The Fjällräven Keb Padded Hoodie is a lightweight and highly-packable synthetically insulated hooded jacket that works perfectly over or under a shell jacket to provide essential insulation and weather protection. These jackets are often called a belay jacket and are designed to be pulled out of your pack when you stop and thrown over the top of your clothing system to provide insulation, just like when you’re belaying at the bottom of a climb in cold conditions.
However, the Keb Padded Hoodie is versatile enough to be used as an insulating layer under a shell, or as a stand-alone jacket in drier cold conditions. Unlike natural down, the synthetic filling in this jacket retains excellent performance even when wet.
It’s also windproof, weather resistant, warm and breathable making it the perfect choice for all UK winter mountaineering activities.
What is the Keb Padded Hoodie made from?
The inner and outer of the Keb Padded Hoodie are made with a stretch polyester fabric that has a smooth, soft feel; the stretch comes from the clever way that it’s woven rather than adding additional fibres such as Lycra, this keeps the weight down and helps to speed up drying. There’s not loads of stretch, but enough to make it feel more comfortable when moving around. The fabric has a smooth plain weave that glides easily under layers, is breathable, wind and weather resistant and has a nice matte finish.
Ok, let’s get into the stuff that keeps you warm, the insulation. Fjällräven have used 60g/m² of G-Loft Supreme 100% polyester insulation. Developed for Fjällräven by insulation experts at Goldeck Textil in Austria, G-Loft Supreme is made from a blend of thin, hollow polyester fibres – 10% of which are recycled – which have a natural, cluster-forming ability that creates small pockets of air, just like natural down. It’s these pockets that insulate from the cold by maintaining your own body heat.
What’s really special about G-Loft Supreme is its ability to regain its original form after it’s been compressed. This ‘memory effect’ is due to the fibres of recycled polyester. They’re more rigid than their virgin counterparts, giving the material its springiness. And this ability continues after repeated washes and long-term use.
The massive advantage of synthetic insulation over natural down, especially stuff as good as G-Loft Supreme, is that it just works better in the wet. This jacket will absorb very little water and will keep you warm even if it’s wet. Despite all this fantastic wet weather performance the Keb Padded Hoodie is not 100% waterproof! So always carry a shell jacket to keep you fully protected…because it will rain!
What are the main features?
The Keb Padded Hoodie is designed to be lightweight, packable and functional, so the features list is pretty minimal. So, starting at the top let’s have a look at the main features of the Keb Padded Hoodie. There’s a fully insulated and close-fitting hood that will fit under a climbing helmet. The hood is fully adjustable using a really well designed elasticated drawcord; it runs through the brim and then behind your head so that when you tighten it up it cinches the hood really close to your head to keep in the warmth and seal out the drafts. It also means that when the main zipped is pulled right up you get fantastic protection for your face.
The main zip is a lightweight and reliable YKK two-way coil version to allow easy access to pockets, harness, hip belts etc.
Storage is taken care of with two open hand pockets, Lycra bound to reduce weight, one external zipped chest pocket and a stretch mesh dump pocket on the inside.
Continuing the simple, lightweight theme, the cuffs are Lycra bound, they’re snug enough to seal in the warmth yet easy to pull up if you need some ventilation. The hem is also Lycra bound, no fussy drawcords here.
One of the best features of the Keb Padded Hoodie is its ability to pack down really well, then when you whip it out of a stuff sack it’ll recover its loft really quickly to instantly provide essential insulation. Although it doesn’t come with a stuff sack, we’ve found that it will easily fit into an X-Small Exped Fold Drybag (3 litres).
How does the Keb Padded Hoodie Fit?
I’m 6’3”, 42” chest and 34” waist, I weigh around 13.5 stone and I’m wearing a size Large – The fit is comfortable and easy. Over a base layer, this size large is a bit roomy, but there’s enough room to layer up underneath and it’ll fit easily over my shell when using it as a belay jacket.
Where does the Keb Padded Hoodie fit in the layering system?
The Keb Padded Hoodie is a mid-weight, weather resistant and packable G-Loft Supreme synthetic insulated jacket making it the perfect belay jacket. It also works as an insulating layer depending on your activity level and the weather conditions, to be honest, I’d only ever consider this as a mid-layer in extremely cold conditions. It probably works best as a stand-alone jacket for active mountaineering in changeable winter conditions.
Layering is not a precise science and there is no one perfect system that will suit every person, situation or the weather conditions. Some of us feel the cold, others, like me, get hot very quickly, but for more advice on using layers please check out this video
Summary
In summary the Fjällräven Keb Padded Hoodie is a superbly versatile, functional and highly packable synthetically insulated jacket suitable for just about any outdoor activity in cold, wet, or just plain old miserable weather. It is also a lovely thing to wear, it’s so soft, light and pliable that you won’t want to take it off.
A massive bonus of synthetic insulation is that washing and drying is really easy, this is because G-Loft Supreme fibres dry quickly and don’t clump, so just wash in an appropriate cleaner, following the care label instructions, and all will be fine.
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Lightweight
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Compressible
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Warm
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Two hand pockets
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Snug fitting hood
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Elastic waist
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Slim fit
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Glove-friendly zip pulls