What Is GORE-TEX? How Waterproof Shoes Actually Work
GORE-TEX is on the tag of a lot of expensive shoes, and most people buy it knowing only that it means waterproof. It's worth understanding what it actually does, because it explains both why it works and why people are sometimes disappointed by it.
We're in Portland, so this is a subject we have opinions about.
What is GORE-TEX?
GORE-TEX is a membrane — a very thin sheet of material laminated between the outer fabric and the lining of a garment or shoe. It's made by W.L. Gore & Associates, and it came out of Bob Gore's discovery in 1969 that PTFE could be rapidly stretched into a porous, stable structure.
That stretched material is expanded PTFE, or ePTFE, and it's the whole trick. It's shot through with an enormous number of microscopic pores.
How does it keep water out but let sweat through?
Size. The pores in the membrane are far too small for a liquid water droplet to pass through, but considerably larger than an individual molecule of water vapor.
So rain, which arrives as droplets held together by surface tension, can't get in. Sweat, which leaves your foot as vapor, can get out. That's the entire principle, and it's genuinely elegant.
It also explains the main limitation: breathability depends on vapor actually wanting to move outward. That happens when it's warmer and more humid inside the shoe than outside. On a hot day the gradient flattens, and a GORE-TEX shoe will feel warmer and clammier than a mesh one.
What does GORE-TEX mean in shoes?
In footwear it's usually built as a bootie — a sealed inner sock of membrane sitting inside the upper, with the seams taped so water can't sneak through the stitching.
You'll see it abbreviated as GTX in model names. A shoe called something-GTX is the waterproof version of a shoe that also exists without the membrane, and it will typically be slightly warmer, slightly heavier, and slightly less breathable than its standard sibling.
Why do GORE-TEX shoes still get wet?
Three reasons, and none of them mean the shoe has failed.
Water comes in over the top. The membrane stops at the collar. Step into a puddle deeper than your ankle and water pours in past it — and then the same membrane that kept water out keeps it in.
The outer fabric wets out. The face fabric has a durable water repellent finish that makes rain bead up. That finish wears off with use and dirt. When it does, the outer soaks through and feels wet even though the membrane underneath is still working. The shoe gets heavy and cold, and people assume it's leaking.
It's sweat. If you're working hard in warm weather, you can out-produce the membrane's ability to move vapor, and the moisture has nowhere to go.
Do you actually need it?
Sometimes, and less often than it's sold.
It's worth it for sustained exposure to real wet — wet grass, snow, persistent rain, trails. It's a poor trade for hot dry conditions, for gym or road running, or for a shoe that's mostly worn indoors, where you'll feel the reduced breathability every day for a benefit you rarely use.
For a city in the rain, a quick-drying non-waterproof shoe is often the better call than a waterproof one, because a shoe that gets wet and dries fast beats a shoe that keeps water out until it doesn't. We got into that trade-off in our best walking shoes for Europe guide and in walking on cobblestones.
GORE-TEX vs Cordura
These get set against each other and shouldn't be. GORE-TEX is a waterproof, breathable membrane. Cordura is an abrasion-resistant fabric. One keeps weather out; the other stops the shoe wearing through.
They're complementary, not competing, and they often appear on the same shoe. More in what is Cordura.
How do you look after it?
Counterintuitively, keep it clean. Dirt and body oils on the face fabric are what kill the water-repellent finish, and a clogged outer breathes worse.
Wash gently with mild soap and cool water, and reapply a water-repellent spray periodically — you'll know it's time when rain stops beading and starts soaking in. Some finishes reactivate with gentle warmth, but check the manufacturer's guidance before putting a shoe anywhere near heat.
Never dry a waterproof shoe on a radiator. Heat damages adhesives and can delaminate the membrane from the fabric, which ends the shoe.
Our sneaker cleaning guide covers the other materials, and best travel shoes 2026 covers packing for unpredictable weather.
— Anthony from West Coast Deals