My trusty Sprayway Goretex has finally died a death after 20 something years loyal service.

I’m guessing things have moved on a bit since I bought it, so can anyone recommend me a jacket/brand/material/retailer for long wet days in the hills that will give me another 20 years good use?

Cheers

I got a walking coat made to measure from these nice people.
20yrs use is worth the investment,

http://www.cioch-direct.co.uk/introduction/welcome.html

Never heard of them, winced at the prices and then realised that some “mainstream” companies can reach those levels as well. Cheers.

Glenmore Lodge used to use Cioch Smocks for their students, so they must be pretty decent quality.

I’m also looking for a new jacket as my KIMM Paclite is falling apart. I tried a load on in Cotswolds the other day and was surprised by how much variance there was in size and shape between all the manufacturers. The final choice of model will just be the one which fits best.

Paramo. No need to pay the extra. The new stuff is actually pretty reasonably designed too. Which is more than can be said for lots of Paramo gear.

so can anyone recommend me a jacket/brand/material/retailer for long wet days in the hills that will give me another 20 years good use?

No.
They are all now designed with the idea that they fail after a few years, so you need to buy another one. Most are made light, so reducing durability as well.
Paramo or a heavy 3-layer fabric for the best durability. I have a Paramo light smock (ace, but very delicate and dying…) and just bought a Haglof’s Proof fabric’d something, that feels like a mid ’90s Sprayway or Berghaus – thick, hardwearing and few details to go wrong. Ace.

I was asking about jackets a few weeks back.

I ended up buying the Berghaus goretex jacket that I first looked at, after trawling through many outdoors stores. The jacket is great – stood up well to three very wet days on the West Highland Way. It’s tougher than paclite and not much bulkier/heavier.

Even Paclite is pretty good, I bought my KIMM jacket at the ’94 event and it’s still going – just the taped seams are un-taping…..

Daleswear at Ingleton will ‘make to measure’, if that’s your thing.

I bought one of these recently. Really nice, but I doubt it will have the bullet-proof durability of your old Sprayway

Berghaus Mera Peak for me.
It’s got to be arctic before I’ll wear more than a t-shirt underneath.

With pants obviously

Ventile !

Norrona Trollveggen Goretex Proshell here. Awesome jacket.