Rab Men's Shadow Hoody

Product Information

Chest - Measure horizontally across the widest part of your chest and double it to get your full chest size We teach these practical skills in a friendly and open way, our hope being to enable you to make your adventures into the Great Outdoors memorable and enjoyable. We'll help you cultivate a positive attitude, a confidence in yourself, and a connection with the natural world through which you travel.

The Shadow Hoody uses Rab's Thermic Pro fabric throughout. Think of this fabric as a half way point between a fleece and a softshell; it'll offer far more protection and durability than fleece, however it's more breathable than your standard softshell and will allow a little wind to pass through to cool you down when working hard. Despite its incredible breathability, it offers water resistance, wind resistance and protection from general mountain abuse. About Toby Archer Toby Archer is based in Finland, where he works as a researcher specialising in terrorism and political Islam. The Shadow Hoodie is low bulk and cut to fit comfortably with a harness making it a great mid layer to wear when climbing. The low bulk hood fits easily under a helmet and the long sleeves and thumb loops provide great movement and protection when reaching for holds.Superb wind resistance, water resistance, breathability and stretch are the key pluses of the Shadow Hoodie. Nowadays fleece and soft shell are massive umbrella terms, which cover all sorts of garments that you can wear in the varying levels of weather that come below gale force winds and drenching rain. You balance varying amounts of breathability and stretch in return for more or less waterproofing. Designed to be versatile Rab's Regular Fit garments are not closely fitted therefore they are suitable for cross-seasonal use and multi-layering. Garments are contoured with room for movement. My only criticism is that - like another reviewer - I've had some stitching fail around the cuff/thumb loop area. This will only require a few DIY stitches to fix but is annoying on a relatively expensive fleece. Pulling the cuff down to use the thumb loop clearly exerts a lot of pressure on one small area, so it would be good if Rab could reinforce the stitching around this area in future production runs.

The integrated sleeve cuffs and drawstring hem mean you can cinch down the hoody to help trap that bubble of warm air. The cuffs also feature a thumb loop and a generous overlap with the sleeve, meaning when you couple a pair of trekking gloves like the Zenon’s we were using, you get a great seal around the wrist making for a surprisingly warm setup. My only niggle is that the cuff fabric isn’t as warm as the Thermic Pro of the main hoody, which you’ll notice on windy sections without the gloves. The payoff is that the cuff is very stretch and therefor comfortable around the thumb, and when paired with gloves you’d not notice anyway. An extremely versatile stretch fleece that combines warmth, breathability and durability. Great for wearing alone or layering, the tapered cut fits comfortably under a harness and the hood sits snugly under a helmet.The DWR that Rab use is incredible (I’d love to know what they use!). It’s the same on my Borealis and VR Alpine Light. It sheds water very well. I just use Nikwax. Rab's Slim Fit garments are designed to be worn closer to the body or over layers such as base-layers and light mid-layers. Close fitting for maximum performance when moving dynamically.