New Karrimor Clothing For 2001

A couple of weeks back we brought you scoop news of the latest Karrimor rucksacks, which should be in the shops next month, evil gear blockades and petrol shortages permitting. But the Karrimor elves have been hard at their sewing machines making new clothes for the Spring, so here's a sneak preview of a couple of the more interesting things.

Plus the mystery of the Alpiniste fleece jacket, does it use Airecore for 2001 or not?

Active Range

It's not new, but we just had to mention the fabulously named Phantom Pants - brilliant. 'Has anyone seen my Phantom Pants? Eh? Very Emperor's New Clothes. For information, they're made from Gore-Tex PacLite material and match the Phantom Jacket.

Genuinely new however are a bucket of multi-sport tops: the Storm Smock, which uses two-layer Gore-Tex Saturn for a fast-moving, light-packing garment and the Tsunami Jacket - funny how that always sounds like the Japanese for 'Toon Army' - which looks like a jacket version of the same garment and also uses the two-layer Gore-Tex Saturn fabric.

Both have a neck cinch, rollaway hoods (as distinct from rollaway kidnappers) chest pockets, micro-fleece-line collars, mmmmm... reflective bits and the facility to stow away in their own map pockets.

Also new is the Vapour Jacket an ultra-lightweight, breathable and waterproof jacket which uses what Karrimor describe as a 'non clammy laminate'. Fully-taped seams, rollway hood, reflective trims, vented back etc. And cheaper too.

Moving on, Karrimor is doing some interesting stuff with Polartec's new Windbloc fabric in the shape of the new Zephyr Jacket and Zephyr Gilet. They both use a microfleece outer and PowerDry wicking inner to make for, hopefully, a lighter, more breathable, less clammy windproof experience.

Finally, on the windproof front, there's the Shadow Gilet, which is, er, a windproof gilet. And if your inital reaction is so what, then chuck one on and go mountain biking. These things work superbly when you need to keep your torso warm.

Elsewhere there's a new travel range sporting a nifty line in South American names - Nazca, Irupana, Cusco, Attacama etc, but the Alpiniste range of warmwear including the popular Alpiniste fleece jacket remains largely unchanged though, come to think of it, the Alpiniste Jacket is now listed as using Polartec's hollow-fibred, lighter-weight Aircore fleece. So what's that all about then?