Lumberjacket

Name: Lumberjacket. Thornproof edition
Brand: Vollebak
SKU: JKT016BLKXSM
Price: 105 GBP
Availability: InStock

Built with thornproof fabric invented 200 years ago for life in the woods.

£525 £105

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Model is 6ft 2 / 189cm with a 40 inch / 101cm chest, and wears size Large.

Outer material is highly snag resistant
Built with warm and breathable super compact insulation
Triple stitched seams for durability

Lumberjacks built modern America. Four hundred years ago, when the first settlers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia – a land of “goodly tall trees” – it was man vs nature on an epic scale. Back then there was no radio-controlled machinery, computer-optimised log cutters or health and safety. It was 200 years before somebody invented the chainsaw.

Instead, lumberjacks built the New World’s first settlements by hand. Houses, forts, bridges and churches. And the men who said goodbye to civilisation built a culture of their own – one that celebrated hard labour, bravery, intuition and knowledge of the forest. Admired for their work ethic and physical fitness, they operated like clockwork, extolled the benefits of tackling dangerous tasks, and took pride in the quantity and quality of their work. And they did it all with some axes, saws and shirts.

170 years since it first appeared we’ve taken the lumberjack’s default uniform and rebuilt our own high-performance version, applying modern techniques to its original principles. Part shirt, part jacket the Lumberjacket is a phenomenally hardwearing outer layer that’s built for any adventure in the forest, country or city. It also has somewhere to hang your axe.

Technical Details

Outer material made in the UK: 100% wool

Synthetic insulation made in Italy: 50% recycled PET bottles, 50% polyester

Cordura lining

Outer material is highly snag resistant

2 zipped hidden chest pockets

Chest pocket with storm flap and metal snap fastener

2 open side pockets

2 axe loops at the waist

Natural water repellency from the wool

Breathable

Triple stitched seams for durability

Metal snap fasteners at cuffs

Wool sourced from New Zealand and Australia

Dry clean only

Jacket weighs 965 grams

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Woodsmen needed new clothes for dangerous work

Original woodsmen faced the kind of dangers you’d normally only find in nightmares. Falling from 300ft, burning to death, or being crushed by runaway logs. So they needed clothes that were hard-wearing enough to take on life in the forest, but also soft enough to wear sleeping in damp wooden huts for months at a time. Living in isolated camps with little or no access to water, warm meals or fresh clothes, the hours were long, the work itinerant and the accommodation rough. They travelled from camp to camp, working from “can see to can’t see,” risking injury and death on the way.

We’ve rebuilt the shirt and turned it into a jacket

From Earth’s poles to the surface of Mars, we build jackets to cope with some of the most demanding conditions imaginable. And the Lumberjacket is no exception. It’s designed to be one of the most versatile items in your wardrobe. 170 years since it first appeared we’ve taken the lumberjack’s default uniform and rebuilt our own high-performance version, applying modern techniques to its original principles. Part shirt, part jacket our Lumberjacket is a phenomenally hardwearing outer layer that’s built for adventure in any forest, country or city.

Every jacket is three layers thick

Lumberjacks would spend months sleeping in damp wooden huts in the clothes they worked in, so they needed tough gear. Our Lumberjacket is built from an advanced three-layer system that would work in any era. The outer layer is engineered from hardwearing wool and centuries-old knowledge. The middle layer is built with compressed and lightweight insulation. While the inside is lined with ultra-durable Cordura. It makes the Lumberjacket versatile in any environment, from exploring the four billion hectares of forest on the planet, navigating new cities, or working overtime in the office.

Made with one of the world’s oldest woollen mills

To build the Thornproof edition of the Lumberjacket we worked with one of the oldest woollen textile mills in the world. Having been in continuous production since 1772, Fox Brothers were the original inventor of flannel. Its customers have included Cary Grant, Winston Churchill and the British royal family. And it also has one of the richest historical archives of any mill on the planet at its disposal.
Built from thornproof fabric

Deep in the archive we found a thornproof fabric developed in the 1800s. Now we’ve used it to build the outer layer of our Lumberjacket. Incredibly hardwearing while still snug and soft, it’s more versatile and resilient than any lumberjack shirt out there. Its strength comes from its milling process, where the fabric is worked on for hours to break the fibres and bring out the softness in each individual thread, so they can be tightly spun into a steep twill. The tightly woven twill and railroad stitching make the outside of this Lumberjacket extraordinarily durable against stray branches, brambles and thorns.
Wool was the lumberjack’s uniform

In 1830, an English emigrant from a family of wool experts became the first manufacturer of plaid in the United States. He would travel from Pennsylvania to the lumber camps selling woollen yarns and fabrics from a mule cart. At that time wool was the only material considered to be comfortable and durable enough to build workwear. And wool remains the original technical fabric to this day. It’s UV-protecting, moisture-wicking, anti-bacterial, stain resistant and super-durable.

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An iconic shirt was born

In the September 1894 edition of Munsey’s Magazine, one lumberjack explained exactly why a lumberjack’s most important possession was their shirt. “It’s a life fraught with many dangers. Falling trees and rolling logs have caused a long list of deaths; and it is on this account that the woodman’s outer garments are of the brightest colours, blue, green, red, and yellow being the more prominent. The men are thereby able to see one another more distinctly through the thick underbrush, and by a timely warning avert a great many dangers.”

The second layer is super-compact insulation

To keep you warm but still able to move fast, we turned to the same insulation we use in our ultralight Race to Zero Puffer. Sandwiched in between the water repellent outer material and the inner lining is a super-compact synthetic insulation which keeps you as warm as much heavier and thicker jackets. That’s because we compress the insulation down to less than a third of its original size before it’s stitched into the jacket. And while the insulation takes up 70% less space, it retains 80% of its thermal properties.

It keeps you cool in summer and warm in winter

In the cold the Lumberjacket’s outer layer will keep you warm, because the wool traps millions of pockets of warm air next to your body in its hollow fibres. And as the natural curl of wool fibres traps more air than straight fibres, the microscopic texture of the fabric itself will also retain heat. Wool will also stop you overheating in higher temperatures as it simply releases its warmth if you’re getting too hot. In summer, wool’s coil-shaped fibres draw heat and moisture away from the skin, helping you stay cooler.
You’ll be insulated even when wet

Wool hates water. Its outermost fibres are made of overlapping scales that throw off rain like tiles on a roof, so you’ll stay warm even when it’s raining. It’s an unsung property of wool that can be lifesaving. Unlike cotton or synthetic garments, the inner core of wool fibres can absorb just under half their own weight in moisture. Not until wool is saturated with 60 per cent of its own weight will it feel wet.

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We triple-stitch it

Every Lumberjacket uses over 60 metres of super-thick thread. The construction uses triple chain stitched seams in the critical areas of wear and stress, like the side, shoulders, arm and yoke seams. Instead of one line of thread you have three lines stitched in the same place – the same stitch being sewn over twice more. So it won’t snap like a conventional straight stitch can. It’s a technique more found in heavy vintage denim and chore jacket manufacturing, to create stronger clothes.

Built to carry axes and iPads

So on the side of every Lumberjacket you’ll find a pair of heavy duty hanging loops built to hang any kit you might need at a second’s notice – like an axe. The jacket also comes with two deep side pockets, two hidden zipped chest pockets and another chest pocket with a storm flap. So it carries all the gear you’ll ever need, whether you’re climbing into canopies or checking in to a long-haul flight.
Their axe was their most important possession

Away from their families and living in makeshift camps, a lumberjack’s few possessions took on extra significance. Alongside their shirt, their Caulk boots, and their Mackinaw coat, a lumberjack’s axe was their most prized possession. They would even take it to bed with them, tucking it under the sack or coat that doubled as a pillow. And they didn’t just use it to chop trees. While most loggers wore beards all year round, those who preferred a moustache-only look kept the rest of the growth at bay with their axe.
Easy to adjust on the move

The last thing you want when you’re up as high as a 13-storey building is resistance from your clothes, or to be messing about with buttons. Our Lumberjacket is designed to be worn with stuff underneath it. The placket and cuffs are fitted with metal snap fasteners so they’re easy to open with one hand. And the sleeves are designed to roll up and stay rolled.