Lightweight Fleece-Lined Hooded Jacket, Wind & Water Resistant

Fleece on the inside, a shell that sheds a shower.

First light on a ridge with the wind coming straight across it, or standing on the hardstand in the dark waiting on a pre-start. A jumper is finished the moment the wind finds a way through it, and a plain rain shell is cold and clammy the second you stop moving.

Cold makes you slow and it makes you impatient. Impatient is where a bloke rushes the last task of the day, skips a step and puts a hand somewhere it should not have gone. Staying warm is not about comfort. It is about still paying attention at knock-off.

This one is built the other way round from a jumper. A woven outer face is bonded to a polar fleece backing, so the outside takes the wind and beads off drizzle while the fleece behind it does the warmth. One garment instead of two, with a two-way front zip, an attached hood, hook-and-loop cuffs and a cable port at the collar for an earphone lead.

What it is not is a wet-weather shell. The supplier's own detail panel calls the fabric water-repellent, and no membrane is named, no hydrostatic head is quoted in millimetres and no seam sealing is specified. Steady rain will find its way in. Six colourways, six sizes, and a real measurement chart in centimetres down in the Specs tab.

What It Does

• Takes the wind down: a woven outer face is the thing a bare knitted fleece has not got. The supplier prints the word windproof on its artwork but quotes no test behind it, so treat it as much better, not sealed.
• Sheds a shower: water beads and runs off the face fabric in the supplier's own soak photos. Good for the walk from the ute to the crib room, not for a day out in it.
• Warm without a second layer: polar fleece bonded to the back of the shell, so the warm bit is already in the jacket and you are not carrying two things.
• Keeps your lead out of the way: a port at the collar runs an earphone or comms cable inside the jacket instead of flapping across your chest and snagging on gear.
• Puts the phone where you can reach it: a chest pocket under a hook-and-loop flap and a zip chest pocket, so it is not buried in a hip pocket under a harness.
• On the skyline or off it: black, grey, sand and army green if you want a plain jacket, or two camouflage patterns if you are hunting and glassing.

Key Features

• Bonded two-layer build: a cut edge in the supplier photos shows the printed woven face laminated straight onto a black brushed fleece backing — no separate liner to twist or ride up.
• Attached hood: fleece-lined, sitting over a stand collar, drawn in by a cord through a metal eyelet each side. No detachment zip or studs appear in any supplier image.
• Two-way front zip: two sliders on the one chain, so you can open the bottom to sit down or drive without unzipping the whole jacket.
• Chest pockets: one under a hook-and-loop storm flap that swallows a phone, plus an angled zip pocket alongside it.
• Sleeve zip pockets: one on each upper arm, reachable with a pack on and a chest rig done up.
• Mesh-bagged hand pockets: two at the hips, bagged in mesh rather than solid fabric so they breathe and drain.
• Earphone cable port: a grommet at the collar, called out on the supplier's own feature panel as an earphone cable hole.
• Hook-and-loop cuffs: tabs on both sleeves to pull the cuff down over a glove gauntlet or open it up to vent.
• Loop patch panels: on both upper sleeves, for hook-backed patches.
• Shaped elbow panel: a separate sewn panel over each elbow, where a sleeve wears through first.
• Six colourways, six sizes: S through 3XL, with a supplier measurement chart in centimetres rather than a guess at a conversion.

Limits

• It is not waterproof: the word sits on one of the supplier's marketing images, and the supplier's own detail panel on the next image says water-repellent instead. No membrane is named, no hydrostatic head in millimetres is quoted and no taped seams are specified. We are not going to call it waterproof on the strength of a slogan. Drizzle and a passing shower, yes. A steady day of rain will get through it, and it will get through the stitching first.
• No wind rating either: windproof is printed on the artwork with no test, no standard and no figure behind it, so it is not repeated here as a specification.
• It is not ski wear: the supplier's lifestyle images carry the words lightweight ski-wear. There is no snow skirt, no water rating and no insulation figure on this jacket. It is a lined softshell, and on a lift in wet snow you will get wet.
• No temperature rating: the fleece is described as polar fleece and nothing else. No gsm, no fill weight, no comfort range. How warm it is depends on what you put under it.
• Fibre percentages are not stated: the fabric is listed as cotton, polyester and fleece with no breakdown and no fabric weight. The copy that used to sit on this page called it a heavy-duty cotton-polyester blend. That number never existed and it is gone.
• Go by the chart, not the letter: the supplier sizes by height and body weight, and those bands are Asian sizing. The garment chest, shoulder, sleeve and body length are all published in the Specs tab in centimetres — measure a jacket you already wear and compare it, rather than ordering the size you usually take.
• Camouflage is a pattern: a print on fabric, not a credential. It does not mean this jacket was issued to, approved by or affiliated with any armed service, and nothing on it is certified to any published standard.
• Not high-visibility: the whole point of camo and of a black jacket is being hard to see. Do not wear it roadside, around moving plant, or anywhere a hi-vis rule applies.
• Not flame resistant: no FR treatment or rating is specified, and a polyester face fabric is the wrong thing near hot work. Keep it away from grinding, welding and open flame.

Q & A

The title used to say waterproof. What changed?

We took it off, because we could not stand it up. The supplier prints waterproof on one marketing image and water-repellent on the next, and there is no membrane, no millimetre rating and no seam sealing anywhere in what it publishes. A fleece-lined jacket with a beading finish is water resistant, so that is what it says now. The web address still has the old word in it — changing that would break every link pointing at this page, so it stays.

Will it keep me dry in rain?

In drizzle and a passing shower, yes. In steady rain, no. Water beads and rolls off the face fabric, but the seams are not sealed and there is no membrane behind it, so give it long enough and it will wet out. If you are working a wet day, put a shell over the top of this.

Is the hood detachable?

No zip or press-stud line appears around the hood base in any supplier image, and the supplier does not state that it comes off. Treat it as fixed. It is fleece lined, sits over a stand collar and pulls in around your face on a drawcord through a metal eyelet each side.

What size do I order?

The supplier sizes it by height and body weight — S covers 160–165 cm (1600–1650 mm) and 55–60 kg, up to 3XL at 185–190 cm (1850–1900 mm) and 95–105 kg. It also publishes the garment itself: chest, shoulder, sleeve and body length in centimetres, all in the Specs tab. That chart is the thing to trust. Measure a jacket that fits you and match it, and if you want a jumper underneath take the next size up.

What are CP and Black CP?

Camouflage patterns. CP is the tan, green and brown multi-terrain print; Black CP is the same layout in black, grey and brown. The other four — black, grey, sand and army green — are plain. The supplier does not spell out what the letters stand for, so go by the swatch on the option rather than the code.

How long does delivery take?

Ten to fourteen days from the day you order, and allow up to three weeks. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand. Regional and remote addresses run longer again.

Specs

Size Chart

Supplier figures, in centimetres. Chest, shoulder, sleeve and length are the garment; height and weight are the wearer the supplier is aiming that size at. Nothing here has been converted or estimated.