High spec. Gore Windstopper soft shell jacket made by a British company in Britain and at a good price too - what did we make of it?
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Freestyle Altitude Jacket
Tested
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Price:
£129.00
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Weight: 540 grammes (men's
medium)
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Features: Gore-Tex
Royal Race Windstopper fabric, volume-adjustable hood with
shockcords, warer-resistant front zip, venting pockets with
water-resistant zips, seamless shoulders, elasticated
shock-cord hem, Lycra cuffs, black or blue.
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Great fabric
Cut too loose for maximum efficiency
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The
Concept A Gore-Tex Windstopper soft shell jacket made - shock,
horror - by a British company in Britain. Freestyle has a background
in mountain-biking kit, but is branching out into more general
outdoors clothing, so joins the select band of UK companies still
manufacturing in the UK.
The jacket itself is a totally windproof all-round mountain top
which should be water resistant enough to wear in anything short of a
heavy downpour, though the design was honed and the fabrics tested in
the Alps. No bad thing because that's where we reckon Windstopper
works best in a cold, dry, alpine environment.
Features More about the fabric in the next section, but the
jacket is nicely featured with a built-in, adjustable, but
non-stowable hood, big venting chest pockets that clear a harness or
pack belt, shock-corded hem and a main water-resistant zip with a
backing flap. The pocket zips too are water-resistant and the lining
is a mesh for venting use.
In Action Of the Windstopper fabrics we've used, this is one
of the best. Called Royal Race, it has a minimalist diamond patterned
lining that protects the membrane from abrasion, but maximises access
to it. Freestyle chose it after testing various options in the Alps
and it does seem to be slightly freer breathing than other
Windstopper fabrics we've tried.
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Royal Race version of Windstopper
works well
but doesn't feel as tough as some other
Gore WS Soft Shell fabrics
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Unfortunately it's still not quite breathable enough if you run hot
in UK conditions, but based on previous experience, we reckon it'd be
ideal for cold, dry, high mountain conditions. It's totally windproof
and water resistance - the fabric itself is waterproof, but the seams
are untaped - is very good until you reach deluge levels.
Most of the features are pretty well thought out too with
comfortable Lycra cuffs, a drawcorded waist and an adjustable hood.
We reckon Freestyle need to take another look at the cut of the
jacket though. Their bike kit is nicely tapered and close fitting
which helps breathability and reduces billowing under pack straps and
harnesses. Unfortunately the Atmosphere is much looser which reduces
the effectiveness of the fabric slightly as well as making it
slightly heavier than it needs be.
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Handy adjustable hood - lower
adjuster tightens
neck closure making for snug fit
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It's maybe harsh to compare it with a soft shell top costing roughly
twice as much from Arc'teryx, but swapping between the two emphasised
the point. Of course, if you're a big lad, the looseness might be a
positive boon, but for anyone with a more athletic build would be
better with a closer, more tapered fit we reckon.
Looking beyond the cut, UK performance is good and weather
protection excellent with the hood coming in handy for stops and when
the wind gets up - it's nice too that the hood is adjustable. It
shrugs off light showers happily enough, though it would be even
better with an effective DWR. On our test jacket, water also leaked
badly through the embroidered 'Freestyle Performance' badge on the
left sleeve, though hopefully this will be fixed on production
jackets.
As we said earlier we find Windstopper isn't quite breathable
enough for high tempo UK use if you run hot, though the venting
pockets help reduce overheating. If you run cool though it works well
and previous experience suggests that it'll function better in high
mountain conditions than in humid Britain.
It's great to be using a British manufactured Gore-Tex product and
the Atmosphere has some very positive points. The Royal Race
Windstopper fabric seems particularly effective, though it doesn't
feel quite as robust as some of the Windstopper Soft Shell materials
we've encountered.
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Water-resistant zips complete
with neat zipper
garages make for slick looks
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Weather protection is good and you can use it in anything short of
heavy rain and stay pretty dry, though we're not convinced that
Windstopper generally is suited to those who run hot in UK
conditions. Our biggest problem though is with the cut of the jacket.
As it stands it's simply a little too sack like and loose for maximum
effectiveness. That's a shame because Freestyle's biking shells are
cut much more neatly and we think the design would work as well for
the outdoors. Hopefully as Freestyle refine their designs, things
will get even better though larger built users may like things just
the way they are.
Finally while the price of just under £130 isn't cheap, it's
actually considerably less than you'd pay for a hooded Windstopper
soft shell from any other brand we're aware of, which makes it a
relatively decent price.
If all that sounds harsh, it's not mean to be. A lot of this
jacket is very impressive with good detailing from the hood, through
the seamless shoulders, down to the lycra wrist cuffs. It's just one
revision from being very good indeed.
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Performance
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Value
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Pushed for time:
Generally well-designed and thought out Windstopper soft
shell jacket, we like the fabric and features like the
venting pockets and the adjustable hood. Weather protection
is good being wind proof and very water resistant, but we do
think the cut could be a lot more tailored which would
improve both fit and efficiency. An interesting start though
from a small British company manufacturing in the
UK.
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