McLarenblog

Men’s jacket manufacturers seem to be making a mistake for me at my location for the following reasons.

I live in a rather temperate climate.

• Average highs of 60°F (15.6°C) to 68°F (20°C) 
• Average lows of 45°F (7.2°C) to 55°F (12.8°C).

I have been looking for the proper jacket for my location but all the stores near me have been a disappointment:

• Macy’s = Cincinnati, OH
• Burlington Coat Factory = New Jersey
• Target = Minneapolis, MN
• JC Penney = Plano, Texas
• Kohl’s. = Menomonee Falls, WI
• Nordstrom. = Seattle, WA
• 32 Degrees =  New York, NY

As you can see the corporate headquarters are usually located in very cold winter climates.  My guess is they might expect everyone in the United States to have really cold winters.  My location seldom gets that cold and finding a jacket for my location has been a challenge.

Typical reason why jackets have not fulfilled my requirement is they all seem to be way too heavy and thus feeling way too hot to wear for my winter climate.  I think the usual reason is the company headquarters, who is selling these jackets, is located in a much colder climate and they seem to lack some concern for people living in other warmer locations.

My ideal jacket:

• Thin outer shell
• Wind resistant
• Moisture resistant
• Two rather large outside pockets zippered
• One high outside breast pocket zippered.
• Two inside large pockets.
• Under arm zipper vents.
• Back air vent.  (This is a very unusual feature.  My bicycle jacket has this.
• Full front metal zipper with wind protection flap.  
• Optional hood 
• Sleeve thumb holes or velcro sleeve ends or good elastic sleeve ends.

After looking for days for my almost ideal jacket I did find one.  I found it at Target:  Men’s Woven Fleece Jacket – All in Motion™

• Made for: cold weather, everyday wear
• Moves with: ultra-warm, woven fleece fabric
• Must-have features: side zip pockets, chest zip pocket, full-front zipper with high collar and hood, water-repellent construction, stretch thumbhole cuffs.
• But, the zipper on this jacket is made of plastic and I have had two failures.  It takes a long time to get the zipper back working again.

This jacket is not ideal but when almost all the jacket manufacturers seem to be out of touch, this jacket, so far, works for me.

• Thin outer shell. YES
• Wind resistant. YES
• Moisture resistant. YES
• Two rather large outside pockets zippered.  YES
• One high breast pocket zippered. YES
• Two inside large pockets.  NO
• Under arm zipper vents.  NO
• Back air vent.  NO
• Full front zipper with wind protection flap.  YES
• Optional hood. YES
• Sleeve thumb holes.  YES

March 6, 2021 I just discovered a near perfect jacket that is almost meets all my needs.  It is 32 Cool that I found at COSTCO.  But, so far I can NOT find any identification as to the item number that helps me to help you find it.  I picked a blue color, “NAVY” which has a very bright red inner liner.  The COSTCO item number is “1484906”.  Caution:  32 Cool fails to show this jacket item number.  COSTCO web site fails to show this item number in stock.  A COSTCO employee told me that the item number “1484906” did show in his store inventory but might not show as an inventory item in another store location.  You might want to call your local COSTCO to see if they have this in stock and confirm it is this jacket.  Also, this jacket is a seasonal item and I expect it to disappear from their current stock soon.

• Thin outer shell. YES
• Wind resistant. YES
• Moisture resistant. YES
• Two rather large outside pockets zippered.  YES
• One high breast pocket zippered. YES
• Two inside large pockets.  YES
• Under arm zipper vents.  NO
• Back air vent.  NO
• Full front metal zipper with wind protection flap.  YES
• Optional hood. YES
• Sleeve thumb holes or velcro sleeve ends or good elastic sleeve ends.   YES. (It does have velcro at the end of both arm sleeves.)

 

 

 

 

 

Posted:  March 6, 2021