Sometimes my down jacket makes me want to pull my hair out. I got the First Ascent Down Microtherm Hooded Down Shirt about 6 months ago, as a versatile insulating layer for traveling. It’s super lightweight and has a bunch of other cool features… but it leaks!
When I first got my down jacket, I was new to the concept of a jacket leaking. Who would have known that feathers could get out of the microscopic holes in my jacket? I first opened the package that my First Ascent jacket came in, and then… POOF! There were some feathers along with my jacket.
Down leakage is simply the down fill of a jacket coming out of the shell. I have no idea how the down gets out of the microscopic holes in the shell of my jacket, but they just find some way to. It is really annoying, but unfortunately I have no way to fix it.
My jacket leaks chronically, and whenever I take it off I notice down on my shirt. I’ve read that it is normal for down jackets to leak, but I think that mine has particularly large problems. Down leakage may actually be the reason I’m losing loft in the chest area of my jacket… I’m not actually too sure though.
How to fix down leakage:
Whenever I see half of a feather poking out, I always try to pull it in from the other side in order to keep it from completely coming out. According to the experts, down jackets, both expensive and inexpensive leak feathers.
My jacket reminds me of penguins shedding their feather coat, like in this picture of a penguin I saw in Punta Arenas:
And here is all of the down it shed:
On the bright side, I now know (and can see) that my jacket has/had some good quality down inside. If your down jacket has problems, don’t worry, because I can assure you that mine has problems too.
Here are some down jackets on Amazon.com.
Does your jacket have issues with leaking? Leave your comment below.
Jacket Photo Credit: www.eddiebauer.com