Bushwalk Australia

so Kathmandu put out a lot of clothing using fabric that goes by a brand name of Altica,
just got an item and it also had a Polartec Tag on it... so looks like Altica is rebranded Polartec...

I think its just polarfleece and they've put their own spin on it. Lately Mountain Designs has some reasonable prices especially in clearance outlets and in Sydney the clearance outlet is located on Parramatta Road, Auburn.

agreed , in this case i was interested in the grid fleece here on the borello. has a good loft for its weight, and it compresses well. its a tufted fleece, polartec seem to be a pretty reputable quality fabric if not a cheap one.... i think MD used to have the grid fleece or do on one of their softshells but the one i saw was pretty expensive. I don't think i've seen it on their fleeces.
kathmandu these days are putting out a pretty wide variety of fabrics, a bigger variety than i've been able to find in other shops in NZ, R&R sports would probably have the next biggest variety.
i've packed the kathmandu fleece in a bag and next to it packed my MD thor hjacket, its only 120gm lighter than the Thor. but it seems to pack down to about two thirds the size. the size of the thor in my pack was my biggest issue with it, unless i know i'm likely to be wearing the thor most of the time i'd rather take something smaller, so far i've only had to wear the thor once willl i'm walking...
the grid fleece jacket is about the same weight as my kathmandu ironside jacket but would pack to about three quarters of the size... and i think the loft is better on the grid fabric. its an old ironside jacket and the fabric may have changed since. i've never used it tramping, and being the fussy bugger that i am thought i might try out a new technology of fabric instead of use that as a smaller fleece than the thor... who knows, curiosity got the better of me and decided i'd try a new design of fabric. might just be splitting hairs in the end. its hard to know how much is hype and how much is reality in what the manufacturers claim.... sometimes it might just be as much about the belief that you've bought something better than you've had before that gives the effect that you feel you are better off... if you cant really spare the $100 and have something more important to spend it on then you may not really be missing out on anything more than a novelty item....

Are you talking about a fleece type fabric, or a thermal base layer type fabric? I have the latter from Kathmandu and find it very static and not at all soft to the touch.

fleece,
did you get their polyester base layers? the thermaplus? i used to have them, didnt like them at all. found they werent that warm and would conduct the cold, useeless when wet.. arent you a mainlander frm teh south island? you should be immune to the cold

wayno wrote:fleece,
did you get their polyester base layers? the thermaplus? i used to have them, didnt like them at all. found they werent that warm and would conduct the cold, useeless when wet.. arent you a mainlander frm teh south island? you should be immune to the cold

Yes that's the one. Agreed on all fronts. Useless stuff.

From Stewart Island originally

amazed at how much more kmandu charge for that baselayer over polypro,,, you have to watch them with some of their stuff, i boght some of tehir quick drying undies,,,, hell they were sized for midgets., potential to do some damage there o teh sensitive areas.... must have been some product out of asia that they rebaddged, seemed like a good concept but crikey , i see they have version two our, i wonder if they have been resized....

I just bought a windpro hard face hoodie from Kathmandu on sale in oz. I think it had Altica as well as polartec labelling which caused me some consternation when I got home, thinking I'd got the wrong garment... but def a windpro top. Rare as hens teeth, windpro, bought it while I could.

they might have to pay some licence fee to polartec if they advertise it as a polartec so do some rebranding to get round it?
or its licence produced by different factories than the main polartec mills?

like the fabric so much i bought the vest as well saves a fair bit of bulk in the pack compared to normal thick fleece.
http://www.kathmandu.com.au/mens/jacket ... olive.html