We popped up to Kendal yesterday for a quick look at Lowe Alpine's
autumn 2010 range of outdoors clothing - no new packs until 2011 - and
we thought you'd appreciate a quick browse through a selection of
waterproofs, soft shells and insulation.
New Waterproof Jacket
Lowe brought back Triplepoint Ceramic, or near as damnit, in 2009 in
the shape of the
Flash
Jacket and for this winter it gets a new
stablemate, the
Serac
Jacket, which was apparently designed for the Norwegian
market.
It uses the same Triplepoint Dynamic fabric containing 'ceramic
technology' with distinctive soft feel and metallic-look liner and has
many of the same features like Swivelsight helmet hood, the big
multi-adjustable chin guard.
Where it differs is in having full pit-zips in place of the Flash's
vents in the rear of the upper arm for more ventilation and,
surprisingly, Napoleon pockets rather than the more versatile
hand-warmer ones on the Flash. It's priced at
£220,
which is £20 more than the Flash, which will also be in the
range.
Polartec PowerShield Pro
Jacket
See our
blog post, but the Lowe Alpine
PowerShield Pro Jacket uses a new Polarte soft shell fabric that's
actually waterproof, but still highly breathable, though not quite as
breathable as normal PowerShield.
It's a neat, hooded soft shell jacket complete with droptail and a
warm, orange microfleece liner making it a proper, cold conditions
shell. It should be nigh on waterproof, though there's some confusion
over whether all the seams on the jacket are taped. It's slightly
stretchy and feels lovely on with a close-ish, neat, technical cut.
Price is £200, so while it may be more breathable than a
waterproof, it has similar price tag.
Puman Jacket
The Puma is a rather more affordable soft shell top made in a simple,
hoodless jacket design from Stormweaa closely woven, stretch
polyester fabric with two pockets and a soft-lined hood. It's wind and
water resistant and will cost £80.
Insulation...
Three insulated jackets, the yellow one on the left is the
Spindrift Jacket
which uses a waterproof Triplepoint shell with a lining made from
Lowe's own synthetic insulation called Loweloft - hmmm... The shell's
taped so it's completely waterproof and relatively warm -
£200.
Then there's the one we really like the look of on the right, the
Magma Hoodie which
is basically a PrimaLoft One filled belay jacket with a tough,
water-resistant nylon micro rip-stop outer. The hoodless variant is the
blue jacket in the centre and they will retail for £120 and
£130 respectively.
Fluffy Fleece
The
Manalishi
Jacket also comes in hooded and hoodless versions and
looks like a giant teddy bear costume with a new Polartec high-loft
Thermal Pro fleece to give a whole load of compressible insulation. The
fabric's slightly stretchy, so gives a good fit without needing any
stretch inserts and it feels lovely on. Price is £100 for the
hoodie and £90 for the jacket.
Stealth Hoodie
Remember the Lowe Alpine Ninja Hoodie with the Spiderman looks?
Unfortunately it's been chopped because it simply became too expensive
to continue with, but it has a spiritual successor in the shape of the
new
Stealth Hoodie
made from unusual Aleutian Macro Grid fleece which traps extra air
between the grids to save weight and bulk.
It's close fitting, has a hood and, like the Ninja, should be ideal for
layering under close-fitting technical shell clothing. The back is
scooped for additional warmth. Price with be
£70.
Not All Power Stretch Is
The Same...
Last but not least, if you've ever wondered why one Lowe
Alpine PowerStretch top retails for £90 and another, similar
one, is just £60, here's an explanation. The one on the left,
expertly modelled by Lowe PR guru, Clive, is the expensive one because
while the inner is a polyester stretch fleece, the outer fabric is
actually hard-wearing Nylon, so in the longer term, the fabric will be
more durable.
The other top uses a cheaper fabric which has a less durable polyester
face. If you want to know what sort of PowerStretch you're looking at,
check the garment label to see if there's a Nylon content, in this case
38% of the fabric is nylon.
All the above will be available from late summer. Information on the
current Lowe Alpine range can be found at
www.lowealpine.com.
