Haglöfs Returns To 19FOURTEEN

As you may or may not be aware, this year marks Haglöfs 100th centenary – see their one-off anniversary rucksack – and, as part of the celebrations, the Swedish brand has produced a sort of outdoor heritage clothing range named 19FOURTEEN and designed, and we quote, as ‘functional lifestyle clothing’.

It’s new out this autumn and intended not for hardcore hill and mountain use, but simply for wearing around town in foul conditions and getting while you’re going, while ‘looking good’ at the same time. In other words it’s fashion(y) stuff, but it’s made from proper technical outdoor fabrics and materials and put together with the same attention to detail as the brand’s outdoor stuff.

It’s also, and there’s no easy way of telling this, eye-wateringly expensive in the main. Oh, and the insulated jackets are so warm that they’ll make a lot more sense in Lapland than London in most winters anyway. How expensive, oh, let’s just say that the top-end down jacket retails for a cool £800, the synthetic-filled equivalent is £500 and the Gore-Tex waterproof jacket is £600.

But they are kind of lovely close-up in a very Swedish way. The linings feature stripy, traditional Swedish colours and patterns, while there’s also a representation of the wooden Dala horse which originates in the region where Haglöfs comes from. It’s not just clothes either, there’s footwear too and some simple packs and duffles as well.

Mora Jacket – Lightly Toasted

The Mora Jacket (right) uses a canvas-like outer fabric that’s a mix of cotton and Cordura Nylon with a light insulated layer of the brand’s own Quad Fusion inside. The cotton’s organic, by the way, and the lining features those traditional patterns.

The design’s based on a traditional work jacket, the outer fabric has taped seams and the fabric is treated to make it highly water resistant. Plenty of pockets too and short by the standards of this collection at least. The price is actually ‘just’ £250 making it the affordable one in the collection. There’s also a women’s ‘Q’ version.

Lima Jacket – Dry Cured

The Lima Jacket on the other hand, retails for a cool £600 and is a fully-waterproof three-layer Gore-Tex affair featuring a super tough 300D face fabric normally used for motorcycle clothing. It may look like a long-cut fashion garment, but it’s also totally functional with a ‘Oh my god they killed Kenny, you…’  fully-adjustable snorkel hood plenty of pockets and, if you look closely, functional pit-zips for when the urban sprawl gets a tad toasty.

Not a hill jacket at all, but featuring plenty of adjustability and technical features lifted from the technical range. And as with the rest of the collection, there’s also a women’s version of the Lima.

Siljan Parka – Lightly Roasted

At £500, the Siljan Parka and Siljan Q are the heavy duty synthetic winter warmers in the range with a great big wad of QuadFusion insulation sandwiched between a rugged Polyester cotton outer shell and one of those striped linings with added luxurious fleece sections.

There’s a humungous, fully-insulated snorkel hood as well. It weighs something like 1.5 of your metric tonnes and pulling it on is rather like finding yourself enveloped in a huge, warm, expedition sleeping bag. Too warm for most UK conditions we reckon, but it would be amazing in a deep Scandinavian winter. Cut nice and long too.

Floda Down Parka – Boiled, Roasted and More

Last but not least, the Floda Down Parka is a monster of a thing. On the outside it’s two-layer taped and fully waterproof Gore-Tex, on the inside it’s 700 fill power European goose down with QuadFusion panels on compression zones.

It’s warm, very, very warm. It’s so warm that Haglöfs even included pit-zips just in case – they should have a ‘Pull In Event Of Emergency’ label, so wearers suffering from heat exhaustion can be saved by passers by… It’s awesome in the way that WW2 pocket battleships were awesome. Or huge aircraft carriers.

And predictably it has a massive hood.

Boots and Bags

The collection’s topped off with some footwear – see images below – and a selection of canvas-like, simple packs, again with an urban sort of vibe but based on outdoors technology and materials. Interesting stuff.

More information

If you’re feeling it for the urban outdoors thing, you have a choice of just three UK stockists: Escape Route in Pitlochry and Fell and Mountain in Accrington both stock the range and you’ll also find it at online fashion specialist www.peggsandson.com. Meanwhile you can find full range details at www.haglofs.com.