Fleece-Lined Softshell Jacket with Hood

The wind is what gets you, not the cold.

You are out of the ute at first light and the gauge says eight degrees, which sounds survivable right up until the wind comes across open ground. A knitted jumper does nothing about that. The wind goes straight through the knit and takes your body heat out with it, and by smoko you are stiff, slow and clumsy — which is where the trips, the dropped tools and the incident reports start.

A softshell works differently. The face fabric is woven tight enough to stop the wind and shed light rain, and it is bonded to a fleece liner that holds on to the heat you are already making. You get the wind block of a shell and the warmth of a fleece in one layer, without the bulk of wearing both.

This one is made by TACVASEN. It is a hooded softshell with a full-length zip, elastic cuffs, a drawcord hem and six zipped pockets, in five colours from black through to khaki. The supplier prints water resistant on its own artwork — so that is exactly what we are going to call it, and we go into what that does and does not cover further down.

What It Does

• Blocks the wind: the tightly woven face fabric stops the wind that goes straight through a knitted jumper.
• Sheds light rain: water beads and rolls off the face fabric in a shower, a heavy dew or spray off the quad.
• Holds your warmth: the bonded fleece liner traps the heat you are already producing instead of letting it go.
• Keeps your gear on you: six zipped pockets, so nothing works its way loose when you bend, climb or get in and out of a cab.
• Closes the gaps: hood, elastic cuffs and a drawcord hem shut off the three places wind gets in at.
• Takes your own patches: bare hook-and-loop panels on both sleeves, so it goes on your crew, not somebody else’s.

Key Features

• Fleece-lined softshell: polyester face fabric bonded to a warm fleece liner, in one layer.
• Water resistant face: the supplier’s own panel prints “water resistant”. It does not print waterproof, and neither do we.
• Fixed hood: two drawcord toggles at the face opening, sitting behind a fleece-lined stand collar.
• Full-length zip: zips right up under the chin, with a fleece-backed collar so the pull is not against bare skin.
• Six zipped pockets: one chest, two on the sleeves, two slanted hand pockets and one inside.
• Sleeve patch panels: a hook-and-loop panel above each sleeve pocket, supplied bare.
• Elastic cuffs: elasticated at the wrist with a hook-and-loop adjuster tab over the top.
• Drawcord hem: toggle and eyelet drawcord to pull the hem in and stop the wind riding up underneath.
• Five colourways: black, navy, grey, green and khaki — all five photographed on the listing.
• A real size chart: five sizes with chest, length, shoulder and sleeve in centimetres, in the Specs tab.

Limits

• It is water resistant, not waterproof: no membrane is named, no hydrostatic head is stated in millimetres and no test standard is printed on it. A shower, a heavy dew and road spray are fine. Sustained rain will come through, and so will anything you sit down in. For a full day in the wet, put a hardshell over the top of it.
• The sizing is Asian underneath: our size names are the supplier’s own US conversion. Behind them sit CN M, L, XL, 2XL and 4XL. Work off the centimetre chart in the Specs tab, never off the letter on the label.
• There is a gap in the size run: CN 3XL is not stocked, so the chest jumps from 132 cm (1320 mm) at (US XL) to 142 cm (1420 mm) at (US 2XL) with nothing in between.
• The fibre content is not published: the supplier states polyester and fleece but gives no percentage split and no fabric weight in gsm. We are not going to invent one.
• It is not fire resistant: one supplier image sets the fleece beside flames. That is a picture about warmth, not a rating. This is polyester — it melts near a flame, a grinder spark or a hot exhaust.
• It is not certified workwear: no part of this jacket is tested or marked to AS/NZS 4602.1 for hi-vis or to any flame-resistance standard, and no certificate was sighted. If your site needs a rated garment, this is not it.
• It is not a Polartec fleece: there is no Polartec branding, hang tag or licence mark anywhere on the garment or in the supplier’s photographs. The old web address for this page says Polartec. The jacket never was.

Q & A

Will it keep me dry in real rain?

No. It sheds a shower and a heavy dew, and that is where it stops. The supplier’s own artwork prints “water resistant” and names no membrane and no hydrostatic head, so there is no number to hold it to. Sustained rain will soak through. For a full day in the wet you want a hardshell over the top and this underneath as your warm layer — which is a job it does well.

What size do I actually order?

Go off the centimetre chart in the Specs tab, not the letter. The supplier also publishes a height and weight guide: someone 170–175 cm (1700–1750 mm) and 70–80kg lands on our (US M), and someone 175–180 cm (1750–1800 mm) and 80–85kg lands on our (US L). Those are the supplier’s own figures and it marks them “for reference only”, so treat them as a starting point and check the chest measurement against a jacket you already own.

Is the fleece a genuine Polartec fleece?

No. There is no Polartec branding on this garment — no hang tag, no sewn label, no licence mark — in any of the supplier’s sixteen photographs. Polartec is a specific branded fabric made by another company, and this is not it. It is an unbranded polyester fleece liner made by TACVASEN. The old web address for this page carries the word; the product does not, and the copy no longer does either.

How warm is it, really?

The supplier publishes no temperature rating and no fabric weight, so we are not going to give you a number we cannot stand behind. What we can tell you is the construction: a wind-blocking face fabric bonded to a fleece liner. That puts it in mid-weight jacket territory rather than winter parka territory. Through a cold, windy day it earns its keep. In genuine cold you will still want a layer under it.

Can I run my own patches on it?

Yes. Both sleeve pockets carry a hook-and-loop panel above the zip, sized for a standard patch. They come bare — nothing is supplied with the jacket. What you put on them is your business.

Does the hood come off?

Treat it as fixed. There is no zip or press-stud line visible around the hood seam in any of the supplier’s photographs, so it is not a zip-off or roll-away hood. It draws in with two toggles at the face opening and sits behind a fleece-lined stand collar when you are not using it.

Specs