The important changes always come from within. Patagonia introduces an impressive “change for good” with their updated Nano Puff Pullover — and the entire revised Nano Puff line.
Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover Features
- Shell and lining fabric: 1.4-oz 22-denier lightweight ripstop 100% recycled polyester with DWR (durable water repellent) finish.
- Insulation: 60g PrimaLoft Gold Insulation Eco 100% polyester (55% post-consumer recycled content). Fabric is bluesign approved
- Brick quilting pattern with horizontal quilt lines on side panels
- Deep center-front zipper with wicking interior storm flap and zipper garage at chin
- Left-chest pocket doubles as stuff sack with a reinforced carabiner clip-in loop
- Soft elasticized cuffs and hem
- Three color options
- Weight: 286g (10.1 oz)
- MSRP $169
Dig deeper and you’ll see the “change for good”
On its surface, Patagonia’s Nano Puff pullover doesn’t seem remarkably different than its predecessors. That’s not a bad thing: the Nano Puff family of hoodies, jackets, and pullovers have been longstanding customer favorites due to their outstanding combination of style, comfort, durability and performance.
Dive a little deeper, however, and you’ll find that there’s a significant difference in this season’s Nano Puff styles – a difference that the company rightly calls “change for good.” The key update is the use of a new insulative material called PrimaLoft Gold Insulation Eco, which has a lighter environmental impact without compromising any of its feel or performance benefit.
PrimaLoft Gold Insulation Eco is a premium synthetic insulation made with 55% recycled content. By using this new material in all of its Nano Puff styles, Patagonia will save two million plastic bottles from the landfill in the first year of production alone. The company’s stated goal is to replace all of its standard PrimaLoft Gold insulation with the new 55% recycled Gold Eco for the entire Patagonia product line by the end of 2017.
Of course, using repurposed materials is nothing new to Patagonia, and recycled content has been incorporated into the Nano Puff jacket since it first launched in 2009. On the current model, the following construction aspects use post-consumer materials: the shell and liner fabrics are woven from 100% recycled polyester; the woven Patagonia label is made with 85% recycled polyester content, and all zippers are made from up to 62% recycled polyester. This is in addition to the aforementioned Gold Eco insulation.
So how does all of this eco-friendly construction perform? In our testing, it has been remarkably comfortable for just chilling out, but it’s also met every activity challenge we’ve thrown at it this summer. We used the Nano Puff for several long weekends of camping and hiking in the Sierra Nevadas, and we also used it as a cold-weather trail running outer layer on brisk mountain mornings. Most notably, we used it as a midlayer between a wool base and a waterproof shell to run through a rainy, snowy, freezing cold night in the Wasatch Mountains at the Bear 100 ultramarathon in September.
Overall construction of the Nano Puff pullover is relatively thin and quite lightweight, which makes it easy to layer, but it provides impressive warmth to weight. A brick quilting pattern keeps the insulation evenly distributed around the torso, and the PrimaLoft Gold Eco maintains its thermal insulation even when wet – up to 98% of its baseline insulation according to Patagonia. The material does feel somewhat heavy for running compared to more form-fitting jackets when soaked, but the DWR coating resists light precipitation pretty effectively, so the Nano Puff is an effective outer layer in most conditions. It does tend to retain some stink after heavy aerobic efforts; we’d love to see these garments incorporate Patagonia’s outstanding Polygiene odor control technology in the future.
Like other Nano Puff styles, the pullover is highly compressible, and stuffs into its own chest pocket for easy storage and transport. Elastic cuffs and hemline keep the sleeves and torso in place nicely. One potential drawback with the pullover is that it lacks the hand pockets that are on other models. The Nano Puff collection includes the men’s and women’s Jacket, Pullover, Hoody, Vest, and Bivy Pullover; all of these except the pullover models have side hand pockets, and the Bivy Pullover has a horizontal front pocket instead of a vertical chest pocket.
The Good
- Excellent warmth to weight
- Full insulation even when wet
- Outstanding comfort and versatility of use
- More eco-friendly without compromising quality
The Bad
- No hand pockets on pullover version
- Retains some funk after heavy aerobic activity
The Bottom Line: Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover
Improving its environmental stewardship without sacrificing the quality or performance of an already outstanding product, Patagonia leaves virtually nothing to criticize about their new Nano Puff Pullover, or any model in the Nano Puff lineup.
Buy Now: Available at REI.com
