Patagonia Retro Pile Jacket

Sheep-like pile with relatively simple/straightforward features. The main advantage of this jacket is how it wicks moisture and provides a range of layering options. It’s quite warm under a shell yet fine on a spring day or even a cool summer evening. This jacket has next to no wind-stopping ability. Also, the open, fuzzy weave means it sheds longer than some other fleece jackets and can be prone to pilling over time.

The Patagonia men’s Retro Pile Jacket is a riff on the company’s original pile jackets—higher bulk fleece with very limited water resistance, designed to let air flow through and wick heat and moisture away. Patagonia makes them in a greater-than-normal size run of men's XXS through 3XL and women's XS through XXL. The full-zip jacket has two lower zip pockets and a zippered chest pocket, and a hang loop by the neck.

Patagonia also sells the same type of fleece fabric in Retro Pile Vest and pullover/half zip versions. The fabric is milled up to be thicker than standard fleece; it’s a pretty loose, stretchy fabric.  

The inside of the fleece is somewhat smoother than the outside; pockets are backed by polyester mesh.

For fun, here is a photo of the early '90s Patagonia pile jacket I still have and wear from time to time. These were first made with the fuzzy side facing out, then reversed because the outer-facing fuzz had a tendency to pill in a way that didn’t impair how they functioned but looked unsightly. 

FIT:

Sizing can be a little bit of an adventure with Patagonia. The Retro Pile Vest and full zip jacket are "regular fit," so they’re definitely not an athletic or tapered fit. You can safely buy them with the size Patagonia offers unless you intend to layer quite a bit underneath, in which case sizing up could be prudent.

The pullover, when I tried it on, was more narrowly cut, so much so that I would definitely would have had to size up. I chose to buy a men’s XXL in this jacket, though it’s a size larger than recommended, because I wanted room to wear layers underneath. 

Length-wise, the hem sits a bit below my hips. 

WARMTH:

One of the primary strengths of this jacket is its insulating value worn under a shell compared to how it insulates on its own. If you wear retro pile under a shell, you create a healthy amount of airspace under the shell, so it keeps you really warm—more so than many other types of fleece. That’s an advantage for winter hiking and climbing, where the combination of cold weather and hard aerobic work might not be ideal conditions for a down sweater. And, as I’ll discuss more below, this wicks better than a shelled synthetic puffy jacket. Functionally, it operates in the same space as Patagonia’s Nano Air Jackets or older versions of the Arc'teryx Atom (before they beefed up the outer shell). 

That can be an advantage if you want to bleed off extra heat and moisture. It’s normal for me to wear this without a shell in the winter when I’m moving uphill, then pull on a shell or puffy layer when I stop or get to a point where I’m more exposed to the wind. On a peak with a stiff wind, wearing this jacket on its own or even with layers underneath, getting stuck without a shell would be a very chilly experience.That quality also means this jacket does well in warmer weather, like shoulder season or cool spring or even summer evenings. If I head to the beach or lake country in Maine for a summer vacation, I like this jacket for hanging around outside in the evening. 

WICKING MOISTURE:

Like many fleece layers, the Retro Pile Jacket does a very good job transporting moisture away from your body, a plus when you’re active. On a couple of extended uphills in cold weather, I have noticed sweat freezing into rime on the surface of this jacket around the back and shoulders. If it gets pretty damp, just brush off the rime or shake out the moisture, and it still provides substantial warmth.

Compared to other options, wicking moisture is a strength of this jacket. Definitely better than hard shell synthetic puffy layers and slightly better than soft shell synthetics like the Patagonia Nano Air. 

DURABILITY:

As the photos show, this Retro Pile jacket is in decent shape after more than a year. I have occasionally de-pilled it so it continues to look presentable in casual settings. It also has a semi-annoying habit of shedding blue fuzz on base layers. I wear a Retro Pile Vest that’s a year older, and the shedding seems to have stopped with that one—I occasionally pull pills off the vest too. Like the legacy old-school pile Patagonia started out with in the '80s/'90s, the pills are cosmetic. They haven’t affected the structural integrity or insulating properties of the jacket (or vest). 

HOW I HAVE WORN IT:

I wear this jacket on cold weather hikes, often under a shell, hanging out outside, during the shoulder season, and on cool spring and summer days and evenings. Because it’s so similar in many functional ways to the Patagonia Nano Air Hoody I have worn for years, and the Nano Air is a more technical layer in some ways, I tend to reach for the Nano sometimes instead of this jacket. For whatever reason, I also tend to wear the Retro Pile Vest more frequently than the jacket, probably because I don’t have a very similar alternative in the closet. 

TAKEAWAYS:

Patagonia’s Retro Pile Jacket (and vest) are interesting options for certain kinds of technical needs—versatility, the ability to go without a shell and shed moisture and heat quickly,  and provide better than average warmth for a fleece under a hard shell. They’re also super-comfortable and transition easily to more casual use. 

Background

Have worn the jacket for the better part of two years, four seasons, depending on how it’s layered. I hike in it, walk the dog while wearing it, and often wear it casually around town.