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Patagonia is as well known for lightweight down jackets as they are for fleece—the Nano Puff Jacket is standard mountain town attire—but it's still possible that you missed the launch of Downlab late last year. If so, the recap is short: With Patagonia Downlab, the brand's apparel designers sought to make the lightest insulating layers the brand had ever released. Now that you're up to speed, you can school up on the just-released additions to the Downlab collection, the AlpLoft Down Parka and the SugarDown Hoody, which take the line into two distinct realms beyond how little jackets weigh.
For its part, the AlpLoft Down Parka ($599) focuses on maximizing warmth in as minimal a package as possible. It's loaded with enough 800-fill responsibly sourced down to make it the warmest down puffy Patagonia makes, a meaningful superlative for the alpinists who the brand hopes will wear it for chilly belays and bivvies. Like the rest of the Downlab pieces, the jacket cuts excess features, but it does have a helmet-friendly hood with a high collar, big draft baffles behind the zipper, and an adjustable hem, plus two pairs of pockets on the outside and inside. All that for 24 ounces, too.
The SugarDown Hoody ($329) takes a different tack; here, the minimalism is more in its material footprint (though it does come in at 11.6 ounces). The jacket is Patagonia's first bio-based insulating jacket. It has the same responsibly sourced, 800-fill down as the AlpLoft, but its ripstop shell is made from sugarcane instead of petroleum, the usual base for the polyester you'll find on most down jackets. Trim materials come from castor oil and other plant-based nylons. The jacket itself is more versatile than the AlpLoft—it's similar in look and cut to the Down Sweater and works as a mid or outer layer.
Both of the new Downlab jackets are available for men and women along with the rest of the collection, which includes ultralight pullovers and zip-ups that are made for alpine climbing but worthy of any active adventure where weight and packability matter.
Published 12-13-2022
