Used as an every day jacket - Handles the unpredictable British weather with ease
I've been wearing this as an every day jacket for about two months now and have found that it handles all kinds of weather with ease. It rains a lot in the UK. It's wet here more than it is dry and this jacket handles the wet, humid, windy cold brilliantly.
I underestimated how warm the full weight fabric is and I'm glad there are generous zip-vents that start from above the hip and go all the way up to the elbow. It's easy to cool off if you've misjudged the temperature or built up too much heat.
The wind has a hard time piercing the fabric. When it does get through, I'd say only 10-20% of it gets through. This of course depends on the speed of the wind though. There was one day where we had 43km/h wind and I hardly felt any of it coming through. When it did, it was actually pleasant as it cooled me down somewhat.
One of the first things I noticed when putting this jacket on is how heavy duty and substantial it feels. The construction is solid and becomes apparent how well put together it is as soon as it drapes over you. The hood is extremely generous and you can really fall into it if you don't adjust it. It can be worn either way - reaper-hood deep - where it practically creates a protective cone in front of your face or you can adjust it so that your view opens up but still blocks the rain from hitting your face. Another small detail I like is the knit cuffs. I believe these are 100% merino knit cuffs but they don't feel like typical knit merino. They have a ruggedness to them. Normal knit merino is stretchy, too breathable and fragile. These knit cuffs feel more like a dense net that will never break. They don't have much give in them and wrap over your wrists and hands snugly.
This is not stated in the description - but this jacket has a two way YKK zipper which I was relieved to see upon opening the package.
I came upon a nice coincidence wearing this jacket for the first time. There are two internal pockets. I placed my rechargeable hand warmers - one in each internal pocket. Then, when I put my hands into the front pockets, the handwarmers would push heat out into the front pockets - exactly where my hands rest! The hand warmers can also be placed in the sleeve pockets if you prefer extra heat near your wrists. After my first few wears I realised the hand warmers were a bit overkill and the jacket already did a fine job of keeping my torso warm but still, pretty cool how that worked out.
The neck guard is very well designed. Towards the top, the zip snakes to the side of your chin. This is a design choice to help block wind instead of having it go through the zipper and directly into the center of your neck. The neck guard has three layers in the middle of the neck area. One, the chin guard, to protect from the zipper. Then a second and third layer from either side of the jacket - they overlap. Realistically, I can't see any wind penetrating this neck area with 3 layers of full weight fabric in the way.
The front pockets are enormous. You can put your hands in the pockets and move them right up near the shoulder area. The pockets go really high up into the jacket. You can fit insane amounts of stuff in them. I was able to fit in two large pay card machines in each pocket at work. The other day I went to dispatch a parcel and just put it in the interior drop pocket. It's very handy. At first I wasn't fond of how big they were but they've grown on me.
The hood is very big and I think it's been designed to be big enough for a helmet. One thing I dislike is when you have it down, it rests against the back of your head. This is a bit irritating as the fabric is thick. I've noticed this issue is worsened if you're wearing a backpack. To get around it, I've started folding the hood inward towards itself. I find it's not fully against the back of my head this way.
Something else to consider if you're looking to use this as an every day jacket - due to the design of the jacket, with the dolman sleeves and the sleeve pockets, there are 3-4 thick seams throughout the interior sleeve area. If you are not wearing a mid layer, they can be noticeable against the skin. When skiing I suppose you'd be wearing multiple layers and so the seams would not be an issue but as I only wear a t-shirt under this jacket, I can feel the seams on my arms.
This is very much a practical piece and is designed as such but can definitely be used as an every day garment if you like the all-in-one features such as the neck guard, knit cuffs, HUGE pockets, huge hood etc.
