Paid a flying visit to Guildford at the weekend, and spotted some new products in Millets. They have a Peter Storm Soft Shell jacket, in a Schoeller Dynamic-alike fabric for £45. And it really didn't seem too bad. It had a couple of hip pockets (too low for hip belt or harness), and a chest pocket rather like one on the Mammut Champ, quite natty hem adjust cords, velcro cuffs and a stand collar. The fabric seemed quite nice, with a softer inner face, and good degree of stretch. They haven't quite got the hang of the Soft Shell ethos, though, as the sleeves were quite baggy, and the cut of the raglan shoulders didn't seem quite right.
They also had a synthetic duvet jacket with a Supplex nylon shell, which gave it a very soft feel. It was fairly heavily stuffed with an unidentified filling, so wouldn't compress so small, I suspect (I didn't try stuffing it into its chest stow pocket). My brain has lost the price, but it was as can be expected for Peter Storm. It was close fitting, and felt very like the TNF Nupste when on, with a close fit around the back and kidneys.
However, true to more usual Millets form, there's no mention of it on their website, and it wasn't in the Reading store when I got home to have a closer look at it, and the staff didn't know of any expected new stock (it was Sunday staff, after all).
If and when they arrive in my local shop, I'll take a closer look at them, but they certainly looked quite promising.
I has 4.5 hours to waste round Ambleside on Saturday while Bob was walking and for the portion while I was actually awake, I wandered around the local Millets.
Some of the own-branded fleece stuff looks really nice - stuff I would be very happy to wear in a ski resort / pub - nice styling and fabrics etc. I think it was PS too.
Yes, they always have had some products that are almost up there with the 'big boys'; their CoolMax T-shirts, microfleece pullovers and nylon trousers. I use these three extensively, in spite of all the expensive stuff I own.
The trouble is, they don't seem to know when they've got a good product, or why, from a technical point-of-view. So they change the design for reasons of 'fashion', swap the fabrics in a product for something completely inferior, etc. And the designs are never quite 'there'; there's often something wrong with the cut that would cost almost nothing to correct, just a bit more care in pattern cutting (the CoolMax T's are a perfect fit for me, though). This is certainly true of the soft shell jacket I saw; it offended me to see what looked like quite a good fabric being put into a jacket which, with a bit of design tweaking to sleeves and shoulders, could be a really good product, and yet add nothing to the price of the item.
This makes it very hard to recommend a Peter Storm product to someone, because it's not a consistent product. I'd only suggest people go and look and see what they have, and make a judgement themselves.
It's as if their design & manufacture process produces some good products more by luck than planning...
I still can't get Jon to add Peter Storm to the list of manufacturers, though, despite three attempts. Must be a label snob... Oh, hang on, he didn't add Cloudveil, either, so bang goes that theory... ;-)
emhhh,label snobbery not just resticted to jeans and perfume?I have millets base layers in the form of cool max t-shirts and thermals and cant for the life of me see why I spent 10 times the price for berghaus and 2.5 times the price for H Hensen!!! but hey im A skin-flint and they do the job!infact when I have A choice(both clean) ill always use the p storms/millets but as our priceless? captain says like any shop/product go and have a look and make youre own mind up.
My large kit collection ranges from Patagonia, Cloudveil and Arc'teryx, down to Peter Storm, Aldi and Primark.
My main reservation with recommending the cheaper end stuff is, as I said above, the lack of product consistency. You might find something that's really great, but it may not be the same product in another branch, or in a couple of months' time, I assume because of some variable sourcing policy.
If I recommend something from Patagonia (etc.), I know that it's going to be the same as, or at least as good as, the product I've seen.
Sorry plebs had A really good cheese and wine afternoon yesterday and I may not have been my usual lucid,subtle self. I usually have between 2 and 4 ankle bitters whizzing around and very rarely have an opportunity to concentrate fully on A posting. sorry jj if my punctuation is sub standard but those nasty A level examiners prevented me continuing my education,or was it the year out that became 20?
Don't worry Ju, you're more lucid than Jon Faro used to be - he has now become legible - years back his posts were the stuff of legends! :o)
So when are you going to tell us what "R.E last p of last post." means, then???
You ought to do your A-levels again - it's only 4% of marks for quality of written communication nowadays - that's assuming that the examiner can understand what you've written in the first place lol.
So, the plebs had a really good cheese and wine afternoon, but how did that affect your postings?
And you usually have between 2 and 4 ankle bitters whizzing around. That's not a brewery I'm familiar with. Where are they based? Is it a hoppy brew, or malty?
;-)
Anyway, about this soft shell jacket I saw in Millets...
JJ I could never spell Versaille and my writing resembled a spider but really got the cycling bug after my A levels and just couldn,t go back. Might of been read last paragraph of last post but 10 bottles of wine between 6 it could of meant anythink,cheeses,wine all French and tres bonne! now about that jacket....re last p of th 5!
Right, after a return trip to Guildford, as my local branch didn't have them in yet, I am now the proud owner of both a Peter Storm Soft Shell jacket, and a Peter Storm 90% white goose down jacket. Price for the two: £76.50, with 10% BMC discount.
I'd suggest that anyone considering buying a Scholler Dynamic jacket go and have a look at the Peter Storm soft shell. I am really quite impressed.
Peter Storm Soft Shell jacket product code 04 1034 43, rrp £45 Uses Hyosung Mipan Aqua-F fabric, 87% nylon, 13% spandex. Basically, a Schoeller Dynamic clone, but with a soft brushed inner face. 7-panel construction body. full-length YKK zip, with lycra-bound flap. zipped hip pockets, with zipper 'garages'. zipped Napoleon chest pocket, with concealed zip (like Mammut New Age). Won't take a map. Raglan, 3-panel sleeve with velcro cuff. close-fitting stand collar. drop hem with captive elasticated drawcord. Cut to allow wearing 200 weight fleece underneath There's a bit of cuff and hem pull when the arms are raised, but nothing terrible.
Then there's the down jacket, that I previously thought was synthetic.
Peter Storm Packjack jacket product code 04 1032 42 rrp £40 reversible down jacket 90% white goose down, 10% feather double shell, with du Pont Tactel outer shell hip pockets on both sides Napoleon stuff pocket, holds OS map cap sleeve with elasticated cuff stand collar full length YKK zip, but no flap (since reversible) drop hem with single elasticated toggle at the side nice, close fit; will fit over 100 weight fleece. It's not the greatest down jacket on earth; slightly overstuffed, a bit heavy (due to overstuffing and double shell), and lacking a zip baffle, but it seems warm and comfortable. It'll certainly do for casual use.
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