The Jöttnar Asta Gilet, which is available in men’s and women’s versions, combines lightweight performance with an excellent fit, making for a packable product that’s hardly noticeable in your backpack.

It’s one of the items in Jöttnar’s brand new collection for this autumn/winter, sitting alongside a number of down and waterproof products designed for mountaineering and expeditions.

Performance

Its weight was the first thing that struck me. At just 160g, it’s about as light as a tube of toothpaste or a small tin of tuna, however, it still offers an impressive amount of warmth thanks to its responsibly sourced, 750 fill power goose down with a decent 90/10 down/feather ratio. It’s also able to perform in reasonably wet conditions thanks to Jöttnar’s use of DownTek, an impressive PFC-free treatment that creates surface tension on each individual down cluster to make moisture bead up and roll away.

The outer fabric is light but it’s still fairly durable thanks to its 30 denier ripstop construction, and it keeps the wind off well.

I first wore the gilet on a bitterly-cold December day in the Yorkshire countryside. I had two base layers and a waterproof jacket on top and found it did the job perfectly.

And the fit is snug and comfortable, aligning to a woman’s natural curves while not being too dramatic in clinching the waist and extending the hips (as many women’s products tend to do).

It’s designed to be worn with some base-layering beneath but it’s also light and thin enough to sit underneath a waterproof jacket.