Down and Insulated Jackets

Craghoppers Pember Insulated Jacket | Review

An eco-conscious jacket to hunker down in through the worst of weather

Why We Chose It: Very warm, impressive eco-friendly build
Price: £200
Weight: 1.51kg

Credit to Craghoppers they’ve pulled out all of the stops with their new Pember jacket. First up it’s super, super warm and comfortable and it’s waterproof as well, then there are a whole bunch of eco-driven efforts on show as well.

What’s The Craghoppers Pember Best-Suited To?

Given its fairly hefty weight and size, this isn’t really a jacket to carry in your backpack just in case the temperature drops or rain arrives. Instead it’s that thing to turn to on those really cold and miserable days when you’re going to want constant warmth and protection from start to finish. I can certainly see it being handy for day hiking right through the winter, but I can also see it being that jacket to turn to for the every day stuff – like that early morning dog walk for instance.

I think photographers in particular will like what this jacket brings. It’s got the insulation for those long hours stood still and a whopping 10 pockets to keep all your kit close to hand and organised.

The Eco Credentials

It’s often the case that a brand will refrain from using PFCs from a garment and consider that enough of an effort towards the overall sustainability, so its really impressive to see Craghoppers go a number of steps further than that with the Pember. Not only is the DWR on the outer fabric free from any nasty chemicals but they’ve also made sure that most of the materials they’ve used here are from recycled sources, that includes the textured face fabric, the polyester lining, the fill and even the zip tapes. On top of all that, the full bluesign approval gives that extra reassurance that Craghoppers have considered the ethical and environmental impact of their product.

Performance

This is one of the warmest jackets I’ve tried out this winter season – perhaps equal in warmth to the impressive Fjallraven Vidda Wool Padded Parka or maybe even exceeding it.

You can tell there’s a lot of synthetic fill packed into it, then you’ve got that durable, canvas-like shell fabric and the cosy-liner too. The breathability will really be tested on any days where it’s not that cold outside or your working super hard, but I didn’t notice any clamminess from it over the course of a few day hikes through mildish October weather. In fact, on those occasions I was really glad to have it.

All those big pockets actually reminded me of one of the North Face’s parkas. You’ve got so many options for stashing stuff. I particularly liked the internal dump pockets which are perfect for an OS map and thick gloves or mittens. I also found the zipped handwarmer pockets to be really cosy.

It’s also good that it’s machine washable as you don’t often see that with big jackets like this. I’d definitely recommend washing it with Nikwax instead of normal detergent though – just to protect the water resistance.

There are a lot of buttons involved. With the storm flaps and main zip done up and the two buttons around the collar as well, you’ll take about five minutes getting out of this. At least it gives you the option to really lock in the warmth and lock out the cold though.

The hood is probably the main downside. It does seem like it’s a bit of an afterthought, with not much insulation in it and very little adjustment to make sure it keeps nice and close in strong winds.

I found the size M fitted my 5 foot 10 height and average build well. I’m usually a size M and would say there’s no need to size up or down with this.

Verdict

Most of the really warm parkas out there come with a high price tag and they also don’t usually have anything to reassure you in regards to the environmental footprint left behind by its production. The Pember is an exception to all of that though; a cosy, eco-friendly jacket to keep you warm on country walks or national park excursions and without too eye-watering a price tag either.

More info: craghoppers.co.uk