Down and Insulated Jackets

Houdini Heavenly Houdi Jacket | Review

Under a shell or out in front, there’s a lot to like about this warm, light, and lofty mid-layer

Why We Chose The Houdini Heavenly Houdi: Cutting edge insulation and nice environmentalist vision

If your outdoor clothing brand is named after history’s most famous escapologist, you better make sure your products are genuinely good at helping people get out of the city and into the big wide open spaces of nature. With the Heavenly Houdi, Houdini have more than lived up to expectations.

Who Is The Houdini Heavenly Houdi For?

The Heavenly Houdi has been designed with cold weather activities in mind. It can be combined with other layers to create, as Houdini put it, the “perfect micro climate for ski touring, climbing or hiking.”

If you wear a shell layer over the top of it, the fluffy padding is well suited to trapping air and keeping you warm and cosy on those coldest of ski slope days.

Materials

There’s a lot to say about the materials used in the Heavenly Houdi. We’ll start on the inside and work our way out from there.

The padding inside this product is PrimaLoft Gold Insulation Active +. What is ‘PrimaLoft Gold Insulation Active +’ exactly? Well, in a nutshell, it’s a highly water repellent, super durable, and quick drying synthetic alternative to down, offering an exceptional warmth-to-weight ratio and utilising long filament fibres that are folded in order to trap air more effectively. The ‘active’ part of the name refers to it’s lighter, more breathable fill volume (compared to standard PrimaLoft)/

DWR finish – fluorocarbon-free – and Bluesign certified, the padding is made from 55% recycled polyester and 45% regular polyester.

“Moving on to the Lite Breather lining. What you’re looking at here is something that’s made from 100% recycled polyester”

Moving on to the Lite Breather lining. What you’re looking at here is something that’s made from 100% recycled polyester. It’s a material that’s soft to the touch, has good moisture managing properties, and excellent air permeability. It’s also Bluesign certified, meaning it conforms to a number of strict ethical and environmental production standards.

The Heavenly Houdi’s main outer fabric is C9 Ripstop which we’ve found to be ultralight yet incredibly durable. It also delivers fantastic breathability when you’re getting active in the hills. Made from 70% Eco Circle recycled polyester and 30% regular polyester, it has a DWR finish – fluorocarbon-free – and is an incredibly silent and noise-free surface. Not that you’ll be using this for stealthy approaches into mountain-based military bases but, if you were, it would be a good bit of kit for that.

The Heavenly Houdi has been put together with sustainability very much in mind. It’s been made from recycled parts and can, once you’re done with it, be recycled too. In the year 2020, and the years ahead for that matter, outdoor brands are increasingly going to have to make sure their products are part of an environmentally-friendly loop and with that in mind, it’s great to see Houdini taking a step in the right direction with this product. It is, as they put it themselves on their website, all about working “towards a world without waste.”

The zippered side pockets double up as vents. Photo: Mike Brindley

Houdini are working “towards a world without waste." Photo: Mike Brindley

There's a high collar and comfortably fitting insulated hood. Photo: Mike Brindley

Features

Weighing in at 425g, the Heavenly Houdi is lightweight and very packable. Stuff it in your backpack, when you’re out and about, and you’ve got a brilliant option when the temperature drops.

The zippered side pockets that double up as vents are a nice feature that allow you to get some cool air flowing when you’re really working up a sweat. The drawcord in the bottom hem is also great for adjustability and ensuring you keep the elements out and the same goes for the high collar and head covering hood.

Sustainability

We’ve touched a bit upon this already but it’s worth really going deep on it to underline the point. This garment is fully recyclable so, instead of becoming waste at the end of its ‘life’, the raw material can be used for new products.

“Once your Houdini garment is at death’s door, they would like you to return the product to them so that it can… be reincarnated as a new product”

Houdini has a goal. By 2030, they aim to put no raw materials into their products. This ‘circular’ vision, where things are endlessly recycled and recyclable, has the potential to change the game environmentally speaking.

The brand wants customers to play their part. Once your Houdini garment is at death’s door, they’d like you to return the product to them so that it can essentially be reincarnated as a new product. They have recycle units in all of their stores, and at many retailers.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to throw a curveball on the mountain, mix things up, and really break away from the usual suspects we think you’ll love the Houdini Heavenly Houdi. With an RRP of £247, it’s a similar price to the Arc’teryx Nuclei FL jacket (RRP £250).

When products are in the same price bracket as something from the always pretty expensive Arc’teryx, you know exactly where on the overall price spectrum it falls. That being said, this is a quality product with some cutting edge insulation and a lovely environmentalist vision. We like it.