboy]

There are a few places still selling rubber lined macks. You could google Gekko Rainwear; Weathervain or Lakeland Elements.
I had a lovely riding mackintosh in cream. It had a lovely rubber odour. Alas it was very old and had seen better days so it was time to consign it to the bin.
Such macks are generally expensive so expect to pay in excess of €200.

[blackmacjay]

I tend to think that the change came about when the manufacturers of the fabrics switched from natural rubber to the synthetic variant.

[cammacg]

Take a look at Shinymac web site. Just tap that in to Your search engine, and it should take you straifgt there. All the garments are real rubber and cover the whole spectrum. Hope you are lucky.
cammacg

[Janine]

Thank you all for the useful advice. I agree the cost of good rainwear seems to increase exponentially. Any experience of Hamilton Classic rainwear? Love Janine

[evad]

I tend to think that the change came about when the manufacturers of the fabrics switched from natural rubber to the synthetic variant.

Ummmm- there is only one type of natural rubber.... That would be Latex. Everything else is synthetic: SBR (Which stands for Styrene Butadine Rubber), Buna Nitrile (Used a lot in sturdy rubber gloves) Neoprene, Silicone, Viton & Polyurethane.

[neil]

I always thought SBR stood for Shiny Black Raincoat!
Plastic materials smell less than they used to.
That is because for health and pollution reasons less styrene is used in their manufacture.

[evad]

I always thought SBR stood for Shiny Black Raincoat!
Plastic materials smell less than they used to.
That is because for health and pollution reasons less styrene is used in their manufacture.

Not all plastics (or rubbers) have styrene in them. PVC, Polyvinyl Chloride- Vinyl- What raincoats are made of, have a different problem... They smell because they outgas the plasticizer. PVC in it's raw state is rigid -even more so than PVC piping found in newer homes. There are about 7 different plasticizers that can be used to make soft PVC film... This is why one raincoat may smell a little different from another. Some of these plasticizers have been implicated in altering sexual hormones in rats, and diabetes.

[neil]

Interesting.I've read the "California"post too.
Thanks.