The Indestructible Puffer is made from Dyneema® which is the single strongest fibre known to man today. If you’re into chemistry, it’s an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene that combines extreme strength with very low weight. On a weight for weight basis Dyneema® is up to 15x stronger than steel and 40% stronger than high-strength aramid fibres. While it’s often used as a composite – an ingredient added to other materials to make them exceptionally strong – the entire outside of this jacket is made from 100% Dyneema®.

The colder Dyneema® gets, the stronger it gets, which is why it’s used to make the mooring lines on giant ships and deep-water oil rigs that have to perform in freezing seas. A mooring line on a winch buried under heavy ice on a ship sailing in extreme conditions simply can’t fail. As the temperature drops down to -50°C the Dyneema® ropes gain 5-10% strength. Projections show that the rope would gain even more strength if it dropped to -150°C. And it doesn’t just get stronger, it also loses no strength in relation to abrasion resistance or cutting.

With winters getting a little crazier, the jacket is built to see you down to -30°C. And if the temperature starts dropping again, the jacket just gets stronger, making it unlike any other material ever created. The lowest temperature recorded at ground level on Earth was -89°C in the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica. It’s here that the Indestructible Puffer comes into its own. In the coldest temperature ever recorded, this would be the strongest jacket ever made, and still getting stronger.

To understand just how tough Dyneema® is you have to look at how it’s being deployed in the world today. It’s used to make bullet resistant vests, armour and helmets. It’s used in panels on tanks to protect against stronger ballistic threats like anti-tank projectiles. And you’ll find it in bulletproof cockpit doors in most commercial planes in the US. Unlike other high-strength materials it’s so light it floats on water, and it’s resistant to the long-term effects of moisture, UV light and chemicals, which is why it’s now also being used in artificial limbs.

The short answer is it won’t survive bullets or the inside of a volcano. Yet. This is a puffer jacket designed to perform in the toughest environments and coldest conditions on Earth. But like any puffer it is not built for extreme heat, so don’t fire a flamethrower at it. And we designed it for adventure not for warzones. So while this is the strongest Dyneema® ever used in a jacket, it won’t stop bullets. You need more layers of Dyneema® for that.

Instead of using the lightest possible outer layer, we’ve built our jacket from the same material that was used to make the ropes that pulled up the Concordia cruise ship when it sank. It’s the same material used to create a 30km long tether designed to pull a capsule back down from space – despite reaching space it weighed just 5.5kg and only needed to be 0.5mm thick. And it’s the same material being used to create 1 centimetre thick tsunami barriers to stop 20 metre waves.

The melting point of Dyneema® is a subject of discussion online as it’s lower than the polyester used in most clothing today, and also the aramid fibres used in military gear. But to put it in context we’d have to return to the Hadean period of Earth around 4.5 billion years ago to find air temperatures that would melt it. The melting point of Dyneema® is around 130°C, which is 73 degrees above the hottest air temperature ever recorded on Earth of 56.7°C in Death Valley, California.

Most puffer jackets are built to be as light as possible, so the outsides are typically made from super lightweight polyester and nylon. The trade-off for this weight saving is that they are incredibly easy to tear and snag. And once you have a rip, or the seams have started to go, or the tiny spines of down have poked their way through the lightweight outer layer, it’s simply an escape hatch for the feathers inside, and the jackets destroy themselves from the inside out.

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 around 30 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.

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 hiking, climbing or skiing our insulation will do a better job of regulating your body temperature, as it will breathe better and won’t hold onto sweat. And while down will win on a ‘warmth to weight’ ratio if you’re trying to make the world’s lightest jacket, we’re not. This is an Indestructible Puffer, not a weight saving exercise. The synthetic insulation will keep you just as warm at -30°C, and only weigh a few hundred grams more.

The front zipper is a heavy-duty, two-way zipper so you can undo the jacket from the top and the bottom at the same time. A large storm flap and brass press studs with a matte black finish help secure the jacket in place. You’ll find adjusters on the inside hem to tighten the jacket at the waist. These are also built from metal, work with a double pincer action, and come with a cord adjuster built from Cordura. And on the inside of the jacket you’ll find two more pockets, one on either side of your chest.

On each wrist you’ll find a super strong, elastic, military-grade belt tape built with an abrasion resistant pull tab made from Cordura. To tighten the wrist, you just pull the elasticated belt out of its Dyneema® housing and attach it with Velcro. These are built to tighten hard to let as little air as possible get between your jacket and your hands or gloves.

The jacket comes with two side pockets and two invisible pockets on the chest. The chest pockets are large enough for wallets, cards, passports and keys, and are easy to use when you’re wearing a backpack. The side pockets are lined with fleece to keep your hands warm without gloves on, and big enough to fit your hands with gloves on.

At the side and back of the hood you’ll find extra-thick, elasticated drawcord adjusters with knotted, rubberised ends to tighten it up. The hood is lined on the inside just like the rest of the jacket so it’s soft against your face and skin. The jacket has a high collar to insulate you in the harshest conditions, and it’s double-lined with a soft, brushed fabric against your neck, nose and mouth.