A 320-gramme down jacket plus lots more as Rab updates its range for this winter.
We thought you might like a quick run down of what's new for this
autumn/winter 2008
from the nice people at
Rab,
so we popper over yesterday for a quick preview and an audience with
Rab's Neil Mcadie. This is all kit that's appearing in the shops right
now.
Down Clothing
Down's one of Rab's biggest strengths and they've been making some
interesting tweaks to existing jackets as well as bringing in a couple
of neat new ones including a cracking-looking ultra-lightweight top in
several different versions.
One thing they're keen to point out is that all Rab down clothing now
uses their own hand-selected European goose down - no Chinese down and
no cheaper duck down, it's all pulled out of geese - the down is
shipped to either Alfreton or Rab's suppliers in the Far East for
stuffing. Additionally all the fabrics used for the down clothing are
Pertex materials for high performance.
One jacket that's had some tweaks is the £220
Summit Jacket - for
starters the outer fabric is slightly lighter this year, but also
stronger, being 30-denier Pertex Endurance rather than the older
50-denier version. The main change is to the shoulder area where down
filling is overlaid with an area of quilted synthetic insulation. Two
reasons: first synthetic filling works better when compressed, as with
a pack. Second, sharp objects, like shoulder bones, tend to cut through
the down leaving a cold spot. The Peak Smock and the women's Summit
Jacket get the same changes.
Completely new is the
Ascent
Jacket in both men's and women's versions. It uses 650+
fill power European goose down in a coated Pertex Endurance, 50-denier
shell for a more robust feel and is intended as a general purpose
winter jacket with stitch-through construction, a detachable hood and
handwarmer pockets.
It's not as out and out light as some of Rab's higher-end jacket with a
typical weight of 830 grammes, but should still be a cracking
all-rounder. The shoulder issue has been addressed here too with
narrower baffles stabilising the down in this area. Price is
£150 and
it's the closest thing to an 'entry level jacket' that Rab now sells.
The women's version, on the right above, looks particularly nice.
New Microlight Range
Last but very definitely not least, there's a completely new concept
for Rab in the form of the brand new
Microlight range of
tops. The Microlights use narrow micro-baffles and very light fabrics
to minimise weight and maximise the insulation value of the down -
about 125 grammes of 650+ fill power goose down in the hoodless jacket
version for example.
The lining fabric is ultra-lightweight Pertex Quantum, while the outer
is slightly tougher, but still light, Pertex Microlight with a DWR
treatment. The jackets aren't intended to be as warm as traditional
down jackets, they're more of a tiny-packing, lightweight alternative
to synthetically-filled tops like Rab's own Photon Hoodie - something
you can carry without noticing it, but still keeps you warm when you
stop.
'They extend the down year', says Mcadie, who reckons they'll be ideal
for lightweight backpacking, mountain marathons, cycle touring and so
on from autumn through to spring. Rab's Photon Hoodie weighs around 470
grammes, the equivalent hooded Microlight Alpine - below - tips the
scales at a claimed 340 grammes and is also slightly warmer.
Logically we'd expect them to be best suited to cold, dry environments,
with the Photon being more suited to the damp, but with care, they
should be very useable. We'll let you know how we get on with our test
Alpine. There are men's and women's Microlight Jackets, priced
£120 and weighing around 320g and 310g respectively with 120
grammes of down fill. The Alpine, £130 with a hood, 340g and
with 165g of down. And Microlight vests in men's and women's versions,
£80 with a weight of 250g and 130g of down.
And you even get handwarmer pockets and, as usual, the women cop the
nicer colours :-)
New Women's Photon Hoodie
Also new for lasses is a women's version of the
Primaloft-filled
Photon
Hoodie - like the Microlight it uses Pertex Quantum inner
and Microlight outer fabrics but with a synthtic fill making it around
100 grammes heavier but more amenable to damp conditions use. The arms
and hood use 60g Primaloft, the main body 100g Primaloft to improve
mobility and pretty obviously, the new jacket's styled to fit the
female form. Priced at
£100.
There are also new Primaloft trousers - the
Photon Pants - which
are intended for serious expedition use or, presumably, by people who
get very cold legs... They also weigh in at
£100.
What's In The Pipeline
While he was hiding behind the Photon Hoodie - above -
Neil also gave us a top secret sneak look at some of next year's Rab
kit. He made us swear on our digital life that we wouldn't reveal too
much, but we can tell you that while Rab's well-regarded eVent
waterproof range remains unchanged for this autumn, there will some
additions early next year.
You can expect a couple of lightweight eVent waterproof jackets. One
quite minimalist version aimed primarily at climbers with a fixed hood
and a slightly more walking orientated one, that looks ace. Both of
them will tip the scales at between 300 and 400 grammes, so not quite
as nuts as some of the sub-200g stuff out there, but still respectably
light and benefiting from eVent's excellent breathabilty levels.
Vapour-rRise might just get a lighter variant as well, still with a
highly breathable and very weather resistant Pertex Equilibrium outer,
but in a lighter form, and a lighter Powerdry liner. Should be ace for
warmer conditions where even standard Vapour-rise can get too warm.
There's also a very, very nice new range of Rab baselayers....
Any more and Neil'll be round to break our legs, so we'd best shut up.
Oh, and thanks for the cake... You can see the full Rab range on line
at
www.rab.uk.com.
