We were recently invited to review one of RefrigiWear’s jackets, and after pondering it a bit we chose their Arctic Duck Jacket as our target.
While not a technical piece of fly fishing gear, we as well as a lot of you spend multiple hours in the greater outdoors doing other things, some for work and some for play, and many of those activities require clothing designed to take repeated punishment and come back day after day to do it again.
Our family’s working-man, cotton-duck wardrobe exploded during the years we were running our equestrian operation and barn in Kalispell; we wore it every damned day for years, in every imaginable sort of weather and grew to love its durable comfort and style (yes, that’s right, I said style). We also learned what worked and what didn’t in terms of design, fit and features.
Here’s a run down of what we found in our hands on time with the jacket. We’ve also been graciously provided a jacket to give away; details below.
Jacket Nuts and Bolts
- 100% Cotton double-fill Duck with Teflon coating
- Heavy duty YKK front brass zipper
- Interior lining: 10 ounce Sherpa pile
- Insulation: 120g sleeve, 80g body
- Hood with Sherpa pile lining
- Extended back
- 2 button closure front chest pockets
- 2 vertical hand warmer pockets
- 2 inside pockets (one zip closure, one velcro)
- Bi-swing back for greater arm and shoulder freedom
- Inset sleeve cuff
- Reinforced brass tacks at stress points
Comfort and Fit
The jacket is generously cut; I’m fairly broad shouldered with a big chest and the jacket didn’t bind at all during an afternoon of cutting and stacking firewood and clearing a mess of downed limbs. Reaching to ground level as well as overhead was accomplished with ease. The jacket is sized generously but within standard expectations. My wife, who spends a fair chunk of her time selling expensive Barber jackets to folks who wouldn’t know which end of a shovel to use, was impressed with the jacket’s clean cut and fit.
Construction and Finish
I’m truly impressed with the double-fill Duck; it’s a tight weave, sheds wind quite well and resisted scuffing during my ‘cold front just arrived’ test afternoon. The bi-swing back far exceeded expectations in terms of design, there’s no air leakage around the shoulders at all.
The jacket’s finish is overall what I’d rank as very good; seams are tight, straight and well finished, the inset sleeve cuffs are a great feature and comfortable, and the hood lies flat enough to not be a bother. The Sherpa lining is well anchored with tight rolled seams on the edges
Outside pocket configurations are pretty standard; the inside pocket (2) zip and velcro closures for added security are a nice touch, as is the built-in pencil pocket for guys that still make a living with their hands building things.
Durability and Care
Care instructions are fairly straightforward and favor those of us who get dirty working and playing. The coat is machine washable (warm) and should be line dried (no more than 10 minutes in the dryer). Dry cleaning or ironing may damage the Teflon coating and should be avoided.
As to durability, duck jackets we’ve abused in the past wore like iron and most have faded to a respectable patina with time. I’m simply unable to comment about durability given I’ve not owned a RefrigiWear duck jacket, though reviews in terms of durability look very good.
The Bottom Line
This jacket is unquestionably a keeper, with a couple of caveats.
The jacket is damned well designed and constructed, with what most would consider above industry average components and finish. I’m particularly impressed with the tight weave and finish on the double-fill duck and how comfortable the jacket is when moving around and actually doing things.
Caveat one – this is a duck jacket, made with working men and women in mind; it’s not technical outerwear, tourista apres-ski fashion, or likely to be worn by metrosexual urbanites with ‘New York values’. At its heart this is a working man’s (or woman’s) jacket, happiest dusted with sawdust, scuffed a bit and with a smear of mud on a cuff. Our clan wears this genre of clothing every day and has for decades, it’s just not everybody’s cup of tea.
Caveat two – not surprisingly, given the economic and market conditions of today, the jacket is made in China. I get it that for some folks that’s an absolute deal breaker, for most, with appropriate (and quite evident) quality control, it’s not.
Let’s Give This One Away
We have a brand-spanking new size 3x version of this coat, tagged and in original packaging, ready to ship to a guy (or gal) needing a nifty new jacket to finish this winter out. We asked for a ‘big guy size’ to support our big guy buddies out there who are often left out of the give away game.
We’ll announce the winner on Thursday the 28th and ship the jacket that same day. Drawing closed – winner announced 1 February!
