New From The North Face Now
A quick shuffle through TNF's latest clothing range which is appearing in outdoor shops right now and very nice some it is too. The low down on footwear and equipment coming soon.
Posted: 4 February 2005
by Jon
We've just been up to The North face's palatial Kendal
headquarters for a look at the new spring / summer 2005 kit which is
coming into the shops in the next few weeks and very nice it looks
too.
We were quite impressed with their arsenal of new lightweight
waterproof and windproof jackets and there are a couple of new
softshell ideas there too. Anyway, without further ado, here are some
selected highlights from the new TNF clothing range, in the shops and
on test shortly...
Coming soon, highlights of the footwear and equipment range.
Atmosphere XCR Jacket -
£200
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The name might be familiar, but the
fabric isn't - last year's Atmosphere used a Japanese Gore
fabric that was decently breathable, but not that llight, a
shame as the garment was TNF's answer to Paclite at the
time.
The new version uses Gore-Tex XCR, but a
very light version of that fabric, to produce a waterproof,
breathable shell jacket that weights in at a claimed 494
grammes. The new Gore Microtape helps reduce weight too. The
Atmosphere also gets a UK-friendly additional storm flap
over the main zip and is rated for extreme wet weather use
in Gore tests. The pockets vent through to the body and it
looks like it should be a robust, but light packable
fast-movers and lightweight packers jacket.
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Lightspeed Jacket - £180
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If the Atmosphere seems a bit heavy,
check out the Lighhtspeed, which is a 334-gramme hybrid
Paclite / XCR creation. The tops of the shoulders and
outsides of the sleeves are harder wearing Gore-Tex XCR
fabric, while the main body is the lightweight and breathble
Paclite variant.
TNF reckons this is one of the lightest
waterproof jackets around and we think it's the lightest
XCR/Paclite combi full stop. It also sports strange
Infusiuon strips to give extra protection to the elbow area,
which you'll either like in a Blakes's Seven sort of way, or
hate at first sight....
Interestingly for climbers looking for an
ultralightweight shell for use over softshell when the
weather turns proper nasty, the hood on the Lightspeed looks
like it'll be large enough to take a climbing
helmet.
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Prophecy Paclite Smock - £120
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And if you reckon the Lightspeed is a tad
heavy, then you'll ovbviously be wanting the Prophecy
Paclite Smock. It doesn't take a genius to work out that its
a Paclite Smock based on the existing Prophecy Jacket, but
it saves a whopping 110 grammes with its average claimed
weight of just 275 grammes. That's silly light for a
waterproof.
Again it gets Microtaped seams, an
adjustable, but smaller hood a single chest pocket and a
generous 3/4-length front zip that should give some decent
venting options when the goinng gets sticky. Good price
too.
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Stowaway Paclite Jacket - £130
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Last of the new TNF Gore-Tex waterproofs
for the spring is the Stowaway Paclite. Astonishingly for
The Nortth Face, it actually has a wired hood, well, more of
a dainty, microwire in fact, but hey, it's a step in the
right direction. Who knows, one day the others might get
something even more wired.
The big attraction of the Stowaway is
that while it isn't the lightest jacket out there at a
claimed 488 grammes, it uses a very soft face fabric for a
lovely, luxurious, soft feel. Unfortunately you can't see
that in the photo, but it really does feel very nice, if
that's your thing and would be ideal for a low level amble
to the pub.
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Stretch Venture Jacket - £100
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More lightweight waterproofing but this
time in TNF''s own HyVent fabric with added stretch for
freedom of movement. Like the Gore-Tex jackets it uses
microtape to save weight and up the effective breathable
area of the jacket.
You also get reflective piping, pockets,
core vent pockets, Velcro adjustable cuffs and a hem
drawcord, so you don't lose out on spec. Weight is a
feathery 328 grammes claimed, so virtually the same as the
Lightspeed but 80 quid cheaper.
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Sonic Hybrid Jacket - £70
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This looks an interesting multi-fabric,
very wind resistant top. The main body of the jacket is made
from TNF's shiny-looking polyester ripstop fabric
Hydrenalite while the side of the trunk and inside sleeves
are made from the stretchy Apex softshell fabric.
The Hydrenalite's lined with a brushed
Fieldsensor tricot fabric as well, which should make it a
little warmer than an unlined windproof and be ideal on
colder days when you want just a little more insulation.
We've been using a similar Patagonia jacket for ages and
it's superb for fast-moving activities on cold days and the
Sonic Hybrid looks like it'll have similar qualities. It's
not super light by today's standards at just over 300
grammes, but not exactly heavy either.
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Bicom Jacket - £60
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We like the look of this fella. The name
comes from the bicomponent nylon/polyester Hydrenalite
windproof fabric. The inner section is polyester and the
outer is nylon with the two knitted together . We're
guessing the polyester will be good for wicking and moisture
transport, while the nylon should be harder wearing and more
durable.
Nice soft lining to the collar and
handpockets too. Looks like a nice wind-resistant jacket
that takes some of the principles used with baselayer
fabrics and applies them to a shell layer. We're looking
forward to seeing if it wicks as well as breathes. Weight is
218 grammes, so nice and light too.
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Apex Magic Jacket - £120
The North Face's Apex softshell jacket has been around for couple
of years now and has always been a thoroughly decent softshell in
their own brand material at a respectable price. The one thing the
Apex 1 wasn't though, was neat. The seams have always been raised and
ragged looking.
The Magic changes all that. TNF has taken the basis of the Apex 1
and given it what they're calling 'magic' seams, geddit? The way it
works is that the seams are glued together then Apex tape is glued on
the back of the seam to produce a very neat, flat join that looks
loads better than the old-style seams and should also have
performance advantages, both by removing potentially rubbing raised
stitched areas and by upping the stretch of the garment.
All in all, it's a much neater garment, which while it shouldn't
matter, will definitely give it more, erm, hanger appeal than the
Apex 1. Think wind resistant softshell rather than windproof btw, but
with very good breathability.
Welded Omega Jacket -
£190
We've left arguably the most interesting till last - the Welded
Omega is made from Gore Windstopper soft shell fabric, but with an
ineresting new twist. The seams on the garment have been first welded
(glued) with a slight overlap, then TNF has run a layer of protective
Infusion on the outside of the seams to protect them.
The jacket isn't technically 'waterproof' and The North Face
wouldn't desribe it as such, but the Windstopper membrane itself
is effectively waterproof, and the combination of Infusion and
welded, overlapped seams should mean that it takes an awful lot of
rain for you you to get wet.
It's not a new idea, Mountain Hardwear has done similar things
with its Conduit-based Synchro softshell, but it's the first time
we've seen the concept used with Windstopper. We're thinking it'll
make a good alpine top, but may also be useable in the UK as a sort
of soft-feel waterproof with a technical fit. To increase usefulness,
it comes with a Hyvent 'emergency hood' , presumably for those lunch
stop emergency situations... Looks nice too, but not cheap at a
tenner under 200 quid.
For more information about The North Face, see their web
site.
Discuss this story
Have any of you folks had a test of this new jacket yet? I've tried it on and it seems pretty neat, but I'd be interested to hear how well it works "in the field". Chears :-)
Posted: 01/04/2005 at 15:05
*Bump* No one wants to talk to me... :-(
Posted: 03/05/2005 at 12:58
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