Loads of manufacturers make out of doors merchandise out of recycled plastic. Patagonia has the Stormshadow Parka. The North Face has its ThermoBall Eco Jackets. Even Goodyear makes its Sustainable Tires from sustainable supplies.
Nonetheless, the Highest Peak 3L rain jacket from Jack Wolfskin is among the first outerwear clothes made out of broken-down and recycled textiles. What’s extra, you’ll be able to recycle it on the finish of its life, too.
This jacket represents the total circle inside a “round economic system.” Jack Wolfskin calls the method Textile 2 Textile (T2T). It retains material scraps (similar to off-cuts from different clothes patterns and used materials) out of landfills, the place they take a long time to interrupt down.
The method is a tough one, although. Even Jack Wolfskin says that it’s presently solely utilizing material scraps and previous clothes objects from close to its recycling accomplice’s location in China. It’s nonetheless exploring how one can take again its personal merchandise for recycling to totally shut the loop. (Assume: Jack Wolfskin jackets created from Jack Wolfskin jackets.)
Nonetheless, sustainable innovation means little if the merchandise aren’t practical. So, I took the Highest Peak 3L to the Pacific Northwest to try it out within the wettest setting I might discover.
Briefly: The Jack Wolfskin Highest Peak Jacket leverages modern textile expertise. Previous textiles are damaged right down to remake new ones. And on the finish of this jacket’s helpful life, you’ll be able to recycle it, too. Whereas the expertise behind the jacket’s material excels, the Highest Peak’s design isn’t meant for technical pursuits. It’s a strong way of life rain jacket made utilizing a sustainable new textile expertise.
should you’re available in the market for rain jackets, evaluate the Highest Peak to the jackets on GearJunkie’s information to the Finest Rain Jackets.
Editor’s be aware: In Could, Jack Wolfskin introduced that it could finish all U.S. operations and shut down its U.S. retail web site by July 1. Should you reside within the U.S. and need a Highest Peak jacket, make your buy earlier than that date.
Jack Wolfskin Highest Peak 3L Evaluation
Match & Supplies
For starters, the PFAS-free, Bluesign-approved, Texapore Ecosphere Professional Stretch T2T recycled materials the jacket is fabricated from is tolerably comfortable. It’s pliable with only a contact of stretch, which implies it’s neither stiff nor noisy. It strikes effectively along with your physique so it doesn’t really feel restrictive. I discovered the match to be fairly regular so far as rain jackets go.
It’s additionally sized with an inexpensive quantity of room for layering. So, sizing up isn’t probably vital if all you propose to put on underneath it’s a gentle insulated jacket.
The sleeves are a Goldilocks size — not too brief or too lengthy — and scalloped on the highest to supply extra protection on the again of your palms. Skinny hook-and-loop strips make them straightforward to cinch right down to maintain the rain out.
Options
The hood has adjustable bungees on each side and on the again to assist safe it. Additionally, there are much-needed pit zips to help breathability on humid days or whenever you’re working up a sweat and must dump warmth. A bungee within the backside hem makes it straightforward to cinch or loosen the jacket.
There are additionally two zippered hand pockets with rain guard flaps on the opening to assist maintain water from getting in and an inside zippered pocket. Nonetheless, this pocket is located oddly low on the entrance left panel (extra on this later).
You’d probably get used to the odd pocket placement with frequent use. However via a number of weeks of testing, I often opted to drop my cellphone right into a pants pocket or different different as a substitute. This jacket’s pockets weren’t superb for storing issues of that nature.
T2T Rain Safety
In terms of its major perform — protecting rain off of you — the Highest Peak did a wonderful job. The 20,000mm waterproof head stored my higher physique completely dry. That, mixed with a 15,000g/m2/24 hours breathability score, means efficiency is on par with GORE-TEX. The expertise behind T2T hit the mark.
For my part, Jack Wolfskin proved you’ll be able to totally recycle textiles with out compromising their efficiency.
On hotter, moist hikes, I did begin to really feel a bit stuffy on uphill climbs, probably because of the thickness of the fabric. However this rain jacket does really feel sturdy and sturdy. It’s designed to final a very long time. Which is sweet, as a result of it’s not a price range merchandise at $240. It’s squarely within the efficiency gear worth vary.
And on the finish of its life, whenever you lastly are prepared for a brand new jacket, this one will be recycled similar to the textiles that made it.
Room for Enchancment
The size of the males’s model of this jacket seems pretty customary. However the girls’s model feels a bit brief, coming right down to about mid-hip. It doesn’t characteristic a lot of a drop hem.
The hood isn’t as voluminous as I might have favored, both. On a number of wet hikes, the invoice didn’t come out or down far sufficient over my face to maintain even gentle drizzle off my glasses. It’s simply deep sufficient to accommodate a low-profile hat, so it may be finest suited for many who pair their rain gear with a ball cap.
The factor I favored least about this jacket was the pocket placement. Doubtless in an try and simplify the sample, the pockets are positioned on the facet seam. That’s not unusual. However, typically, these seams are shifted ahead towards the entrance of the jacket. On the Highest Peak, they’re straight down the edges on the identical seam because the pit zips.
As a result of the pockets are positioned up to now again and have a protecting material flap as well, the attain feels barely extreme. Stashing a cellphone or placing my palms in my pockets felt slightly unnatural. It additionally made them tougher — if not not possible — to make use of when carrying a backpack with a hip belt.
I discussed earlier that the pocket on the within of the jacket is located slightly low. It’s not a deal breaker, nevertheless it looks like an odd design. It’s additionally not large enough to carry an average-sized cellphone.
As a lady, I additionally discovered that stashing something massive and inflexible within the inside pocket was a bit uncomfortable. I discovered it to be finest fitted to comfortable or small items like maps or snacks.
Conclusion
Backside line, the Highest Peak is a supremely sustainable jacket that retains supplies out of landfills at each the start and finish of its life and is a high-quality, feature-rich piece of drugs that ought to final.
It misses the mark on a number of key design components and options, and it isn’t a jacket made for technical alpine targets. However most of these are options that these dedicated to donning sustainable gear can probably reside with.
Sadly, should you reside within the U.S. and need to scoop up the Highest Peak or any of Jack Wolfskin’s different sustainable gear, you’ll should act quick. As of July 1, 2024, the model is shutting down its U.S. web site to give attention to promoting to different worldwide markets.