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Nomad Puffer
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Nomad Puffer

Nomad Puffer

We’ve rebuilt the softest clothing made by our toughest Arctic ancestors.
$388 $1,295 70% off
Model is 6ft 2 / 189cm with a 40 inch / 101cm chest, and wears size Large.
  • Designed to recreate the earliest Arctic clothing
  • Insulated and water repellent
  • Jacket is garment dyed for softness

We’ve spent more than 99% of our time on Earth as nomads. For over 2 million years we migrated across arctic tundra, grasslands and deserts, only carrying what we needed, only keeping what was necessary, and only using the things we had to hand.

Today the last remaining nomads roam the planet. Masters of surviving in harsh and fast-changing environments, they know what it takes to work with nature and leave no trace. So while the rest of the world remains underprepared for Earth’s increasingly volatile climate, nomads have always been ready.

Our Nomad Puffer is built for the times where all you have are the clothes you have on, and every piece of gear has to work across multiple climates and terrain. Designed to recreate the feeling and performance of the original seal skin clothing worn by Arctic nomads, they’re engineered to work like a second skin, protecting you from the wind, cold and rain.

Technical details

Material made in Italy: 100% polyamide
Synthetic insulation made in Italy: 50% recycled PET bottles, 50% polyester
Water repellent
Wind resistant
Parka is garment dyed
Front zipper protected by storm flap with press stud closure
2 hidden zipped side pockets with lockable zippers
1 hidden zipped chest pocket with lockable zipper
2 internal zipped pockets
Jacket weighs 1000 grams
Machine wash gently 40°C
Wash separately
Material made in Italy: 100% polyamide
Synthetic insulation made in Italy: 50% recycled PET bottles, 50% polyester
Water repellent
Wind resistant
Parka is garment dyed
Front zipper protected by storm flap with press stud closure
2 hidden zipped side pockets with lockable zippers
1 hidden zipped chest pocket with lockable zipper
2 internal zipped pockets
Jacket weighs 1000 grams
Machine wash gently 40°C
Wash separately
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We’ve rebuilt the softest clothing made by our toughest Arctic ancestors.

The puffer and pants work like a second skin

The aim of the Nomad Puffer and Nomad Puffer Pants is to get back to making cold weather clothing as precisely engineered as early man made it, while protecting you from the elements from head to toe. These early designs would have worked just like a super-soft second skin, regulating your temperature, while protecting you from the cold, wind and rain. We’ve combined a wind resistant and water repellent outer shell with super-compact insulation, hand-dyeing, and double lines of reinforced stitching to recreate the warmth, comfort and performance of the earliest Arctic clothing.

Garment dyed to make it incredibly soft

To recreate the softness of the earliest Arctic clothing we’ve turned to a process called garment dyeing. While most clothes are dyed with a process called piece dyeing – where huge rolls of fabric are dyed, before being cut and sewn to make clothing – we garment dye every Nomad Puffer. Each puffer is built by hand, and then the whole jacket is submerged in a giant vat of dye to give it its colour and make the material ultra-soft.

Feels lived-in from the day you get it

By changing the way you dye fabric, you change the way it looks and feels. Garment dyeing clothes after they’ve been built makes the fabric physically softer, so the puffer feels lived-in from the moment you first put it on. The colours you get from garment dyeing also make it look like you’ve been wearing the jacket for the last few years. That’s because when you put the whole piece of clothing in dye, the colours build up in the creases and in the stitching, but come out paler at the edges.

Each Nomad Puffer will be different

The garment dyeing process involves dyeing the puffers in small batches at very specific temperatures. And the effect of the dyeing can vary from batch to batch, and even from jacket to jacket. This means that no two puffers will ever look exactly the same. But it’s not going to come out bright green. It just means it’ll look like you’ve owned it for years from day one.

Nomads know what it takes to survive

For the last 45,000 years, some of the toughest nomads on the planet have been carving out their existence in the snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures of the Arctic Circle. So when we set out to make cold weather gear for unpredictable places, we decided to start with what they’d already learnt. Nomads in the Arctic Circle used what they had around them to make some of the softest clothes ever built – they wore jackets built from seal intestines to keep them dry, and jackets created out of seal skin to stay warm. Even by today’s standards they’re some of the most innovative pieces of clothing humans have ever created.
Early Arctic rain jackets were made from seal guts

We use super-compact insulation

To keep you warm but still able to move fast, we turned to the same insulation we first used in our 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.

Our insulation is made from recycled plastic

Instead of pulling feathers out of ducks, we pull plastic out of used plastic bottles and turn them into insulating synthetic fibres. Every single jacket uses 5 half-litre recycled plastic bottles. Staying warm is all about trapping as many pockets of air next to your body as possible, so these synthetic fibres are built to be hollow, which means you’ll automatically have millions of air pockets trapped next to your skin. And as the curl of the fibres traps more air than straight fibres, the microscopic texture of the fibre itself also retains heat.

How the insulation performs against down

While down traps heat well, it doesn’t breathe well. So it’s not the ideal option if you’re working hard. If you’re on the move our insulation will do a better job of regulating your body temperature, as it will breathe better and won’t hold onto sweat. It’s also made from a blend of different fibres each with their own ‘multi-shape’ structure. Some are designed for puffiness, others for resilience or thermal efficiency. By making each fibre a different shape, we stop them linking together and clumping like down does when it gets wet.

How plastic is turned into insulation

To turn recycled plastic bottles into insulation we work with pioneers in thermal insulation based in Milan. They’ve been working on recycled fibres and using plastic bottles in their technology since the 1980s, well before it was the cool or right thing to do. They use a process called mechanical recycling to blend the bottles, eliminating the need for hazardous chemicals and creating synthetic fibres that have the highest loft for the lowest weight, just like down.

Built for comfort

Like all our Nomad gear, the Nomad Puffer is zero effort clothing. Once it’s on you simply forget it’s there. The garment dyeing process makes the material follow your body like a blanket. The super-compact insulation helps keep your temperature stable even when you’re on the move. While vents at the hem, the crossover collar and oversized hood let the jacket quietly get on with its job while you get on with yours.

Comes with five pockets

The front zip is protected by a storm flap which fastens with metal press studs. You’ll find two deep zipped side pockets that let you tuck in for warmth if a blizzard picks up. On the left upper chest there’s a smaller pocket built with a hidden zip. And there are two more zipped pockets inside the jacket for carrying supplies.

Size + Fit

Our Nomad Puffer is designed with a loose fit, with plenty of room for other layers underneath. If you prefer a closer fit, we recommend you go for the size down.

Size XS S M L XL XXL
Fits chest 83 - 90 91 - 98 99 - 106 107 - 114 115 - 122 123 - 130
Fits waist 71 - 76 76 - 81 81 - 86 86 - 91 91 - 96 96 - 101
Size XS S M L XL XXL
Fits chest 33 - 36 36 - 39 39 - 42 42 - 45 45 - 48 48 - 51
Fits waist 28 - 30 30 - 32 32 - 34 34 - 36 36 - 38 38 - 40