What is the Earthrise Jacket?
The first of it's kind for Mountain Equipment, the Earthrise Jacket is made from 100% recycled Down and 100% recycled inner and outer fabrics. It has exceptional environmental credentials whilst maintaining superb performance. It's lightweight, warm and packs down into its own pocket making it the ideal insulating jacket for laying up on chilly days.
What is it made of?
Insulation: The Earthrise Jacket contains 116g of 100% recycled down with a minimum content of 85/15 700 fill power in a stitch through construction. Taken from post-consumer waste destined for landfill in Europe, the recycled down originates mostly from used bedding. The down and feathers are removed from source and then washed, sterilised and then sorted. The majority of this recycled down goes into new bedding products, whilst only the highest quality down clusters, with a fill-power of 700 or higher, are used in Mountain Equipment’s Earthrise Jackets.
All that recycled down has exceptional environmental credentials while maintaining superb performance. It is all sourced from a European facility powered by solar power, is washed in a plant with extremely efficient water recycling before being graded for quality. Mountain Equipment’s use of only the finest grade of recycled down, guarantees not only an ethical purchase but a high performance one. This process saves a valuable material from landfill and by eliminating the farming process that produces virgin down, it vastly reduces the carbon footprint of down production.
Fabrics: The Earthrise Jackets are constructed using 100% recycled outer and inner fabrics. These are environmentally-sound fabrics with excellent performance characteristics. Earthrise 30D is used on the outer and is incredibly soft to the touch, wind resistant, comfortable and totally down-proof. The inner fabric is also 100% recycled and is soft to the touch, breathable, down-proof and durable. Combined, these fabrics offer exceptional environmental benefits without sacrificing performance or the look and feel of this high-performance jacket.
What are the features?
Moving on to the features - the Earthrise has an elastane bound mountain hood that sits snug to your head and also fit well underneith a helmet. The cuffs are also elastane bound and you get a dual tether drawcord on the hem to help seal out cold drafts. You also get two generously sized zipped hand pockets in the front of the jacket that are perfect for stashing your phone or compass when you're on the move. To further seal out the cold, Mountain Equipment has put an insulating baffle behind the YKK moulded centre front zip, eliminating the cold spot you normal get from zippers. On top of all of these handy features, the Earthrise packs down into it's own pocket for easy storage.
How does the Earthrise Jacket fit?
As an insulating layer, it is designed to be a close, snug fit, yet features enough room to layer up underneath on the particularly chilly days.
Where does the Earthrise fit in the layering system?
The Earthrise is a lightweight, breathable and packable down jacket. Use it as an appropriate insulating layer depending on your activity level and the weather conditions. It works perfectly well as a standalone jacket on those crisp, dry, freezing days or as a cosy casual jacket. 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.
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100% recycled Earthrise 30D outer fabric
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116g (Size L) of recycled down with a minimum content of 85/15 700 fill power
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Stitched-through narrow baffle construction throughout
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Elastane bound Mountain Hood
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Optimised down distribution and fill weights using a baffle-by-baffle approach
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YKK moulded centre front zip with insulated rear baffle
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2 zipped hand warmer pockets
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Elastane bound cuffs and adjustable dual tether hem drawcords
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Packs into hand pocket with twin karabiner carry loops
How to wash your down products
Having spent years talking to people about down products, whether that’s a jacket, sleeping bag or even a pair of slippers, very few have had the confidence to go ahead and wash the product on their own, especially when they have just spent an arm and a leg on it. This small guide is here to explain that it’s not as daunting and utterly terrifying as it first appears.
Step one: Before you even get near that washing machine, wipe off any excess mud or dirt that may be lingering on the surface of the jacket, as this will clog up the washing machine, eventually rendering it useless.
We recommend the use of Nikwax Down Wash Direct for down products as it’s one hundred percent environmentally friendly and will wash and re-proof the garment without the use of bleach or any other nasty chemicals. What household washing agents can (and often do) is remove the water repellent coating on the fabric of the jacket, whilst also damaging the delicate array of feathers inside.
Step two: We’ll assume in this instance that you’ve been washing other products prior to your down jacket and have used a bleach based detergent. Therefore it’s a good idea to run the washing machine for half an hour or so without anything inside to rinse it clean before adding the Nikwax or putting the jacket in. Also, don’t forget to remove the detergent drawer to give it a wash inside, outside and behind, as detergent can clog up and still enter the washing machine if not cleaned out thoroughly. This ensures that any remnants of detergent are removed and that the Nikwax products will work effectively.
Step three: Set the washing machine to a cold wash (check the garments care label, most tend to be around 30°C) and as delicate as possible. Most washing machines have a “wool” cycle which is ideal.
Step four: If using Nikwax Down Wash Direct, place 100ml in either the tray or directly into the washing machine inside a small pot/ball. If you choose to use another washing product, place the appropriate amount in the machine in the same way.
Step five: Set the washing machine to run on a slow cycle, allowing plenty of time for the jacket to soak up the cleaning/re-proofing product. Most washing machines will have a pre-set time for different washing cycles.
When the cycle has finished be prepared for a shock, your precious bit of kit will come out looking like a soggy ball of material. But don’t worry, you haven’t ruined it, it’s just that all that fluffy down insulation has become water logged and has clumped together. The trick is to now get all that down nice and dry to reinstate its superb insulating properties. Simply hanging it up in a warm place will not work that well. It will take days to properly dry and you will have to constantly break up the clumps to get it thoroughly dry. The best way is to use a tumble dryer; either a domestic one for smaller items or a commercial drier for sleeping bags.
Step six: Pop the garment into the dryer and make sure to select a low heat; a high heat runs the risk of melting seams and fabrics within the garment. It sounds weird, but shove a few tennis balls into the drier with the garment; the tennis balls will bounce around and help to break up the clumps of down. Every 20 minutes, pull the jacket out of the dryer and lie the jacket down on a table. Run your hands over the jacket until you find a 'clump' or ball of down; tease apart this down clump and spread it evenly into the baffle. Once you're confident you've pulled apart every clump to the best of your ability, stick it back in for another 20 minutes. Keep repeating this until there are no more clumps left.
Step seven: When the cycle has finished and you are sure that you have got the garment as dry as possible, hang it up in a warm dry place, an airing cupboard is ideal, for 24 hours. This drives out the last of any dampness and allows the down to loft fully. Take it out and give it a good shake and, hey presto, it’ll be as good as new.