A new bit of gear I’ve purchased for when we hit the Alps in July (and for an upcoming mountaineering trip to Scotland), is a down gilet jacket. If you’re not familiar with the characteristics of down, it goes pretty much like this: Fantastic warmth to weight ratio, as long as it stays dry.

The Jacket 

AlpKit Filet Down JacketI’ve had the chance to use it a couple of times now and am really pleased with it. The jacket is specced with 650+ fill power 90/10 goose down. Don’t ask me what that means, but as far as I can tell, it translates as “really warm”. And in use it certainly is. You feel warm without feeling sticky and the materials used make the jacket extremely comfortable to wear (it’s nicely cut too, so looks good - even a snowboarder would be happy wearing it during a bit of aprés-ski!). I chose the gilet version because I run fairly hot and hate having my arms covered, but there is a full jacket version for only £10 extra. The Filet is £55 delivered - a great price for a technical down jacket. The way in which they achieve this fantastic price is by reducing faff. The garment (as is the case with all AlpKit gear) is modernist in its design - no extraneous baubles or premiums for brand labels. However, you still get hand warmer pockets with YKK zips, down filled baffles on all zips, velcro cuffs, micro-fleece collar and draw-cord hem. The lack of unnecessary extras also keeps the weight down, the Filet comes in at 428g for the Medium and packs down small, so it’s no problem to throw it in your ’sack for when you’re sat round the camp fire in the evening. An important factor for me, as I wouldn’t choose to walk in a down jacket… I personally get too hot and prefer to walk without a thermal layer. If it’s too cold for just a t-shirt and windproof, I slip on my pile and pertex (Buffallo equivalent) Montane Extreme Smock - but that’s another story!

All in all I can thoroughy recommend the AlpKit Filet down jacket as a super-lightweight thermal layer in dry conditions.

Something to bear in mind 

One other reason the AlpKit bods are able to sell their products at such value, is that they deal direct with their manufacturers in China. This is something to bear in mind if you’re at all concerned about the ethical sourcing of the products you buy. I don’t want to make a moral judgement, other than to say I would love to buy products made in my own country, or countries who guarantee worker’s rights and sound working conditions; but sometimes am unable to due to lack of funds. More often that not, I find that any outdoor gear I buy, by any big brand name, turns out to be made in the Far East anyway. In the interests of helping you make a decision if you’re thinking of buying anything from AlpKit, here’s what they say about the subject on their website:

“Wherever possible we try to follow the following guidelines - No child labour, no prison labour, payment above minimum wage, a safe working environment, fair payment of suppliers, only legal transactions, environmentally friendly production. But sometime we just don’t know. We do care, and we will try our best to do the right thing as the company grows.”