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This is the Iron Snail yearly down jacket Olympics! What’s up, Snailiens? It’s Michael! I’m back with my big fat sack. Today, we are going over six of the best winter coats in the entire world. Each one of these down jackets has some specific property that makes it special and different from all the others.
The first favorite of this article is the most beautiful down jacket in existence. Even when I tried it on inside out, and that’s wrong – it’s not a reversible jacket – it still beat all these other jackets. Keep reading to discover what the beautiful gem is.
Understanding Denier and Materials
“Denier? Den-her? I hardly know her!” One denier is the linear mass density of one strand of silk that is 9,000 meters long which weighs exactly 1 gram. Lower D is going to be softer, silkier, and smoother. Higher D is going to be thick and strong. Think of a backpack strap. It would be 1000D nylon. It’s very thick, very beefy, and not very soft. Then, for example, The North Face Nuptse is 40D nylon – very smooth, very silky.
The last thing we have to talk about is how strong nylon is compared to something like cotton because, for the most part, cotton is probably your baseline for strength and fabrics in general. Nylon, for its weight, is two times stronger than cotton across the board.
The TL;DR of it All
| Product | Key Ingredients | Features | Usage Instructions | Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arct’eryx Beta | Gore-Tex, 40D Nylon | 800-fill down, synthetic insulation in wet areas | Wear in extreme conditions | Waterproof, maximum warmth with minimal weight |
| North Face NSY | 40D Nylon | Modular, layering system | Layer with other pieces | Super warm, stylish, part of a modular system |
| Patagonia Cotton Down Jacket | 100% Cotton | Slim fit | Wear with light layers | Breathable, more environmentally friendly |
| Fjällräven | Waxable fabric | Durable, waxable for water resistance | Wax as needed for weather conditions | Customizable water resistance, durable, patinas over time |
| Eddie Bauer Karakoram | N/A | High altitude gear | Wear for mountain climbing | Proven durability and warmth in extreme conditions |
| Crescent Down Works x Imogene and Willie | Premium down, streak-free nylon | Hooded, made in USA | Wear casually or for fashion | Stylish, premium materials, cool despite cold spots |
The Contenders: Most Okay-est To Best of the Best
Price: $$ | Fit: Very slim | Material: 100% or 98% cotton | Breathability: Better than nylon or polyester | Weight: Heavier than the North Face | Warmth: Not as warm as the North Face | Water resistance: Not as water resistant as the North Face | Durability: Maybe equally as durable as the North Face
I love the concept of this Patagonia cotton jacket for $395, but I don’t understand a lot of the decisions behind it. The first decision is that it’s a very slim jacket. I find it weird when you can’t layer under a winter piece in general – even with just a sweater under this, it feels tight.
This jacket, I believe, is 100% (it could be 98%, that’s why I’m saying “I believe”) made from cotton, which, I think, 99.9% of people who want a down jacket would be way happier with. It is dramatically better for the average everyday person compared to something like nylon or polyester because it breathes.
First off, everybody knows that cotton is probably the last thing you want to wear when you are going for an actual hike when you’re going up a mountain or something like that because cotton kills – it absorbs water, dries really slow, gives you hypothermia, and then you die. Cotton is going to let your garment breathe a lot more. You’ll feel a lot less like you’re in a trash bag.
Unless you are in a very wet and gross climate, you probably want just a cotton jacket with a DWR finish that you can reapply every few seasons. That’s a little environmentally friendlier – natural fibers are back, baby! They took a little hiatus, but they’re back and better than ever! Either way, it’s a great jacket – heavier than the North Face, not as warm, not as water resistant, and maybe equally as durable.
Price: $$$ | Durability: Durable, thornproof, snag-resistant, waxable | Customization: choose to wax or not wax based on activity, breathable when unwaxed | Longevity: lasts longer than Gore-Tex, virtually forever
Next up: Best of Both Worlds – Fjällräven! So why does everyone recommend this down jacket specifically to me? Well, because it is waxable. Yes, I do love that – it makes me froth at the mouth! That means the jacket is more durable. If you want to take it outside, it becomes more thornproof. It’s like glass instead of a woven material, so it snags less. You can make it weatherproof, it ages over time, it patinas over time, but really, the added benefit is that it will last, you know, virtually forever – not forever, but Gore-Tex will delaminate and bubble over time. We’ll get into that in a little bit, not that I don’t like Gore-Tex.
A major benefit is that it’s a tool that you can interact with, and much like my boots, you can choose the best of both worlds. These are L.L.Bean boots – the bottom of them is great if I’m walking in water, and the top is breathable, flexible, and more comfortable. If you want an airy, breathable jacket like the Patagonia cotton jacket I was talking about, simply don’t wax it. If you’re going on a strenuous activity and you think it might rain and get really bad outside, wax it.
But do I trust it more than Gore-Tex? Absolutely not! If I’m in an absolute downpour risking my life and I need to buy a jacket for one expedition, I would probably bring a Gore-Tex shell. This would eventually soak through, but you do get a ton of water resistance. I have stood in the shower on multiple occasions for about 20-30 minutes, and no water has come through.
Price: $$ | Praise: The finest cold-weather high-altitude gear | Outcome: All men saved, successful descent from the mountain
The next jacket is undoubtedly the greatest down jacket of all time, and it has the coolest story tied to it. We’re going to do a full review on it soon – the Karakoram Eddie Bauer jacket. I’m just going to tell you one of the most famous hiking saves of all time.
The year was 1953. A team of seven Americans and one British mountaineer aimed to be the first to summit the notoriously dangerous K2. At the time, Europe produced the best outerwear, but this predominantly American team, most with military backgrounds and three members hailing from Seattle, were looking for alternatives made closer to home. *knock knock knock* They knocked upon Sir Eddie Bauer’s door.
While attempting to traverse an ice sheet, climber George Irving Bell lost footing, pulling Tony Strather loose. Strather fell into the rope, joining Charles Houston and Bob Bates. Bates and Houston fell into the rope connecting Dee Molenaar to Gilkey. Schoening, despite already holding Gilkey on belay during the attempted traverse to Camp 7, was able, through strength, quickness, and skill, to arrest the fall of all six men with his ice axe wedged against a boulder frozen in the mountainside. Schoening considered himself merely lucky, but his companions felt otherwise. Schoening praised Bauer’s Karakoram as the finest article of cold weather high altitude equipment he had ever encountered.
Goosebumps! Six men on one of the most dangerous mountains of all time, one of them already down, six of them fall. Pete Schoening grabs his ice pick, slams it into the rock, and says, “One second, gentleman! Didn’t expect it to be fall this time of year!” Pulls them all back by himself, walks the rest of them down the mountain, and says, “Hm, what a lovely hike! Didn’t expect it to be so fun!” I love this down jacket – thank you, Eddie Bauer!
Price: $$$$$ | Comfort: Maximum | Efficiency: Maximum | Waterproofness: Maximum | Warmth: Maximum | Weight: Minimal | Insulation: 800-fill down, synthetic insulation in wet-prone areas | Water Resistance: Gore-Tex
Arc’teryx is bleeding, bleeding edge – perhaps they are even beyond bleeding edge, and they are the ones who define bleeding edge. They go above and beyond with all of their construction. Everything is meant to be maximum comfort, maximum efficiency, maximum waterproofness, warmth, and everything like that for a little weight. 800-fill down through most of the jacket, but in areas where there’s going to be a lot of water, like on your shoulders, on the top of your head, wherever it may be, there’s also synthetic insulation because it dries faster, so you’ll stay warmer in those areas. Where it’s not going to get as wet, they put down – that’s genius!
But also, you’ll notice that when you feel it, you’ll hear this odd, crinkly thing. It doesn’t sound like nylon. That, of course, is Gore-Tex. Gore-Tex is a name brand – they are the best waterproof membrane in their space. That is what they do, and nothing that is made with Gore-Tex materials has not been approved by Gore-Tex, who test the absolute crap out of the garments that are using the materials to make sure they are the pinnacle of waterproofness, breathability, everything like that.
Even though the technical specifications are bleeding edge and amazing, and this jacket vastly outperforms every single other jacket in this bag, the modern issues – instead of seams coming unraveled or fabrics tearing and stuff like that – is adhesives not holding up forever and delamination which is like this bubbling effect. And I feel like an older nylon down jacket that is all patched up and repaired is really cool. I haven’t seen an Arc’teryx down jacket repaired – I’ll have to look that up. But the aging is dramatically different than a wax down jacket or an old nylon jacket or a cotton jacket or something like that, and that part’s really not up my alley. But it’s an unbelievable jacket!
Price: $$ | Warmth: Super warm, 700-fill down | Material: Nylon | Breathability: Low | Modular System: You know it!
Quite shockingly, even though we have much more and cooler expensive jackets on the list, the North Face Nuptse is my second favorite of all the best winter coats.
This is trendy, stylish, super, super warm, and a beautiful jacket. Number one, this doesn’t make it really stick out, but we have to talk about nylon versus cotton versus other things because we’re also talking about a 100% cotton jacket today. Something that I very much like about this jacket is that it is part of a modular system. For the most part, a layering system is going to beat any single jacket in the world – you just can’t win against that, except the next one that I have because I’d rather it be so cold outside that I die than layer over that jacket. I’m serious. I’m not even kidding.
Back to the Nuptse. This is a 700-fill down jacket that is stuffed, and I mean stuffed with down. It’s very warm, and it’s nylon, so it doesn’t breathe that well, so you will not get cold in this jacket. But sometimes it feels like a very nice hefty bag full of geese feathers and down.
Price: $$$$ | Materials: Premium down, streak-free nylon | Durability Concerns: Prone to cold spots, not as tough as expected, white color susceptible to dirt | Cool but not recommended by the brand: Can be worn inside out!
And now the main event! Founded in 1974 by Ann Mickelson, Crescent Down Works, an American-made Seattle-based down jacket company, did a collaboration with Imogene and Willie. They made the coolest down jacket to ever exist in the entire world! It’s likely one of the best winter coats out there. This is the Crescent Down Works x Imogene and Willie Hooded jacket. I was hoping for a cooler name. Anyways, this jacket is the complete opposite of Arc’teryx.
The seams go right through the jacket, so there will be cold spots in all the baffling areas. There’s down stuffed in there. This jacket is made out of premium materials, premium down, made in the USA, made in Seattle, and boy, oh boy, does it look cool! The problem is it’s a $700 jacket – because if it wasn’t, I’d want to wear this jacket like in the woods and get it dirty and see what happens and how easily it rips. But it’s a $700 jacket!
My girlfriend Taylor and I have had actual sit-downs discussing the pros and cons of keeping or returning this jacket. There are some cons that I’ll get to in a second, but like I said, we’re sitting at the kitchen table literally flipping the jacket inside out and saying this jacket is so beautiful that you can wear it inside out (it’s not reversible, technically) and it’s still the coolest jacket on this list with the blue interior pocket now visible! It’s the coolest jacket I’ve ever seen!
The only issue I have is that this jacket is what Crescent Down Works calls “streak-free nylon,” which I’m sure is tough – they also make booties out of it, as in what you put on your feet – but it feels more like the inside of a down jacket, more like a liner. It doesn’t feel like it’s tough at all, and it’s white. So, although it’s beautiful, it’s going to get filthy over time.
Watch This Review
Closing Thoughts
In summary, you should keep an eye out for my next review when we do the same thing but more intensely with the greatest – actually greatest – wool jackets of all time. I’m throwing my own brand into that ring. It’s time to show you what I got!
This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here.