Mikes Guide to Fall Winter 2013 / Part 1: Insulation

Its the middle of summer here in Vermont, but weve been feeling some unusual fall-like chills now and then, like when temps in Saranac Lake fell to 33 degrees on the night of July 25th. So, the August appearance of Fall/Winter 13 products on vendor websites seems more timely than usual. Temperatures were also extremely cold during last years Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, which provided a fitting backdrop to a show where vendors were showing off a host of new insulating technologies. With at least three new types of synthetic insulation and lots of innovative construction, insulation is this winters most action-packed outerwear category: so lets start there, and see what some of our favorite companies have brought us to keep warm with this season.

New Synthetics
Despite the emergence of DriDown, DownTek, and other treated down products on the market, synthetics are far from dead: both The North Face and Mountain Hardwear are introducing new types of insulation to market this year, and both unsurprisingly claim that theirs is the warmest synthetic available. TNFs new offering is Thermoball. The company first announced the existence of this insulation two years ago, and its now available in reasonably-priced pieces like the $220 Thermoball Hoodie. Developed in cooperation with Primaloft, this insulation takes the form of little down-like balls instead of fibruous sheets, and is held in place with triangular baffles that give Thermoball garments a down-like, quilted appearance. Hopefully TNF will follow Primalofts example and release the clo value of Thermoball so that we can compare it to the industry benchmark, Primaloft One.

Mountain Hardwear, for its part, is introducing Thermal.Q Elite insulation in several pieces across its line, including the Thermostatic Jacket. Hardwear claims that Thermal.Q is warmer because its designed to mimic the structure of goose down rigid stems that form a matrix of gaps and softer fibers to fill those gaps. That sounds a lot like the idea behind ArcTeryx Coreloft to us, but given Hardwears track record with the recent success of Dry.Q Elite (which turned out to be more than rebadged eVent) and the awesome protection that is OutDry, I wont rush to dismiss this claim just yet.

While Thermoball and Thermal.Q Elite are brand-exclusive, youll soon be able to find Polartec Alpha insulation in pieces from a number of different brands. Alpha bucks the trend by not claiming to be the warmest insulation around, but rather the most breathable. Because the structure of Alpha insulation is different from most others, in that it does not sit loosely within a sewn compartment of the garment, it can be paired with more open face and backer fabrics to create an air-permeable package that holds warmth but still allows moisture to be transported away from the body by convection. Think of it as staying warm, but not sweaty warm. Most of the garments incorporating Alpha have so far taken the shape of lightweight midlayers, but Eider has taken it a step further with the Whymper Jacket, a freeride ski jacket which combines Alpha insulation with Polartec Neoshell outer fabric to create a single jacket which is breathable enough to hike up in but warm enough to ski down in.

Familiar Names, New Markets

With the launch of its first apparel line in a decade scheduled for September 2013, Black Diamond is jumping right back into the insulation game with a collection of pieces that combine Pertex and Schoeller fabrics with Primaloft insulation. The heavy hitter of the group is the Stance Belay Parka, which features two offset layers of Primaloft Synergy insulation in a tastefully understated design thats meant to be used, not just worn as a statement (although BD fans everywhere will no doubt wear it as exactly that). The collection also features the Stance Belay Hoody and Jacket, insulated with single layers of Primaloft One, and a group of hybrid Access jackets which mix Primaloft One with Schoeller side panels and underarms. Hard-shell heavyweight ArcTeryx is delving deeper into the insulation game this winter. They are reintroducing the Solo and Dually Belay Parkas with their proprietary ThermaTek insulation (the solo has one layer of insulation, the Dually has two) and, even more significantly, jumping into the down jacket market for the first time. Their Cerium LT Jacket features body-mapped construction in which 850-fill goose down is supplemented by moisture-resistant Coreloft synthetic insulation in areas which are prone to contact with moisture, like the hem, collar, ends of the sleeves, and armpits. It would be interesting to hear their rationale for going this route instead of opting for trendy hydrophobic down throughout; perhaps they wanted to stick with a more proven technology for the time being, since there is not yet any long-term performance data for hydrophobic down.

Big Agnes, on the other hand, has embraced the DownTek revolution and introduced a pair of jackets that pair the new down with the Insotect Flow baffle technology found on many Big Agnes sleeping bags. Their Hole in the Wall jacket manages to be unique in a crowded market of lightweight down sweaters, and I give them kudos for that.

Stay Warm, Stay Mobile

Few people will have noticed that Valandre has launched a new jacket this season and has another one in the works, but as always, the new products are of exceptional quality. The new jacket for 2013 is the Moulin Rouge, so named because a) its red and b) because it has Valandres signature articulation in the underarms, so you can windmill around like Pete Townsend if you wanna, and the down wont shift and leave you cold. The Moulin Rouge replaces the Kiruna as the mid-range, go-anywhere jacket in Valandres line; it incorporates the collar/hood design and banana split draft tube layout first pioneered with 2011s Immelman, but isnt quite as long or as heavy as the I-man is, and it is equipped with a one-way zipper. Speaking of the Immelman, Valandre posted a characteristically bizarre video on their Facebook page giving us a sneak-peak of the revised I-MAN G2 at Outdoor Retailer. A couple of things are apparent about the next-generation model: it looks bigger and warmer, for starters, and it has also inherited the signature triangular shoulder baffles of the companys Bering Parka, so Valandre is evidently trying to marry (get it?) full-on Everest-parka warmth with the I-Mans trademark articulation. Western Mountaineering has also been working on the problem of adding mobility to the arms of a big expedition parka, and the new Snjack GWS Parka is their solution. It has more down fill and less total weight than a first-generation Valandre Immelman in a comparable size, but WM resorted to using sewn-through panels on the underarms to grant additional freedom of motion, while the whole point of the Immelman was to lend freedom to the arms and still use fully-baffled compartments throughout. It would be interesting to do a head-to-head comparison of the two. Whatever the outcome, the Snjack is sure to be a supertoasty jacket; it looked cool in person when I saw it hanging up at Outdoor Retailer, and it will probably be the only jacket in this entire document that is Made In USA.

Outdoor Research has lots to show

Outdoor Research has been trying hard for the past couple of years to rise above its reputation as an accessory brand and position itself amongst the outerwear majors, and all signs point to them succeeding. Their marquee down jacket this year is the Floodlight Jacket, a midweight model featuring 800-fill down inside a waterproof Pertex Shield outer shell. The world has seen waterproof down jackets before, but previous attempts have generally just laid seam-taped waterproof fabric over a traditionally-stitched down jacket; the Floodlight, on the other hand, does away with the seams entirely by welding the outer fabric to the inner with no needle or thread involved. Kind of like a Klymit sleeping pad, Id imagine. The result is waterproof down without an extra layer of material and all of the extra weight that brings. My only quibble with it is that they went with high-mounted harnesscompatible pockets, when other climbing-oriented down jackets include traditional (and very welcome) handwarmer pockets. Outdoor Research is also introducing the Filament Pullover, a very lightweight (207 gram) 800-fill mid-layer. With a 10-denier face fabric, a half zipper and no handwarmer pockets, it weighs 30 grams less than a Patagonia Ultralight Down Jacket. Totally redesigned for F13, the beloved Outdoor Research Chaos Jacket has replaced its Primaloft Eco insulation with higher-grade Primaloft One, which should give it an appreciable boost in warmth. It has also traded WINDSTOPPER shell fabric for Pertex Endurance, which is probably lighter and more packable; well have to get hands with it to find out.

As if that werent enough, Outdoor Research is also introducing the Halogen Hoody, a Primaloft One/Schoeller stretch woven hybrid piece. The concept is exactly the same as Black Diamonds forthcoming Access Jacket, so it would be interesting to do a side by side comparison. Floodlight, Halogen, FilamentIve only just noticed that this whole collection is lightbulb themed.

Fill Power Follies

MontBell made a splash at Outdoor Retailer by hanging their new Plasma 1000 jacket from a balloon. It's 5.2-ounce down sweater, stuffed full of 1,000-fill down, and wrapped in a 7-denier ripstop fabric. Its light, to be sure, but many down experts are skeptical of the 1000 fill claim. Theres no such thing as 1000 fill, Julia Friisbol told me at the Valandre booth. Craig Delger from ProLiteGear added In order to get a 1000 fill rating the down is measured at zero percent humidity, and the down has to be fluffed with warm air before the test is done. The instant it comes in contact with something humid (like your skin) it loses loft and loses its 1000 power fill rating. So while its impressive to watch the Plasma drift to the floor when dropped, it is being cast as a splashy concept marketing piece rather than a serious bit of kit.

MontBell isnt the only one claiming 1000 fill lately. Patagonia claimed the same for their Encapsil belay parka, and although it came out last spring, its such an outrageous item that it merits some explanation here. Patagonia claims that their process takes 800 fill down and turns it into 1000 fill, via a relatively benign silicon-based plasma-bonding process as opposed to the fluorocarbonbased wash-in techniques being used by competitors. They went on to say something about how it was the first independently baffled and differentially cut parka on the market, but that quote has since disappeared from their site. When I brought Patagonias claims to the attention of Valandres Niels Friisbol, he said it would more properly be called The best down parka ever madeby Patagonia! While he has great respect for Patagonias products and legacy, he noted that there doesnt appear to be anything special about the Encapsils baffle system, and he doubted that they could have achieved a full differential cut including the sleeves. OutdoorGearLab, meanwhile, panned Patagonias decision to omit a double opening zipper on a belay parka; Patagonia claims that this is to reduce the chance for zipper failure and because the Encapsil is low profile enough to be tucked under your harness, but OutdoorGearLab pointed out that no one likes wearing a belay parka that way.

Still to come: Shells, Skiwear, and Hardgoods