15 Comments

1. Brian
   Posted December 12, 2012 at 7:06 pm | Permalink

   Nicely done.

2. Mehmet
   Posted December 12, 2012 at 9:17 pm | Permalink

   A good list. Gosh, does Arcteryx ever look overpriced compared to those other offerings.

   You should do a down jacket/coat hunt next

3. Chris
   Posted December 13, 2012 at 8:24 am | Permalink

   Can someone explain to me why “down-free” is desirable?

4. Badi
   Posted December 13, 2012 at 8:30 am | Permalink

   I have the Outdoor Research Neoplume jacket and I love it. I was wearing it in Chicago over Thanksgiving in 30 degree weather with nothing but a t-shirt underneath. Insulated jackets are weird because they are so light when you put them on you can’t believe they’d keep you warm, but they do an amazing job!

5. Yo Chi
   Posted December 13, 2012 at 10:24 am | Permalink

   @Chris – Some people have ethical concerns over the sourcing of down, i.e.- whether or not it was plucked from live fowl, or just the fact that it comes from an animal. If that’s not a concern of yours, there are some other benefits to synthetic insulation as well. For instance, once down gets wet it quickly loses its loft and therefore its ability to insulate, whereas synthetic fills better retain their insulating properties when wet. This might not be a huge problem for most urban folks, but if you live someplace where it’s wet a considerable portion of the year then a synthetic fill jacket might actually be preferable.

6. Brad
   Posted December 13, 2012 at 11:00 am | Permalink

   @Chris @Yo Chi – Some good points Yo Chi. Also, some people are allergic to down. Like me.

7. Gio
   Posted December 13, 2012 at 3:07 pm | Permalink

   KUIU, while a Canadian company, in fact manufactures all of their products in China now. I cannot comment on the treatment of workers or about the sustainability of the supply chain, as none of this information is available on the website.

   Unless a statement could be obtained about the manufacturing process from KUIU, they should probably be left off of this list.

8. Gio
   Posted December 13, 2012 at 3:15 pm | Permalink

   Oh, and American Apparel now carries a down jacket, but I’ve never seen one in stores, only on the website. Quality, I suspect, is probably the usual American Apparel hit (I have a hoodie from them that looks a week old after almost ten years of wear) or miss (pocket on my pocket T shirt fell off after a week)

   http://store.americanapparel.net/product/?productId=rsapp401

   Price isn’t bad, and it’s reversible with a hood. $149

9. Brad
   Posted December 13, 2012 at 3:43 pm | Permalink

   @Gio – Per this blog post: http://blog.kuiu.com/2011/03/01/spindrift-jacket/ The KUIU jacket is made in Vancouver.

10. Gio
    Posted December 13, 2012 at 4:30 pm | Permalink

    @Brad – yes, but that was over a year ago. Per this blog post from October of this year, all of their lines are now made in China, at a Toray factory outside Shanghai:

    http://blog.kuiu.com/2012/10/10/vertical-supply-chain/

    There has been push-back against them on hunting and archery forums as well, apparently given that KUIU built their initial reputation on being one of the few high-quality, medium-priced offerings made in North America.

    It’s annoying, but it is what it is.

11. Brad
    Posted December 13, 2012 at 4:41 pm | Permalink

    @Gio – That’s unfortunate. Post has been updated. Thanks for doing the legwork.

12. Gio
    Posted December 13, 2012 at 4:50 pm | Permalink

    @Brad – no worries. I sent an email to KUIU on the off-chance they manufactured their goods somewhat ‘responsibly’ – but if past experience is any indication, the email will be either ignored or answered with a brush-off like ‘we have good relationships with the factories’ etc.

13. Michael Boardman
    Posted December 15, 2012 at 2:30 am | Permalink

    At Wild Things you can dial in the type and amount of insulation you desire. Now offering PrimaLoft SPORT, PrimaLoft ONE, and PrimaLoft ECCO in 2 and 4 ounce offerings.

14. Brad
    Posted December 19, 2012 at 4:11 pm | Permalink

    @Gio – Just received the following from KUIU:

    “The Spindrift Jacket is indeed made in Canada by Tamoda Apparel Manufacturing in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Transparency in his business model is one quality that KUIU founder, Jason Hairston, takes pride in, and he’s always willing to speak with anyone and everyone about KUIU at any chance he gets.”

15. KORN
    Posted December 19, 2012 at 7:27 pm | Permalink

    What a great list! Am always looking for down free jackets…since I have ethical concerns over the manufacturing of down…and it does not work well when wet. Great to see that some companies are now offering different weights on the primaloft. Thanks for the list!