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You know what time of year it is – it’s time to start thinking about putting on some additional layers when you go outside (at least, in the northern hemisphere). That means we’ll be seeing all sorts of “puffy” jackets and vests showing up. But the Zero Down is a puffy vest unlike any you’ve seen.
Sure, the Zero Down vest is puffy, and it’ll offer you warm in the chill weather. But it’s not using down – natural or synthetic – to keep you warm. Instead, it relies on one of the best insulators there is – air. You see, there’s a straw built into the chest of the vest (on the inside) and you can inflate the vest to get to your desired level of puffiness – and insulation.
Why does this matter? I mean, down insulation has been used for decades (well, maybe closer to centuries), and it’s proven. Well, to get all of that down, ducks and geese are either being killed (which could then be eaten, I suppose) or live-plucked to get that downy fill. So, if you’re looking for something that has less of an impact on our feathered friends, something like the Zero Down vest will likely appeal to you.
Another big benefit is packability. Sure, down compresses some, but not quite like removing all of the air from something and folding it up. This also means you could fine tune the vest for how it would fit under (or over) another layer as well.
And, if you needed one more plus, the Zero Down is encouraging recycling. Each vest ends up using up 8.8 plastic bottles to get it’s material, and the resulting product is supposed to be equivalent to a 600 fill-power traditional down vest.
The big question for the Zero Down is what happens once you get a puncture in it. Sure, it’s abrasion resistant (good for the outdoors), but in life, sometimes you run across sharp edges. Is the vest repairable? Well, conceivably, you could use a pool toy patch of some sort to seal it back up. Any which way, we do have one in for testing, so we’ll give you our full review (no plans to poke it with pins, however).
In the meantime, you can check out all the details of this new vest over on their Kickstarter campaign. Earlybird pricing starts at $79 with the campaign running until November 14, 2019. Funding is sitting at 73% of their goal (so a great start), with delivery anticipated for January of 2020 – just in time for those cold snaps. Again, we’ve got one in for review, so we’ll give you the full rundown a little bit down the road here. campaign page
