UKC

Hi,
So i bought a shadow hoodie from go outdoor recently as they are on offer at £60. Very nice etc. However, i was in go outdoors the other day and there was a different hoodie- different material- being called a shadow hoodie for the same price claiming the same knock down. One being sort of soft-shell feel and one feeling like a classic fleece. Now i have no issue with the hoodie ive bought- its great- but i find it a little strange and a little annoying that two products with the same design but different materials could be sold as the same thing. Could anybody explain this to me or explain where i may be mistaken?
Cheers,
M

In reply to tango_kid:

I'm going to get one of these today too. Think it's just a difference in outer material for personal preference. The fleece one is softer to the touch, where as the smoother one layers better under other binding layers.
Both have the windpro technology.
So similar to how you get a gore windstopper membrane, with either a thick harderwearing outer layer such as ME Shield jacket, or stripped down outer layer such as a ME Trojan jacket. They are both windstopper, but quite differnt feel to them and different properties.
(Not comparing wind pro to windstopper. wind pro still lets in a great deal of wind).

In reply to tango_kid:

Sound odd - Windpro was a distinct fabric when it came out as far as I remember (my Shadow is years old now but still a great fleece). It's quite smooth on the outside.

Maybe Polartec have changed it and these are from different seasons? Or could it be someone has stuck the wrong label on one of them - GO Outdoors doesn't have the most knowledgeable of staff always.

In reply to TobyA:


I'd go with this. GO currently have the Rab Exodus soft shell jacket on discount at £80. If they have some that are mis-labelled as Shadow hoodies for £60, I might be tempted to take advantage of their error... (interestingly, GO claim the Shadow was originally more expensive (£135) than the Exodus (£130)...)

In reply to captain paranoia:

I was in the Clydebank Go last week and I came across the £60 offer Shadow hoodie, I have the "Normal or Original Shadow hoodie, huge difference
£60 feels like a cheap fleece I thot it felt odd and I wouldn't describe it as a shadow hoodie not even for £60 it defo wasn't An Exodus jkt
Personally I'd avoid it and stick with the Original Hoodie

In reply to tango_kid:

at a guess one has the "hardface" and the other doesnt, so the harder feeling one will have a much better DWR on it

just a guess not seen them

In reply to gear boy:

looks like the original http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/rab-mens-shadow-hoodie-p158984

Looks like a nice but normal hooded fleece http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/rab-mens-shadow-hoodie-p296005

The first one has "windpro" embroided on the arm where my old one does, the second doesn't seem to. But the description still calls it windpro.

Weird.

Haven't RAB been making some 'special' more basic version of one of their synth jackets that everywhere has on knock-down price at the moment too?

In reply to tango_kid:

I've just tweeted them asking about this - they've answered helpfully and swiftly in the past so lets see this time!

In reply to tango_kid:

Just to confirm- both hoodies had shadow labels inside put there by RAB so not a go outdoors issue. But difference descibed above seems to be as I've found- mine with hardface tech

In reply to TobyA:


Nah, the earliest WindPro I have is not like smooth hardface on the outer, but more rough fleece like old Windstopper. Nicely wind resistant and breathable but not as drizzle proof or layerable as modern hardface wind pro.

But that Mont jacket I have is really pretty old, I'd wonder why there would be Rab Shadows around with that fabric. I haven't seen it on a new garment for several years at least. To me these kinds of issues really devalue their brand.

In reply to Damo:

I suspect it's like has been said, a special Rab produced out of some fabric left over from something else, as they seem to have done with some synthetics recently. As most buyers are much less fussy than the folks on here re: fabrics and usage I reckon 99.9% of buyers wouldn't notice or care!

In reply to tango_kid:

Well i spose in use it might be not much different- but you've got to think most people (certainly for gear heads who spend days researching the next item to buy)want to know what they are paying for. Especially given its not the cheapest fleece in the world!

In reply to tango_kid:

I Thot it looked very odd and not in a good way was displayed beside the
Normal Wind pro Shadow Hoodie. I did manage to pick up a nice Rab Al Pullover zip top for £30 will go nicely under the Neoshell.

In reply to tango_kid:

To their credit, GO Outdoor's social media bod answered my tweet first thing this morning and looked into it for us. And found the same as you did Tango - Rab are making them from slightly different materials but using the same name.

I think people can see the replies Go tweeted at me by looking down their twitter feed https://twitter.com/GOoutdoors - there are four replies to me there you can see on this issue.

In reply to tango_kid:

Cheers mate, very interesting!!