Leland on the Patagonia SST Jacket:
The Patagonia SST jacket is a
highly breathable and waterproof fishing jacket with waterproof pockets protecting our precious flies from corrosion and keep us organized even in a downpour.
Leland on Specifications:
The Patagonia SST jacket for 2011 is made with a
highly breathable and waterproof barrior with a DWR finish. An
integrated hood has a single pull adjustment to fit over all ball caps or beanies. All zippers are waterproof and corrosion resistant and the stretch reverse cuff fabric keeps the water from coming inside the jacket. There are two beastie D-rings on the front and one on the back of the jacket, including a hidden rod holder. The large gusseted chest pockets are waterproof and set high on the chest for deep wading to protect your fly boxes. Each pocket sports tippets pockets and a large back pocket. The SST jacket is recyclable through the Patagonia
Common Threads Recycling program.
Specifications:
- Lightweight, highly breathable and durable 3-layer recyclable nylon double ripstop fabric, with a waterproof/breathable H2No barrier and a Deluge DWR (durable water repellent) finish
- Integrated hood with single-pull adjustment
- Waterproof, corrosion resistant zip main and handwarmer pocket zippers
- Reverse StretchCoat cuff fabric; Y-Joint sleeves and anatomically curved elbows; all seams are sealed
- Large gusseted chest pockets are waterproof (set high for wading, with inside tippet pockets, large back pocket); new forceps stash inside left chest pocket
- Two Beastie D-rings on front, one on back; hidden rod holder; new double belt loop at lower back
- New drawcord at hem, fabric at hem is mesh to allow for drainage
- Long lasting and recyclable through Patagonia’s Common Threads Recycling Program
Leland on Patagonia Outerwear:
With their origins in climbing and alpinism, it's hardly a surprise that Patagonia would build some of the best fly fishing outerwear on earth. That said, what we think will most raise your eyebrows when you try on these beautifully assembled pieces are not the slimly taped seams, the coated zippers, and the performance of the textiles employed, but the deliberate-yet-discrete fishing-specific design elements. These wading jackets and fishing shells are trim and sleek, free of dangling clutter and un-needed complication, yet they offer every feature that anglers have come to expect in a high-performance fly fishing jacket.
From pocket position and orientation, to accessory ring size and location, to wrist gasket design, to zipper choice and function -- the details of a piece of Patagonia fly fishing outerwear say volumes about the fishing experience and technical know-how of the team that designed it.
In the Patagonia Deep Wading Jacket, as in the SST and the Men's Insulator Jacket, you'll find well-thought-out garment features, stylish minimalism, and that intangible-but-obvious merit that can only come from years and years of design and refinement. As in the past, Patagonia's fly fishing jackets, wading jackets and outerwear are today among the finest on the market.
Leland on Patagonia:
One of the most admired and emulated firms in the outdoor marketplace, Patagonia is also one of the stalwarts in the fly fishing industry. From its humble beginnings as Yvon Chouinard's piton forging business to its ascendancy as one of the major houses in outdoor apparel and equipment, Patagonia has been marked by the same commitment to well-designed, well-made product, the same dedication to corporate social responsibility, and the same finger-on-the-pulse outdoor culture -- for almost forty years now.
Chouinard, still the company's head and something of an enlightened monarch, is well known as an alpinist and a surfer, but is also an avid fly fisherman. Atlantics, cutthroats, permit: he knows what he likes for fish as well as for gear, and he maintains a hand in the processes of product design to this day.
Patagonia is a founding partner of '1% for the Planet', a league of environmentally progressive businesses, and the firm demonstrates its engagement with environmental stewardship in other ways as well. To minimize the inevitable ecological costs of manufacturing, Patagonia uses recycled-content fabrics where possible and -- more to the point, perhaps -- makes products that will perform at a high level for years without the need for a replacement.
Patagonia on the SST Jacket:
An icon among fishing shells that keeps you dry in wet conditions, our durable, waterproof/breathable SST Jacket now features a host of new angler-friendly details.
Bristol Bay, Tierra del Fuego, the Russian Arctic - they all share three things: good fishing, bad weather and a whole lot of SST Jackets. Since its introduction, the venerable SST has continually set the standard for on-the-water weather protection. Today's version features our latest advances in shell design and technology, along with a host of new, angler-friendly details. Now made from our new 3-layer recyclable nylon ripstop waterproof/breathable fabric, the new SST is durable, extremely light, and better yet, fully recyclable. There's also a new integrated hood with single-pull adjustment and waterproof, corrosion-resistant AQUA zip main and hand pocket zippers. The now-classic large, gusseted chest pockets are waterproof and set high for deep wading. A belt loop on the back allows a wading belt to be worn over the jacket over waders, this combined with the waterproof front zipper results in a near waterproof garment to the neck for greater safety in the event of a spill. Streamlined cuffs lie flat, resist line snagging and seal out water. More details: large back pocket and hidden rod holder. Medium length (2 inches longer than the Deep Wading Jacket). Recyclable through our Common Threads Recycling Program.
Patagonia on Patagonia:
Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
–Patagonia's Mission Statement
Patagonia grew out of a small company that made tools for climbers. Alpinism remains at the heart of a worldwide business that still makes clothes for climbing – as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly fishing, paddling and trail running. These are all silent sports. None requires a motor; none delivers the cheers of a crowd. In each sport, reward comes in the form of hard-won grace and moments of connection between us and nature.
Our values reflect those of a business started by a band of climbers and surfers, and the minimalist style they promoted. The approach we take towards product design demonstrates a bias for simplicity and utility.
For us at Patagonia, a love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall environmental health of our planet. We donate our time, services and at least 1% of our sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental groups all over the world who work to help reverse the tide.
We know that our business activity – from lighting stores to dyeing shirts – creates pollution as a by-product. So we work steadily to reduce those harms. We use recycled polyester in many of our clothes and only organic, rather than pesticide-intensive, cotton.
Staying true to our core values during thirty-plus years in business has helped us create a company we're proud to run and work for. And our focus on making the best products possible has brought us success in the marketplace.
Patagonia on the Oceans as Wilderness Campaign:
Fifty million buffalo once roamed the rolling green prairies of North America. Gunners reduced them to near extinction. Now, hunters are at work on the rolling blue prairies of the sea, and already, the big fish – including miracles like thousand-pound, warm-blooded bluefin tuna – are 90 percent gone. What we regret happening on land, may again happen in the sea. Those who care about wildlife should get to know about oceans." – Carl Safina, "Comes a Turtle, Comes the World," Patagonia 2006 Heart of Winter Catalog
On land, we saw once what wildness meant. Imagine it: 50 million buffalo. Passenger pigeons that flocked so thick they covered the sun. A Spanish explorer sailing up the coast of California described a beach with scores of grizzly bears feeding on whale carcasses. Now, the vast numbers have dwindled or gone extinct. Only a remnant reminds us of what was, the animals and land we destroyed in our belief that there was a never-ending supply. We protect them with the Endangered Species Act, wilderness areas and hunting and fishing laws – having finally learned that we must.
And so now the sea: In Maine, they used to catch lobsters by gaffing them in shallow water by the shore. Cod were so numerous and so easily caught that prisoners complained because they were fed the fish too many times a week. Once, salmon returning from the ocean so crowded rivers and streams that people told stories of walking on their backs. Marlin, swordfish, mako, bluefin, abalone – everywhere in abundance.
We need to train ourselves to see what is hidden under the surface of the waters because fish stocks are in collapse and the oceans are in trouble. Many recent studies, including the Pew Oceans Commission (2003), have come to the same conclusions. The big fish, like that thousand-pound tuna, are 90 percent gone. Newfoundland cod, wild abalone, Atlantic halibut and Chilean sea bass are so scarce as to be nearly nonexistent. Breeding swordfish populations have been cut in half; marlin are rare. Pelicans in the Sea of Cortés starve for want of fish to eat.
Coral reefs are crumbling, and the ocean floor is plowed up by trawlers. Plastic kills seabirds and is found on the beaches of the world's most remote islands. Surfers, swimmers and lifeguards are vaccinated annually against hepatitis as a matter of course. Tuna and swordfish have so much methylmercury in their bodies, they are hazardous food for pregnant women and children. The causes are many, but chief among them is an ugly trinity: unsustainable fishing practices, habitat destruction and contamination.
Patagonia's 2006–07 environmental campaign was devoted to the oceans. Our goal was to help us all see what is under the waters of the earth. How the vast schools of tuna are like those herds of buffalo. How bottom trawling is like clear-cutting an entire forest to get at a single tree. In our catalogs, retail stores and on our Web site, we spent 18 months with marine scientists and writers, surfers and fishermen, to teach ourselves and our customers just how close the connection is between the vitality of human life and the marine environment.
Our OAW campaign helped bring about a great success for the oceans: the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing fishing practices in U.S. waters. But our work on this issue is far from over. The fishing holes, beaches and wetlands that we enjoyed as children will not be there for our children unless we acknowledge that the oceans belong to everyone and take seriously our shared responsibility for long-term marine management.