Under Armour Charged Cotton Storm Full Zip Hoodies
Let me just lay it out there at the start: I’m a bit of an Under Armour fan… but let me word it a bit differently.
I like kit that ‘works’. For me, clothing has to be well made, high quality, simple design, functional… stuff that does what it’s supposed to, but does it really well. If it comes in a good strong colour, even better.
So for these reasons, I like Under Armour stuff. It’s always worked well. Don’t get me wrong though; I’m not a blind following fanboy – it’s got to prove its worth.
A few months ago we made a video of the first few items in the new Under Armour Storm Cotton range. An interesting proposition that combined a cotton hoody and a DWR (durable water repellent) finishing, that was both water repellent and breathable. Check the video out here. Yeah, we got a bit silly and that last test would probably be too much for even the most waterproof of jackets, but the technology proved itself.
Here is a quick video to show how effective UA Storm is at repelling water. Carried out where all the best experiments should be… in the kitchen sink!
A few weeks ago, we took delivery of the next generation of Storm kit and I finally crumbled and got one of these bad boys – Charged Cotton Storm Full Zip Hoody. I’m thinking this is probably the all-round best bit of clothing for our British weather! Here’s why…
The technical info…
UA Charged Cotton: historically, UA only made kit from technical polyester based fabrics. All that changed a few seasons ago with the introduction of the Charged Cotton fabric. Charged Cotton took the comfort of regular cotton but added the moisture wicking, quick drying properties of technical fabrics.
Storm: UA Storm gear adds a DWR finish to the Charged Cotton making it repel water. The DWR doesn’t sacrifice breathability or comfort so you still get the full benefits of Charged Cotton.
Coldgear: the fleece lining is built to keep you warm when it gets cold… a technology UA has mastered through years of base layer manufacturing.
So, how has it performed over the last week?
Faultless.
Everyone in the UK knows about our particularly idiosyncratic weather… sun+warm+cold+rain all in less than an hour. Normally this means you need to carry a jacket around for the inevitable probability of getting a soaking!
Not any more. My UA Hoody has become my go-to option when I leave the house. I went for the full-zip option – more flexibility for temp control.
If it rains, hood up, zip up, sorted.
When the sun comes out (ok, it’s the UK, what I mean is when the rain stops) hood down, unzip, away you go.
It’s made to the quality you would expect from Under Armour and there are versions with or without the zip. It comes in a range of solid colours: black, grey, squadron and red (full zip only).
£49.99 with a zip, £44.99 without. Check the range here.
So do I think it’s the best hoody for UK weather? Emphatically yes!
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