What makes a fleece comfortable? Lofted polyester fibers trap warm air next to your body and don’t absorb water, and an open weave vents any moisture your body produces. Warm plus dry equals comfort outdoors. There’s just one problem: weather. Add wind, rain, or snow, and suddenly that comfy fleece can’t keep you warm.
Not the new Bluff Berber Jacket ($250) from Bozeman, Montana-based apparel brand Sitka. The Bluff Berber sandwiches a Gore Windstopper membrane inside a high-loft fleece, blocking wind and light precipitation while retaining the fabric’s traditional feel.
Sitka drew its fleece’s unique approach from its whitetail deer hunting apparel. Whitetail are an exceptionally wary animal, and hunting them typically involves sneaking into a hidden location before first light, then sitting perfectly still for hours on end, waiting for one to walk in front of you. At the first hint of sound or movement, the whitetail will disappear. And since most hunts for the species occur late in the fall, the weather is almost always cold and damp.
Following the usual prescription for layering—base layers, fleece, puffy, shell—is no good,…
