Ever wondered what a 1000-fill down jacket looks like?
Trek & Mountain had a sneak preview of Patagonia’s latest ‘secret weapon’ – the Encapsil Down Belay Parka – at the recent ISPO Show in Munich, but we’d been embargoed on reporting on it until the official launch day – but that is today, so now we can reveal all!
So what’s so special about the Encapsil? Well it’s the first down jacket available with 1000-fill down inside – and that makes it remarkably warm for its weight, and super lofting. It’s also the first Patagonia product to feature water-repellant down.
The Belay Down Parka is 100% independently baffled and differentially cut without a single shortcut or “cheat” where a seam has been sewn through, resulting in a cold spot. Weighing 510 grams and insulated with Patagonia’s proprietary, plasma-treated, water- repellent Encapsil 1000-fill-power down, Paragonia claim “the belay parka is unparalleled in warmth for its weight, designed for alpinists to take into the burliest of conditions.”
Patagonia is not the first manufacturer to introduce water-repellant down of course, but they insist their manufacturing process delivers additional advantages, not least the ability to create down with the unprecedented 1000-fill-power rating. Encapsil patented technology uses safe, silicone-based chemistry that is free of fluorocarbons. Patagonia’s down is sent through a proprietary machine and agitated with low-level radio frequency waves until the surface of the down’s molecular structure begins to shift. A tiny amount of siloxane is then deposited onto each plumule of down, adhering to its changed molecular structure in a virtually permanent way. The result is down that is hydrophobic, stronger and loftier by 25%.
“This is the most challenging design project I have ever worked on,” notes Casey Shaw, advanced product engineer at Patagonia, “To design this parka, we had to develop new construction techniques that would allow us to maintain perfectly baffled chambers, while insuring low bulk and realistic production capability for the factory. Given the complexity of this parka’s design, our team had to fly to the factory to guide them through the intricate construction and assembly techniques to ensure the correct execution of the design.”
T&M was at the exclusive preview of Encapsil at the ISPO Munich expo in Feb
Now a bit more technical detail for you: Shell fabric is an ultralight 10-denier Pertex® Endurance nylon ripstop with a polyurethane dry coat, providing excellent water repellency. The hood is baffled and helmet-compatible, with a single drawcord that provides a small draft collar of down around the face, creating a microclimate to help prevent frostbite on exposed skin. Variegated baffles across the parka are smaller in high- compression areas to help keep down from shifting, and a double-baffle wind flap behind the zipper completely seals out cold and wind. No moisture-holding materials are used anywhere in this parka. Exterior hand pockets are independently insulated to retain warmth even when open, and the high positioning keeps them away from the harness line. A unique pull-system at the hem allows for adjustment of the drawcord from inside or out, eliminating harness entanglement, and a mini-snowskirt keeps out wind and snow from below without compressing the down in the lowest chamber.
You would expect that the Down Belay Parka would be just the first of a range of Encapsil down products, and this is confirmed by Randy Harward, vice president of advanced research & development at Patagonia: “This has been a five-year R&D project in the making, and we are eager to integrate this technology into future styles beyond the Belay Parka.”
The EncapsilTM Down Belay Parka will be available in special-edition, limited quantities, and will be for sale at www.patagonia.com, and in the Patagonia Chamonix retail store.
RELATED LINKS
www.patagonia.com