- Joined
- Jan 21, 2018
- Posts
- 114
I’ve never found the promise of waterproof/ breathable/versatile to be particularly well fulfilled. I’ve had Gore-Tex, Neoschell (probably my favorite), and proprietary fabrics/coatings. Particularly on the breathability front, I’m usually quite disappointed.
I started thinking about wool after a just-before-Covid trip to Aspen put me on Gorsuch’s email list (demoed the Stockli AR - nice!). They carry Alps & Meters, which is pulling together some nice styles that utilize natural fibers. I came close to pulling the trigger on a couple Alps & Meters items, but decided to do some research to see who else is doing wool ski outerwear. I came across WeatherWool, a small company about an hour away from me in NJ and read up on their website and watched a lot of video reviews. What I found is that wool might actually be what I’ve been after. I also found a company totally dedicated to top quality, but largely geared toward the outdoorsman market. They have done a ski jacket in the past under the advisement of a longtime ski instructor/skinner/outdoorsman out of VT (Sugarbush, I think). With a remarkable product guarantee, I can’t, at this point, see why I wouldn’t move forward.
I went to meet Ralph, Debby, and Alex of WeatherWool yesterday. They couldn’t have been nicer, and they love to talk wool! I gathered that they started the company 11 years ago because Ralph, an outdoorsman, couldn’t find products that satisfied his needs/interests - particularly in softness and durability (liners are typically used with wool because of harshness, but liners negatively impact performance). So, they went to work to make the best wool money can buy. I haven’t internalized enough about the superiority of their wool specifically or the superiority of wool in general, but, in talking to them, I could tell that they are very particular and uncompromising about the quality of their product. In fact, they have very little inventory right now because they have had to re-establish supply relationships after their primary supplier was bought out and moved out of the country. That’s bad for them, but hopefully good for me, as they expressed willingness to add design features when they are producing their SkiJac again.
While at their place, I was able to try on their Anorak (in a size a bit small for me). I’m a fan so far! One of my concerns about wool going in relates to weight. There’s no doubt wool is heavier than most synthetic outwear on the market, but I found the Anorak extremely comfortable to wear, even at yesterday’s 75* temps. I left it on for a lot of our conversation and really enjoyed wearing it. It was soft (not woven Merino sweater soft), supple enough, and clearly quite durable. I wear wool socks year round, so I know wool breathes well, but I liked that the weight of the Anorak didn’t bother me at all. They do make two weights - full and medium - and I will go with medium for a high-output activity like skiing.
I was pretty sure I’d try their product before I visited, but I still wanted to chat about a few things anyway. The biggest was color. I mentioned previously that their products have the most traction with the serious-outdoorsman market, and I think their colors reflect that. They do have black available, but I told them that I thought two shades of gray (light/medium and dark/charcoal) would reach more of the fashion-conscious market. As our conversation developed more focus on the ski market, I started to think more about features I’d like to see.
You’d help me and them by weighing in on a few things:
Wool
I started thinking about wool after a just-before-Covid trip to Aspen put me on Gorsuch’s email list (demoed the Stockli AR - nice!). They carry Alps & Meters, which is pulling together some nice styles that utilize natural fibers. I came close to pulling the trigger on a couple Alps & Meters items, but decided to do some research to see who else is doing wool ski outerwear. I came across WeatherWool, a small company about an hour away from me in NJ and read up on their website and watched a lot of video reviews. What I found is that wool might actually be what I’ve been after. I also found a company totally dedicated to top quality, but largely geared toward the outdoorsman market. They have done a ski jacket in the past under the advisement of a longtime ski instructor/skinner/outdoorsman out of VT (Sugarbush, I think). With a remarkable product guarantee, I can’t, at this point, see why I wouldn’t move forward.
I went to meet Ralph, Debby, and Alex of WeatherWool yesterday. They couldn’t have been nicer, and they love to talk wool! I gathered that they started the company 11 years ago because Ralph, an outdoorsman, couldn’t find products that satisfied his needs/interests - particularly in softness and durability (liners are typically used with wool because of harshness, but liners negatively impact performance). So, they went to work to make the best wool money can buy. I haven’t internalized enough about the superiority of their wool specifically or the superiority of wool in general, but, in talking to them, I could tell that they are very particular and uncompromising about the quality of their product. In fact, they have very little inventory right now because they have had to re-establish supply relationships after their primary supplier was bought out and moved out of the country. That’s bad for them, but hopefully good for me, as they expressed willingness to add design features when they are producing their SkiJac again.
While at their place, I was able to try on their Anorak (in a size a bit small for me). I’m a fan so far! One of my concerns about wool going in relates to weight. There’s no doubt wool is heavier than most synthetic outwear on the market, but I found the Anorak extremely comfortable to wear, even at yesterday’s 75* temps. I left it on for a lot of our conversation and really enjoyed wearing it. It was soft (not woven Merino sweater soft), supple enough, and clearly quite durable. I wear wool socks year round, so I know wool breathes well, but I liked that the weight of the Anorak didn’t bother me at all. They do make two weights - full and medium - and I will go with medium for a high-output activity like skiing.
I was pretty sure I’d try their product before I visited, but I still wanted to chat about a few things anyway. The biggest was color. I mentioned previously that their products have the most traction with the serious-outdoorsman market, and I think their colors reflect that. They do have black available, but I told them that I thought two shades of gray (light/medium and dark/charcoal) would reach more of the fashion-conscious market. As our conversation developed more focus on the ski market, I started to think more about features I’d like to see.
You’d help me and them by weighing in on a few things:
Wool
- Do you have experience skiing in wool outerwear? Pluses/minuses? I project...
- Durability will be vastly superior to any synthetic, with soft-shell fabrics being second.
- Breathability will also be vastly superior
- Weatherproofness (particularly water) is the area I want to focus my learning. Ralph speaks a lot about wool’s superior water management properties, but I’ve been so conditioned to think hard shell is the way to go that it’s hard to move from that thinking.
- Weight could be a concern. Without yet wearing one of their products for a high-output activity, I’m optimistic.
- I’m actually optimistic on all of these fronts given the folks who are using their products for other purposes, but skiing is a different animal.
- https://weatherwool.com/pages/the-weatherwool-difference
- https://weatherwool.com/collections/jackets/products/ski-jacket
- What’s critical to you? Here’s what I’d like to see or consider:
- Napoleon chest pockets (at least one, two preferred). The Anorak has a version of these with a nice cell phone sleeve in the left pocket.
- Forearm pocket for pass
- Removable powder cuff
- https://weatherwool.com/collections/wool-pants/products/full-weight-pants
- Their current pants are not ski-specific. They come with two zippered and buttoned cargo pockets, two open slant pockets, and a right zippered rear pocket. They said that the existing pants can be ordered with cargo pockets, so maybe there’s room to influence design toward a ski-specific model.
- What’s critical to you? Here’s what I’d like to see or consider:
- Powder cuffs/internal gaiters
- Two rear zippers pockets
- Zippered slant pockets if opting for cargo pocket delete
- Cut guards
- Removable bib
- We didn’t talk much about this, but I’d be willing to pay a bit extra for some customization in the following areas. What about you?
- Color - within a degree of reason (maybe a palette of special order colors)
- Pockets - location, type of closure
- Features like powder cuffs and cut guards if no ski-specific product is developed