Sailors have been playing around with this stuff for years. It's really neat how warm / dry some of this stuff can keep you.
I have a top that my aunt made to go with a wetsuit she bought me. The outside almost looks like leather, and water beads off of it. The inside looks like fleece and always kept me warm and rather dry. So it came time for me to wash the suits (they were getting a little funky). Rather then screw around with the washing machine and possibly hurt my gear, I decided to take it into the shower with me.
The wetsuit (cut like farmer john's) washed well, but was really heavy due to being weighed down by water it had collected. This was expected though, due to how wet suits work.
The top was really neat though. I washed the outside uneventfully. I then turned it inside out and washed the inside. Even though it had been soaked with water, I could literally see the water drain downwards out of the fleece like material. It was entirely bone dry except for maybe about a half inch ring around the bottom which still had water in it.
http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d3000/e1693.asp Also, I think some of them have lycra in them.
