Just Another Day In My Hometown

Oh, you want to talk wool? Well, you’re in luck because that’s what we’re doing today. I visited my old stomping grounds (Cape Cod) to test out these jackets. This feels like home. There are train tracks everywhere, and apparently, you’re not allowed to go on anymore, but whatever, I’m grandfathered in.

Anyways, today is the Filson vs. WeatherWool article. I used to have The Packer, but it had to go back to Filson, sadly. But I have two other coats on hand, the WeatherWool Anorak and the Filson Wool Work coat. Today, we’ll talk about Filson vs. WeatherWool a little bit. But really, what we’re going to talk about is: is each one worth it?

Because there’s something about Filson that I feel like everybody should know, but it doesn’t seem to be going around on the internet too much.

Quick Comparison: Filson vs. WeatherWool

Virgin Wool – Not What You Might Think

But also, we’re going to talk about why both brands use virgin wool, the wool that WeatherWool uses vs. Filson, and a bunch of stuff. It’s very exciting. Also, I have to write this article very quickly because I’m going to be flying to California to see my sister.

Okay, so the thing that both of these garments share is that they both use virgin wool. Virgin wool might not mean what you think it means, depending on what you think it means.

Really, it’s just wool that’s never been used before because what you can do with wool and cotton and a lot of other things is you take old garments or old pieces of fabric.

You rip them all up, and then you basically remake them into thread and remake them into fabric, and then you have a recycled garment.

That’s great for certain purposes, but when you need a really long-lasting, heavy-duty piece of outerwear, it’s not that good. And what’s really interesting that we’ll get into later is that Filson uses a thicker wool. (What I actually mean is thicker wool fiber – we’ll get into the thickness scandal later.)

Usually, you think thicker wool is stronger, but WeatherWool tests for things that other companies don’t to make sure they are not only comparable but exceed strength. That’s right, I’m the first one to say it: WeatherWool exceeds strength.

Also, you’ll notice I’ll be complimenting WeatherWool a lot. I work with Ralph from WeatherWool, but honestly, the reason I work with Ralph from WeatherWool is because the wool is insane.

Like this wool is bananas. So I’m complimenting it a lot – it’s deserving of its compliments, but I’m also not dissing Filson in this regard because Filson has a lot of stuff that people are gonna like, too. Anyways, both brands use sheep that have never had sex before.

Let’s Talk Sizing (Because This Matters)

Also, the sizing for these two brands is pretty similar. I wear an extra small in WeatherWool and Filson. I could probably wear an extra extra small in WeatherWool, but I could not emasculate myself that much when I was at Ralph’s house picking out something to buy, so I went with an extra small.

But it fits great – you can layer under both of them. The Filson work jacket that I have is actually an extra small, and I have a Champion hoodie under it. I could still probably put something else under it. So you’ll definitely have enough room.

The tough part is I think most people should size down, but if you are a big human being in any way, shape, or form – like you consider yourself to be larger – maybe go true to size.

The Wild History of WeatherWool’s Sheep (It’s Actually Pretty Cool)

Okay, now here’s what you need to know: each one of them uses different wool for different reasons. Here’s what you need to know before we do micro-reviews of each product.

This is where WeatherWool gets crazy because to fully understand the wool that they use, we have to go back to 1600s or 1700s Spain and talk about the Merino sheep because this is not just Merino wool; it’s Rambouillet wool. In the 1600s and 1700s, Spain basically had a lock on Merino sheep.

So then what happened was King Louis of France – King Louis, you’re familiar, had his head dropped off – he convinced the king of Spain somehow that France needed Merino sheep for some reason.

The king of Spain agreed, and he gave some Merino sheep – I don’t know why Spain let them do that. Some history buff would probably say, “Because of gunpowder, Michael!”France got at least Merino sheep, and they made sure Merino sheep were only mated with Merino sheep.

No virgin wool here. But then what happened was France started to pay attention to England’s long-haired sheep, and they thought, what if we combined the softest, most beautiful wool in the world with the longest wool in the world? You get Rambouillet sheep. Rambouillet sheep stole the show at the Paris Exposition of 1870.

The Science Behind WeatherWool’s Quality

Mr. Maul, the chairman of the jury for wool at the Paris Exposition, wrote in a U.S. agricultural report that “we may safely say the Rambouillet is at present the most perfect type of fine wool sheep in existence.” And then Ralph at WeatherWool said, “Okay, but there has to be better wool than just any Rambouillet sheep.”

Wool is tested across 20 parameters, one of which WeatherWool pays special attention to because thinner fibers are generally thought of as not as strong as thicker fibers when we’re talking about wool, but WeatherWool obviously can’t have that happen.

So one of these 20 parameters is strength testing, and that’s very important when we talk about Filson, which we’ll talk about right now.

Let’s Get Technical About Wool Testing

To be used in clothes, wool has to be of a certain quality, and so on and so forth, but you can often cheat the system with durability testing by selecting good quality fibers if they are from a thick wool.

They’re like, “Okay, well, it’s from a thick wool, so it’s going to be strong anyway,” but what you can also do is separately test for strength and make sure that your fibers are extra strong.

What WeatherWool does is test all of its fibers for strength to make sure they get very fine fibers that are also strong enough to be very durable so they can compete with very thick coarse wools like Filson.

The Comfort Factor – Microns Matter

Now, the interesting part about that is that the reason you want thinner fibers is because thinner fibers are way comfier and silky smooth against the skin vs. thicker fibers that are a bit rougher.

When we’re looking at microns, which is how the thickness of wool is measured, 30 microns is when the wool starts to feel scratchy and uncomfortable, and people start to notice – that is a scientific number.

I’m not just making it up. From what I found, Filson’s wool is generally 25 to 33 microns, but WeatherWool’s is, on average, 21 microns, which always feels comfortable against the skin.

The jacket from WeatherWool does feel closer to a pillow you could lay on. That doesn’t matter to a lot of people, which is what we need to end at the end of this article. That is not a bad thing, it is just a different thing, but you have to see what you like.

Filson’s Story – The Suffolk Sheep Situation

Okay, so now Filson’s wool history is a little different. It doesn’t have this whole story behind it, but it’s still very cool. It’s from the Suffolk sheep, who are known to be incredibly tough, hardy, and muscular sheep. It sounds like exactly what Filson wool would be made out of.

These are the most popular sheep in the United States, but they also grow extremely fast, they’re super jacked, and they just walk around with their thick wool. But Suffolk sheep wool is considered a down type of wool, which, again, I will quote because I have to go on a flight to California: “Down-type wools have a shorter stable length, medium diameter and usually a matte appearance. They are characterized by a well-developed spiral crimp giving exceptional resilience and elasticity.”

Breaking Down the Different Weaves

The one thing I will say about the anorak is that if you are not mobile for whatever reason, if you’re not very limber, I would suggest looking at the all-around jacket or a jacket with a zipper. Okay, so WeatherWool and Filson use two different weaves of wool. Filson uses a twill, which you’re probably familiar with from things like denim jeans, for example.

WeatherWool, of course, uses a Jacquard loom to make this, which is interesting because Jacquard looms you probably associate with like very patterned rugs and Pendleton blankets sometimes.

It’s a specific type of loom that is used to make patterns in a very fascinating way, but basically, there’s a plain weave, which is when you have the wefts as normal, and then you have fabric going over under, over under, over under, over under – but a Jacquard loom puts a pattern into the fabric so it’s not over under, over under, over under. It depends on the fabric, but it could be over, under, under, over, over.

But basically, I believe the story goes that when the Lynx pattern was being made, which is flagship, Ralph just really realized it was better in every way compared to all of the other wools he tested.

I did tons and tons of research as to why it’s better – my best theory is that since it is not a continuous pattern, maybe the ups and downs of certain threads going over other threads two or three times at a time, it being an inconsistent weave or something like that helps displace the wind, helps displace the water.

I’m not positive, but it’s super fascinating. The fun fact is that every piece from WeatherWool is the Lynx pattern, with different color fabrics. Even when using the same color thread, so you don’t see the pattern.

On older versions of WeatherWool garments, if you hit the light correctly and put your arm at an angle, you could see this pattern.

Let’s Break Down These Jackets

Okay, so quick overview, then I’ll go into if any of these products are actually worth it because they’re all actually very expensive. But if we look at the work jacket, it has four pockets – technically six pockets technically.

You have two hand warmer pockets on the side, you have the big flap lower booby pockets, and then you have the tiny little pocket on one of the booby pockets, and then on the inside, you have an internal pocket, which is great. It is a lighter-weight jacket – late fall unless you layer. Today, it’s like 28 degrees. I had a hoodie under it, and I’m fine.

Then we have the Anorak from WeatherWool, and what’s cool is if you tell Ralph an idea you have and he thinks it’s good, it just goes on the piece – he just adds it on. So you look at the anorak, for example, and something that you can’t see, but if I put my hands in the kangaroo pouch, there is webbing to hold things like little loops of webbing.

There are also these stealth pockets on the side where you can put things. I put my phone in there when I’m walking. The neck buttons up all the way, there are zippers on the sides, and fascinatingly, you have about 80 trillion melamine slot buttons all over this piece. They virtually do not come off the garment once they are sewn on – they’re so tough on there.

They have had reports of someone falling or something tearing, and instead of the button coming off, it rips through the buttonhole of the garment.

And then, of course, you have the Packer coat, which is just a beast of a coat. It has this huge sheepskin collar, four booby pockets, a cape on top, and double-layered arms, so it’s incredibly warm and incredibly well built.

It has the back map pocket, so it’s three layers back there – well, two because they cut the cape off where the map pocket is – but that is a beast of a coat with an 8-ounce lining. There’s a pocket on the inside, an unbelievable coat, and you have to have some confidence to wear that.

The Price Debate

But anyway, there’s one more thing that’s a scandal about wool weights that we’ll talk about, but I want to talk about whether all of these are worth it, and I’ll tell you something that a lot of people don’t want to hear, but I think it needs to be said. The question of whether they are worth it or not is a very hard question to answer without people getting very angry.

I feel like WeatherWool is pretty obvious – you’re like yeah, this is expensive stuff, but it’s made on a Jacquard loom, it’s from Rambouillet sheep, it’s stitched in New York, it’s a small business, it’s all this – not to kiss Ralph’s butt and WeatherWool’s butt and Debbie’s butt and everything.

I’m not gonna kiss any of their butts. I think I’ve said it enough where the expression is lost in meaning. It just seems like I actually mean that now.

The scandalous part is obviously Filson, and people think Filson’s overpriced. I once saw a comment that said, “There’s no more than forty dollars worth of wool on a Filson jacket,” like I don’t understand the price. A lot of people think it should be $300 or $200. There are just a bunch of other places that have cheaper jackets, so why would you want Filson?

And I will say I’m making my own wool jacket in the US with wool from the US, and it’s not cheap. It’s hard. I know it’s also about scale, and the cost of garments and cutting and sewing is not the only thing – it’s also how they run their business. $450 is expensive; it doesn’t seem crazy expensive.

It does seem like WeatherWool’s giving you a lot more value, but I don’t think you’re getting as gouged as you may think you are.

The Final Breakdown – Weights and Measures

Here’s the quick thing at the end of this amazing WeatherWool vs. Filson scandal. First off, the scandal is the 26-ounce wool. Well, Filson says 26-ounce wool. If you ask Ralph about how heavy his wool is, he’ll say 19. But in reality, the WeatherWool feels dramatically heavier than Filson wool. Why is that?

Well, because the interesting part is you’re saying how heavy something is, but you’re not giving the per. So you’re saying 26 ounces, but you’re not saying per what. So if someone says how fast I’m driving and I say “12” – 12 what? That’s what’s missing.

And when fabric is made, it’s not all made to the exact same size, so Ralph WeatherWool is saying 19 ounces per square yard is the weight of his wool, but if he advertised it as a lot of these other brands do – most brands that use ounce on their website – he could say it’s heavier than 26 or 24 ounces, and he says on his website “our wool would probably be considered heavier than our competitors.”

Watch This Review

Final Thoughts and Sign-Off

Anyway, I have to go, but here are my thoughts: the appeal of WeatherWool to me is equal to the appeal of Filson but in two very different ways. Filson has the perfect heritage wool, and Filson has the perfect heritage jackets and coats.

Filson wool is some of the most beautiful wool. And then you have WeatherWool, which uses the best buttons in the world, everything is made in the US, they use the best wool in the world, they knit on a Jacquard loom – there’s all this stuff that makes it so unreal, but that doesn’t mean Filson still isn’t a good jacket. It just means WeatherWool is its own thing.

I hope everything’s going well. So anyway, that’s about it for Filson vs. WeatherWool. Goodbye!

This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here.