Engineering the next generation of membranes

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Performance membranes are advancing to deliver multi-functionality without compromising quality. HwaFune explores its newly launched Porlite® Flex technology and what's next for membrane innovation.

In September 2026, Taiwanese functional fabric specialist HwaFune launched Porlite® Flex, a polypropylene (PP) membrane-based outdoor wear fabric. Alongside the waterproofing, breathability and wind resistance features that characterise previous versions of the Porlite® brand, the newest iteration, Porlite® Flex, boasts stretchability, too – a notable and innovative achievement for PP membranes, which are inherently non-elastic – alongside improved hydrophobic technologies and a continued commitment to the environment. The result – freedom of movement, weather protection and material simplicity together in one membrane.

Overcoming technical limitations

Performance sector analysts emphasise that in today’s market consumers demand multi-functionality. As such, performance fabric manufacturers must address this demand, ensuring their products meet multiple functional capabilities – such as waterproofing, breathability, stretch, comfort, durability and environmental considerations – even if those technical requirements generate friction against one another within research & development (R&D).

One such company treading this territory is HwaFune, whose flagship hydrophobic membrane technology, Porlite®, has been shaped not only by this tension but by desire to better the environmental footprint of functional fabrics.

Porlite® first hit the market with the title Air, a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-free, non-toxic, highly breathable alternative to traditional PTFE membranes. Later, after more intense R&D, the product evolved into Porlite® Extreme, a product that overcame previous limitations – such as the oil and scratch damage that occur with frequent use – and offered vibrant membrane colours and versatility for its customers.

This latest generation, Porlite® Flex, is no different in its illustration of HwaFune’s focus on innovation to meet the needs of its customers – Flex addresses a key limitation in today’s market: stretch.

Engineering elasticity

HwaFune’s customers have long valued Porlite®’s functional performance but identified a constraint in its ability to accommodate closer-fitting garment designs. Elasticity therefore became a logical next step as stretch became increasingly important to comfort in performance apparel. In fact, "elasticity has become one of the defining indicators of comfort in performance textiles," HwaFune tells WTiN.

However, achieving elasticity within the PP membrane that comprises Porlite® was considerably less straightforward. PP is inherently non-elastic, meaning that introducing stretch without compromising the membrane's characteristics required changes to both its formulation and structure. As such, R&D took three years, HwaFune explains, because it was not enough for the membrane to merely stretch; its recovery rate has been significantly improved over the previous two generations, minimising garment deformation as much as possible.

Traditionally, elasticity and recovery pull in opposing directions, but HwaFune addressed the problem by upgrading the formulation and reengineering part of the membrane structure. The result, it says, is the first elastic Porlite® fabric – titled Flex – with a “functional performance that exceeds previous generations”. Additional improvements include the improvement of hydrophobic technologies and a continued commitment to the environment.

Improving vapour transmission

Porlite® Flex also updates its hydrophobic technology. In today’s market, HwaFune says, a longstanding challenge in waterproof-breathable textiles is the inability to improve moisture vapour transmission without compromising protection from liquid water, while brands seek performance that combines with comfort. It’s an essential requirement for outdoor wear users that the wearer sees improved breathability with protection from the weather, but the two components are inherently difficult to reconcile, the company explains to WTiN. Increasing the size of number of pores can indeed help moisture escape but, vice versa, it allows water to penetrate.

However, Porlite® Flex takes advantage of the science of vapour and liquid. To solve this technical bottleneck, HwaFune altered “both the number and size of its pores” using a ‘straightforward principle’. More pores create additional routes for moisture vapour to escape, explains HwaFune, but in making them smaller, it makes it more difficult for liquid water to pass through. Numerically, Porlite® Flex features a porosity increased from 55% to 70%, while its pore size was reduced by almost half. Meanwhile, the membrane is positioned at a 30K/30K waterproof and moisture permeability performance level.

It makes sense, then, that Porlite® Flex is the company’s newest flagship – a revolutionary membrane that addresses the intersectionality of its consumers’ demands, a product that can be breathable, moisture-wicking, elastic and wind resistant all at once. It is this that HwaFune believes to be its success: a delivery of a complete performance experience that does not compromise in the face of hurdles.

A simple and pure structure

At its launch, Porlite® Flex enters a competitive market for hydrophobic membrane technologies, including expanded polyethylene (ePE). Although both are hydrophobic membranes, the company says ePE can typically require additional PU lamination to maintain waterproof performance, potentially introducing trade-offs in weight and end-of-life recyclability.

Porlite®, on the other hand, instead uses the aforementioned PP hydrophobic membrane, which boasts a ‘relatively simple and pure structure’ without ‘extensive additional materials’. The company argues that this allows it to deliver performance comparable to – and in some respects exceeding – ePE while retaining a simpler construction.

Ultimately, material simplicity is increasingly relevant as brands and manufacturers consider how different components affect the eventual management of technical apparel, and Porlite® Flex meets this demand.

HwaFune prioritises customisable innovation

The company’s push to add further functionality to its flagship product highlights a desire to continually innovate its sector and meet the growing technical demands of modern consumers.

Founded in 1995, HwaFune spent three decades developing functional fabrics for water sports and outdoor apparel, working closely with its customers on holistic and pertinent solutions, while its own manufacturing operates via an integrated route from R&D and formulation through to production. The first iteration of Porlite®, the company explains, emerged from this development philosophy; in combining the holistic needs of its customers with emergent R&D and essential contemporary requirements such as sustainability, HwaFune intended to meet the needs of its market.

Expectedly, HwaFune asserts that Porlite® Flex is not the endpoint for the company, and it will continue to develop flexible, agile and customisable solutions for its customers, in line with their evolving focuses. It is here that the company’s strength and differentiation lies: in its ability to develop and customise fabrics according to specific customer needs and applications. This willingness to tackle difficult technical problems has shaped the company's thirty-year development trajectory, and its slogan ‘Despite the weather’ signals its ability to shift in emphasis, because the company has long-been meeting demand for customisable, sustainable solutions.

Durability as part of sustainability

Speaking with WTiN, conversation naturally flows to this topic of sustainability – another major priority across all industries, but in outdoor wear too. Traditional components of outdoor wear materials, such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and PFAS, can evaporate from textile products into the air, existing in the environment without ever disappearing. This accumulation causes damage and deterioration to life and ecosystems. But the technology at the heart of Porlite® – which uses a PP membrane – is inherently non-toxic.

Additionally, Porlite® Flex’s plentiful functional features – and thus its increased application areas – mean that a garment using Flex is “more likely to be retained and worn repeatedly […] accompanying its wearer through commuting, travel, outdoor activity and everyday use,” the company says. "If a piece of clothing can accompany someone through everyday life, then it is by necessity durable, comfortable and fully functional."

As a result, Porlite® Flex’s inherent qualities place emphasis on the potential to extend a garment's useful life. Advanced membrane technology, in this context, becomes a means of bringing performance, comfort and sustainable durability together in one product.

The next frontier

As Porlite® Flex continues its roll-out over the coming months, HwaFune intends to establish the product’s ‘significant position’ against increasingly sophisticated membrane alternatives. Its launch demonstrates clearly the value of sustained material R&D, particularly when a seemingly simple customer requirement, greater freedom of movement, demands fundamental engineering – and as such Porlite® Flex represents a key innovation in its sector.

Ultimately, what began as an effort to combine elements of practical performance with long-life durability has now reached an emboldened third generation – one that adds elasticity while increasing porosity and maintaining weather protection.

“This is HwaFune,” the company tells WTiN. “We stand with you, despite the weather.”

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