If you take a moment to do a little bit of people watching, you will notice that nearly every second person will be wearing what we used to call a “puffer jacket”. These days they are not just for the avid adventurer, insulated jackets have become a staple in everyone’s wardrobe and there is such a variety of them that it is easy to get overwhelmed by the choice.
There are now quite a wide range of fills available, and each comes with its pros and cons, so it’s about deciding which one best suits your needs.
Synthetic: These used to be the underdogs of the insulated jackets, but as technology has improved so has the ability to imitate what nature provides. Synthetic fill jackets now are able to imitate the properties of down and yet remain water resistant enabling you to use your jacket in wet conditions.
The downside in the past has been the warmth-to-weight ratio, however, new synthetic insulation, seen in some of the high-end technical jackets have been engineered to resemble to warmth-to-weight ratios of down, and others have developed synthetic fill that is able to breathe in high-output activities.
Down jackets were always considered the penultimate in insulation. The down (usually geese or duck) has an incredibly high warmth-to-weight ratio and is the best insulator (pound-for-pound) in the world. It’s lightweight and packs down incredibly small. The main downside of the down-filled jackets is that they lose their heat retaining ability if they get wet. This has been counteracted with the development of water-resistant down.
