Guide: Shell Jackets

A shell jacket is one of the basic garments in the work wardrobe for those who spend many hours working outside. Fristads offers a wide assortment of shell jackets for men and women, including high visibility and flame certified models. Let us guide you in finding the right shell jacket for your needs.

A shell jacket holds several features, but most importantly it is a wind- and waterproof functional jacket, made of a breathable material. A shell jacket can be both lined and unlined. Unlined shell jackets can be used year-round applying the 3-layer principle and can therefor work as a spring, winter and rain garment all-in-one. If you spend a lot of time outside you may also want to combine your shell jacket with a pair of shell trousers.

You can identify a shell jacket on its taped seams and the fact that the product description includes a value for the water pillar and a value for breathability, or so called RET. In our guide below you can learn more about which functions to look for before choosing which shell jacket to buy.

When deciding on which shell jacket you should invest in there are some functions we recommend you find out a little more about.

Water pillar is a measurement for how much water a material can take, in other words how much water pressure the fabric can handle. Depending on the weather conditions you plan to use the shell jacket for you might need a higher or lower value for water pillar and water resistance. All Fristads shell jackets are certified and can take a water pillar of at least 10.000 mm. GORE makes their own tests of the GORE-TEX^{​​​​​​​®} garments, managing up to 30.000 mm water pillars. In comparison, a water pillar of 10.000 mm means never-ending rain for a long time, while a value over 20.000 mm is equivalent to extreme weather conditions

The outer layer on a shell jacket not only protects you from the wind, water and snow – it also allows moisture to pass, which is essential to your comfort during physical work. Breathability is measured in grams of water passing through a 1m2 fabric for 24 hours (g/m2/24 h). As a general rule, you could say that a so called RET value below 20 stands for a good breathability. The lower RET value, the better breathability during high activity levels.

Material

Besides water pillar and breathability, it is important to look into the materials’ performance and features when it comes to for example durability, light weight, softness and so on. Fristads shell jackets are made in two main materials; GORE-TEX^® which most people probably know about and AIRTECH^®, our own developed technique. If you are not in desperate need of water resistance and superior durability but prioritise comfortability and freedom of movement – a soft shell jacket that is water repellent might be enough for you