Producer
W. L. Gore & Associates
Maker of Gore-Tex/PTFE products; its Elixir brand pioneered polymer-coated guitar strings (1997), spun from research into coated push-pull cables.
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2 inputs W. L. Gore & Associates supplies
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Fabrics
45%Medical Products
28%Industrial (Filtration, Sealing)
18%Electronic/Electrical
9%
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Did you know2024
The expanded PTFE (ePTFE) in GORE-TEX rain jackets is chemically and structurally identical to the ePTFE used in W.L. Gore's vascular graft products — synthetic blood vessels implanted to replace blocked arteries in bypass surgery, aortic repair, and dialysis access procedures. Gore is one of the world's largest manufacturers of synthetic vascular grafts; their GORE-TEX Vascular Graft has been in clinical use since 1976. The same microporous ePTFE membrane that repels rain on the exterior of an Arc'teryx jacket is the tube-shaped product that serves as a synthetic femoral artery in a patient's leg. Gore is simultaneously in the outdoor apparel supply chain and the cardiovascular surgery supply chain — two markets with zero consumer overlap — through the same material and manufacturing competency.
W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. ↗Origin2024
W.L. Gore was founded in 1958 by Bill Gore, a DuPont polymer chemist who had spent 17 years working on PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene — DuPont's Teflon). PTFE was originally discovered accidentally by Roy Plunkett at DuPont in 1938, and one of its first major applications was sealing uranium hexafluoride piping in the Manhattan Project's gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plants. Bill Gore joined DuPont specifically to work on this remarkable material. In 1969, his son Bob Gore accidentally discovered expanded PTFE (ePTFE) by rapidly stretching a PTFE rod at room temperature — the polymer "exploded" into a microporous matrix with 70% air content and a node-and-fibril structure that allowed water vapor to pass through while blocking liquid water. GORE-TEX, the rain jacket material that revolutionized outdoor apparel, was discovered because a DuPont researcher was curious about the atomic bomb's plumbing material.
W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. ↗