Fortress Clothing’s Hybrid Hoodie was born of a simple idea: take the ‘best’ features of a jacket and hoodie and merge them together. To this end, they created a garment that is comfortable across a ~70 degree temperature range, and is wind resistant, retains body heat, and evacuates moisture.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/2137037834/the-worlds-best-hybrid-hoodie
Tags: Fortress Clothing
Sounds like Polartec Alpha (wind resistant outer fabric, insulation – no information, mesh-like lining)
The idea to use hoody cut is not good. It has collar that is opened on the front of the neck, and short body that don’t cover your waist in the cold.
I only figured it out because I had heard of them before. They are actually using open cell foam as the insulation. Not the worst idea ever but I don’t think it enjoys the wide applicability of more traditional insulations.
If you dig through old camping books you can find open cell foam sleeping bags, this isn’t new tech but it isn’t very common nowadays, I can only assume it was mostly abandoned for good reason.
‘I can only assume it was mostly abandoned for good reason’
Packability
Fortress’ patent claim (US 20140215697 A1) claims a breathability rating of 1150 g/m^2/24 hrs (actually claiming 900-1200). That is just a little more than 1/3 of Polartec Alpha’s 3349 g/m^2/24 hrs rating.
Why you’d buy this over Alpha is down to marketing. I’ll wait for the new version of alpha that Salewa, Adidas, and other brands were exhibiting at the OR Show this time around.