WL Gore & Associates is set to close its Gorewear cycle and running clothing business after more than 40 years – although Gorewear is a relatively small part of the company’s wider textile business, which employs 12,000 people and has revenue of $4.8 billion (2024).
Gore Bike Wear was established way back in 1985 – when it launched the first waterproof and windproof Gore-Tex cycling jacket – and has been a big name in the bike clothing market over the years before being combined with Gore Running Wear to become Gorewear in 2018.
Now, German bike industry publication velobiz.de has reported that Gore contacted retailers a few days ago to announce that it will discontinue the Gorewear business next year.
velobiz.de says, “In the letter to retailers, which velobiz.de has obtained and which is signed, among others, by Michael Hullik, Managing Director of WL Gore & Associates GmbH, Gore cites economic reasons for this drastic step, which is being announced now after ‘careful consideration and in-depth analysis of long-term prospects.’ The letter informs retailers that ‘for more than 40 years, we have strived with great dedication and considerable investment to successfully position the Gorewear brand in an extremely competitive environment. However, despite all these efforts, we see no realistic possibility of sustainably achieving our business and financial goals.’”
velobiz.de says that orders will be accepted and fulfilled until 31 March 2026 while the Gorewear.com website will remain online to process orders and sell existing inventory.
Can it be true? Yes, we’re afraid so.
WL Gore & Associates has issued a statement saying, “Gore’s Fabrics business has made the difficult decision to close our Gorewear apparel cycling and running business after over 40 years of dedication and hard work. Despite our best efforts, we faced significant challenges that made it difficult to continue in a highly competitive landscape.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the loyalty the cycling industry has shown us. Together, we’ve pushed the boundaries in the cycling and running apparel worlds and helped athletes gear up for every weather and every adventure. Our focus is now on supporting our Associates and ensuring a smooth transition while honouring our business partners’ commitments until March 31, 2026. It’s been an unforgettable journey —and one of our greatest journeys yet.”
Gorewear has continued to make some fabulous clothing including, for example, the Spinshift Windbreaker Mens that got a 9/10 review here on road.cc in September and the Spinshift Gore-Tex Jacket that was similarly impressive last year. We’re just starting to put together the road.cc annual awards and – spoiler alert! – Gorewear will feature.
The whole waterproof/breathable textiles market has been hugely impacted by the need to move away from PFAS – known as ‘forever chemicals’ – because they don’t break down easily in the environment. Gore’s Shakedry fabric (below), used by a number of clothing brands, has been one of the best-known casualties in cycling.
Way back in 2017, Gore Fabrics set itself the goal of “working towards the elimination of PFCs [a subcategory of PFAS] of environmental concern from its durable water repellent (DWR) treatments and membrane manufacturing processes”, to be completed by 2023.
Despite that, we reported earlier this year that WL Gore & Associates was facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that it engaged in a “greenwashing campaign” to hide the environmental impacts of PFAS from eco-conscious consumers.
These days, Gorewear uses “next-generation Gore-Tex ePE (expanded polythene) fabric that’s made without intentionally added PFAS chemicals.
Although Gore’s massive textile business is set to continue – so you’ll still see Gore fabrics used in clothing from other brands – the end is approaching for Gorewear. Spring/Summer 2026 will be the last season for the brand.
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
8 thoughts on “Cycling apparel pioneer Gore to close Gorewear clothing division after 40 years”
Oh, no! I love their stuff.
Oh, no! I love their stuff.
Maybe there will be some good deals towards the end.
This is a bit of a shame – I
This is a bit of a shame – I have some of their stuff and I like it. That said, I’m not suprised – they never seemed to get much of a market share. My armchair analysis:
Whilst GoreTex did an excellent job of etablishing their waterproof fabrics as the gold standard, for final garments they were competing against other brands proudly boasting about using the exact same fabrics. And if you’re getting the exact same technical performance other brands potentially offered additional features, better styling, or were simply cheaper.
And of course waterproofs are only a small part of the picture. GoreTex did have their own-brand “Infinium” and Windstopper fabrics which are well regarded, but a) not a gold standard in the same way as their waterproofs, and b) also sold to other brands, so again they are competing against themselves.
Then there are all the products that are not made with any Gore-branded fabrics. As far as I can tell, most of those products were perfectly adequate, even good (see positive reviews here and elsewhere), but competing against basically every other cycling apparel company out there. And maybe unfairly, I think people tend to assume that GoreWear was simply riding on the “Gore” name and success of GoreTex waterproof fabrics to sell products, rather than doing anything particularly noteworthy. And they were never cheap either, so in direct competition with established cycling brands like Castelli, Rapha, Assos etc.
Finally, I don’t think they helped themselves with their complicated, confusing and ever changing product nomenclature. Swiftride? Spinshift? Glidewheel? What does it all mean??
I tend to agree. I think
I tend to agree. I think Gore polluted the clarity of their branding with Windstopper and Infinium. I want the rock solid waterproofing & breathability of proper Goretex not some budget version trading off the brand identity.
The real mistake was tying
The real mistake was tying the fabric name (GoreTex) too closely to the overall brand name (Gore). If there’d been more space between them it would have been easier to introduce other fabrics for other uses without confusing the customer. But of course that’s easy to say with hindsight – in the early days it probably looked like it made perfect sense to have a solid unified brand all around the single fabric, when it looked like that was all they were going to be selling.
Better to focus their efforts
Better to focus their efforts into aggressively marketing their brand and continuing to help the consumer believe their product is somehow different to any other on the market
It is different Nick – if we
It is different Nick – if we are talking their flagship membrane.
Name two other non-Gore products with the same waterproofing and breatheability ratings.
Orginal goretex material was
Orginal goretex material was an expanded PTFE (aka Teflon) which they managed to secure a patent for. As their competitors couldn’t use ePTFE, they resorted to using a chemically similar expanded polyethelene and polyurathane – but since Teflon is now considered a forever plastic, Goretex is no longer made from ePTFE but the exact same ePE and ePU as their competitors have used for decades. So yes, currently it is the same
Sad to see and great team of
Sad to see and great team of designers. Hope all the staff find work