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“It was like a Patagonia R2 jacket,” he says. “They were asking for something that would have enough insulation that when they stop, they wouldn’t have to add layers, but that wouldn’t cause them to overheat immediately when they got moving again too,” says David Costello, who ran the program for Polartec that developed Alpha.Ĭostello explains that the PCU originally tried to solve the problem of active insulation with a high-loft fleece layer. Not only do they wear them under their packs and body armor, which are difficult and time consuming to remove, but stopping to add or subtract layers would distract them from the battle. While engaged in combat, soldiers are unable to strip layers. And the second you stop activity, all that trapped sweat will make you feel cold.Īs you’re probably painfully aware, saying “active insulation,” is sort of like saying “jumbo shrimp.” Traditional insulation pieces work great at keeping body heat in, but that becomes an issue as soon as you start to move. Focussing on keeping environmental moisture out also traps that sweat inside. That’s because, during athletic activity, our bodies produce moisture in the form of sweat. The PCU’s big achievement was acknowledging that, outdoors, it’s often impossible to stay dry, so materials instead need to focus on getting the human body dry as quickly as possible.

But, what if you didn’t have to layer? What if one piece was capable of keeping you warm when you’re sitting still, but breathed so well that it dumped all your excess heat when you started moving? Well, that technology exists, and it’s called Polartec Alpha.Īlpha was developed to form part of the Special Forces’ protective combat uniform that was developed post-9/11 to keep warfighters comfortable in the cold, wet mountains of Afghanistan. That’s how you dress for comfort outdoors, right? The idea is that you can add more, or take off those layers as activity levels and temperatures change, allowing you to stay comfortable. If you find it a bit finicky to click the tiny interface buttons used in the Lock section, you can also lock the various aspects of your layer using the Layer Attributes dialog box, although I find this much too slow unless you need to change a bunch of settings all at once.Wear layers.

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If you don’t like using keyboard shortcuts, you can also bring it back by opening the Windows menu, selecting Dockable Dialogs, and clicking Layers. If your Layers panel has disappeared, you can bring it back to the front by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + L (use Command + L if you’re using GIMP on a Mac). The Layers panel is located in the bottom right corner of the GIMP window by default, but it’s possible that it can get hidden or even closed. You can choose any or all of them if you want – and then you’re done! I generally only use the Lock Position and Size option in combination with the Alignment tool, so that I don’t accidentally re-arrange a layer that I meant to leave untouched, but you’ll probably have your own unique workflow uses for it.

The Layers panel in GIMP 2.10, highlighting the layer locking section

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