Well this appears to be an attack on the traditional climber's duvet, which has in recent years become the height of fashion.
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/nov/28/puffer-coat-winter-wear-fas...
Perhaps I'll have to ditch my old 30+ year old Abris jacket. But it was lovely and warm on this morning's dog walk. Even better when snow holing in the Cairngorms.
Shouldn't read the guardian. Full of nonsense.
What a stupid article.
Feels insanely out of touch, maybe people wear puffer jackets because they are warm?
I gave my 90's North Face puffer to my 16 year old son.
If I'd have known they were that sought after, I'd have charged him 300 quid for it.
Personally I think the blame for all this can be laid at the door of George Finch, circa 1922!
A young climber laughed when I called it a duvet. He pointed out that duvets go on beds. I've converted to referring to down jackets.
We need to pass the language on. Such a part of the sport.
And yes, an idiotic article. If fashion fools want to appropriate our gear, all well and good but don't moan about it. Bad enough the upward pressure on prices .
Fashion fools also seem to think every other human has the luxury (or the care) to spend a large amount of money on a large amount of clothing.
Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy looking like crap, but I also don't have the money to invest in multiple different coats/outfits for specific niches.
The article stinks of someone who has no ability to view clothing from a functional perspective, as well as a low budget perspective.
I love that fashionable sleeping bag design that's made for walking!!!
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/nov/28/puffer-coat-winter-wear-fas...
> Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy looking like crap, but I also don't have the money to invest in multiple different coats/outfits for specific niches.
It's worth investing to keep your niches nice and warm!
> The article stinks of someone who has no ability to view clothing from a functional perspective, as well as a low budget perspective.
Looking at some of the photos in the article, I don’t rate their aesthetic perspective much either! But I’ve never been accused of being fashionable.
> Feels insanely out of touch, maybe people wear puffer jackets because they are warm?
It's a fashion article. It's not about function. I mean, just look at the monstrosity examples of fashion 'puffers' in that article; there's nothing practical about them.
I'd also point to the (IMHO) hideous lack of style of the author.
> He pointed out that duvets go on beds
Duvet is French for 'down'. As opposed to 'plume', meaning 'feather'.
> It's a fashion article. It's not about function. I mean, just look at the monstrosity examples of fashion 'puffers' in that article; there's nothing practical about them.
I agree, however I think you open yourself up to this criticism when you bash other people for dressing functionally.
It would be different if it was just simply someone stating they disliked puffers, but they are making a sweeping statement regarding their ubiquity without properly understanding or addressing the the reasoning.
> I agree, however I think you open yourself up to this criticism when you bash other people for dressing functionally
But, as I said, it's a fashion article (i.e. fatuous, irrelevant nonsense).
Just ignore the silly person. Or laugh out loud at them when you next see them wearing some thick down monstrosity in the height of summer, because some other style idiot has decreed it is cool.
cf the Emperor's New Clothes.
> Shouldn't read the guardian. Full of nonsense.
The attached article is further evidence of that:
My Point Five Fresney duvet circa 1975 is still going strong.
So is my ME Annapurna duvet (1976) out of fashion ? (was it ever in fashion, doesn't look like any of the jackets or coats in that Guardian article).
Brilliant. Also reminds me of:
A friend and I went for a Christmas night out in Newcastle, but we got nothing but homophobic abuse because of the way we were dressed. Maybe it was a bit naive of us to wear jackets.
I really don't follow the suggestion in the OP that this article is in any way an attack on functional duvet jackets. It's a condemnation of some very ugly, nay, monstrously ugly, garments that have entered mainstream fashion.
> I gave my 90's North Face puffer to my 16 year old son.
> If I'd have known they were that sought after, I'd have charged him 300 quid for it.
Funnily enough my oldest son got my 1995 North Face Nuptse last year as part of his 18th birthday pressie. He had been nicking it all the time for the previous couple of winters. I bought it trade price from the outdoor shop I worked in at the time, before I went to Finland for the first time - for New Year with a Finnish girl I had met travelling in India the summer before. The Finnish girl would later become my son's mum, so I guess it worked and I got my money's worth out of it! :-)
Has your son worked out how much he could sell your old jacket for on Japanese vintage fashion sites yet? You might regret giving it to him even more when he does! ;-)
There's something quite touching about that. I think my son has my Rab down smock now, not for cragging but cos it's sort of retro cool.
> It's a condemnation of some very ugly, nay, monstrously ugly, garments
I'll no have yer sayin' that about me owd Rab, why the gaffa tape is nearly new!
> There's something quite touching about that. I think my son has my Rab down smock now, not for cragging but cos it's sort of retro cool.
Not duvet jackets but my son now has all my rock/heavy metal band t-shirts that shrunk in the wash (why???)
He does have a duvet jacket but didn't want my ME one for some reason... probably the iodine stains look a bit suss
> A young climber laughed when I called it a duvet. He pointed out that duvets go on beds.
Did you try slipping 'pied d'éléphant' into the conversation?
There was me and thinking I was cutting a dash when I went into Holmfirth yesterday......
My ME Lightline jacket is decades old, bought at staff rate when I worked in an outdoor shop for a trip to visit my god-daughter in Canada one winter.
It's still in pristine condition, as I find it too warm for much of the rest of the time, so just doesn't get used! I cannot believe the current price of it!
Some of the mums on the school run have the ankle-length sleeping-bag-with-arms coats - I think they look slightly ridiculous, but who am I to judge if they're warm and happy?
> Brilliant. Also reminds me of:
> A friend and I went for a Christmas night out in Newcastle, but we got nothing but homophobic abuse because of the way we were dressed. Maybe it was a bit naive of us to wear jackets.
I was saved from the experience in exactly the same town by my Geordie friend who, before we went for a pub crawl on a freezing November night, said: what the f***’s that? You can’t wear a f***ing JACKET!!!
The evening ended well after midnight, standing in the driving sleet at the bus stop among hordes of lads in t-shirts and girls in spaghetti tops and mini skirts, who all waited with us unconcernedly for 20 minutes until the bus came.
Once got put up for the night by our taxi driver who picked us up at Bodø airport. He later took us on a tour of the town at about 2am, coffee break on. the Hurtigrute boat etc. While this was Summer daylight*, we were informed that the scantily dressed queue for the nightclub was equally scantily dressed in February.
*Even though it was Summer it did snow at sea level the next day
My mrs bought a cheap long padded arsene wenger style coat and is now getting bored of me asking her to 'give walcott 20mins'
I’ve still got my 1968 Redline duvet single skin covers my bum and full of Swan down
keith s