The Name On The Jacket…

It must be kind of nice to be wearing a shell with your own name on it, but the process of creating it took roughly 12 months and a lot of hard work. The fabric is a completely unique, bespoke material, based on a microporous Porelle PU membrane which is produced in Norfolk.

It’s completely waterproof and very breathable and manufactured with impressive thoroughness. In turn, the membrane is laminated to two other materials, one Chinese and one Japanese in the Far East to give the optimum balance of breathability, waterproofness and durability.

Encased In Plastics

Then there’s the cut. It’s as good or better than anything else out there and was designed  with the aid of a 3D mannequin – the same process that England football strip used – created by coating Rich himself with a quick-setting plastic compound painted on by his partner. Because people are three-dimensional, not flat drawings.

The unique hood was similarly developed around a mould of a head and was a mission in itself. Rich realised that many walkers and climbers simply didn’t know how to adjust hoods, so he set about creating one that requires minimal input, in effect, it should ‘just work’.

How? First the face opening isn’t oversized like many, so you don’t need a lot of facial opening adjustment. Second, both adjusters are on the rear of the hood. You simply put it on then pull on the righthand one until it’s snugly anchored to your noggin.

Ad that, essentially, is mostly it. You can, if necessary, also snug up the face opening using the lefthand cord, but it’s not often really necessary. And having used it, we’d say it’s a very, very good hood indeed. And also very simple to use.

Sweating The Details

Something else on the hood epitomises Dannah’s attention to detail: the mouldable plastic peak stiffener is made from an extensively worked plastic that doesn’t crease, returns to the same shape after crumpling and, crucially for mountaineers, is still flexible at temperatures down to -30˚C and below.

‘A versatile waterproof jacket that suits UK mountain use and can do anything from classic hill-walking through to technical alpine mountaineering’

And that’s just the start. The zip-pulls are again custom made and are wedge shaped in all directions for easy glove use and include a subtle curve to match your thumb shape. The cuffs are neat, subtly shaped for just a modicum of extra coverage at the back of the hand.

The pockets, says Rich proudly, have been designed so if you use them as hand-warmers, your hand sits in a Goldilocks ‘just right’ position. And the twin internal pockets work a little like Napoleon chest pockets once your smooth-flowing Vislon main-zip is undone. And finally he had to find the right factory to make it. Again, not as simple as you might imagine.

The outcome, Rich hopes – and we reckon he’s right – is a versatile waterproof jacket that suits UK mountain use and can do anything from classic hill-walking through to technical alpine mountaineering. It’s also, he reckons, well up for, say, occasional kayak use or on the bike if necessary.