New gear highlight: Non quilted down jackets review
Is this the future of down jackets? Nowadays, all down jackets are quilted to keep the down in place.
It doesn’t matter to me that a jacket looks puffy, the look of the jacket isn’t high on the list of considerations. What really matters is weight and packability.
However, new product innovations show retailers have been toying with the idea of non-quilted down. How does this work though, and keep the down from piling? Non-quilted has been created partially for it’s cleaner appearance, but for me personally I don’t care too much about the look of quilted versus non-quilted, I just want a jacket to keep me warm and not pile to create cold spots. (link: https://www.adventure-journal.com/2017/08/eddie-bauer-evertherm/) One disadvantage of down jackets is the tendency for the down to pile within the quilts over time, creating cold spots. when this happens to your jacket, you should wash it and throw it in the dryer with a couple of dryer balls, or tennis balls, to re-fluff (read how to take care of your down jacket here).
How does it work?
Thindown is basically sheets of down feathers bound together and pressed between a thin liner. The down sheets are pressed together into a soft, light layer, where the features can’t move around, clump or shift. The solid layer of down stays together without baffles or quilts, and this method of construction means it’s much thinner, lighter and uniform. The consistent layer of down eliminates annoying cold spots caused by down shifting.
The Eddie Bauer Evertherm jacket is the one you can get with Thindown technology. The shell is a DWR treated nylon that sheds water easily in light precipitation. It’s remarkably similar wearing to a synthetic insulated jacket, but much warmer and lighter.
The only disadvantage is compressibility, but that being said, it’s still highly compressible.
The main goal here is to have an even layer of insulation which doesn’t shift or pile, like it tends to do (eventually) with baffled jackets.
The first gear manufacturer to create this is Eddie Bauer, and the down is called Thindown. They have a patent on this technology which expires in 2018, so watch for new manufacturers creating more of these styles of jackets. The Evertherm jacket uses Thindown.
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