I have got some Patagonia fleeces that I have had twenty years+ and are still going strong but the two bought recently are a bobbly mess. What has changed? They certainly haven’t got any cheaper.

Which one did you get out of interest? I’ve been eyeing up a fleece, patagonia, finisterre, passenger. I ordered one from passenger but the sizing was well off

I have one which is only a few years old and seems fine.

This one: https://eu.patagonia.com/gb/en/product/mens-better-sweater-fleece-jacket/25528.html?dwvar_25528_color=INDG&cgid=mens-fleece

Is it maybe a change to the material to prevent microfibre pollution? Google it and there’s stuff which I can’t access on my work device and link to.

I had a better sweater that bobbled so much they replaced it under their lifetime/ironclad warranty. The zip broke on the replacement and they fixed it for free.

Email their customer support

The only fleece I’m aware of that’s designed specifically to reduce shedding in the wash is some Polartec stuff that I’ve forgotten the name of and also feels very un-fleece like – heavy and not particularly warm for that weight, presumably because it has a much denser weave that traps less air.

Patagonia’s Regulator fleece has always been a sort of own-brand blanket label that covers fabrics from various different manufacturers, so it’s hard to generalise as you’re potentially comparing quite different fabrics. The most recent Patagonia fleece I have is a gridded Polartec one and has been fine for me.

I agree. I have a 25 year old staff uniform Snap-T.
My new Snap-T was bobbly and thin on elbows within a year, and I doubt will see three years out.

My other fleeces from Rab, Scott and Reggatta are all wearing better….

I have had similar experiences of the last few Patagonia items I have bought – they are not as well cut, as well featured/thought through, or as durable as other brands. Those other brands have also been playing catch up environmentally, and I feel exceed durability.

The thing is, with the wider availability of merino and other natural fibre stuff, the use-case for fleece has pretty much disappeared hasn’t it? I haven’t owned a fleece for about five years.

Agreed that merino has been good – but I personally do not ‘get on’ with puffy jackets too well, and I still layer on the fleece and merino…

The thing is, with the wider availability of merino and other natural fibre stuff, the use-case for fleece has pretty much disappeared hasn’t it? I haven’t owned a fleece for about five years.

I much prefer a wooly jumper but wool is nowhere near the warmth to weight of fleece. It rarely matters to me but I can see the case for it if you’re carrying kit or trying to pack light for a trip. My favourite woolly jumper is around 750g!

I’d disagree with that. I’m wearing a thin merino jumper at the moment that is definitely as warm as a fleece of equal thick(thin)ness. And it cost me a fiver from a charity shop 🙂

The thing is, with the wider availability of merino and other natural fibre stuff, the use-case for fleece has pretty much disappeared hasn’t it? I haven’t owned a fleece for about five years.

It sort of has and sort of hasn’t. Merino’s nice for sitting around in, but if it does get wet, it takes an age to dry. Plus it’s not very durable. In pure technical terms, it probably makes more sense to mix it with a synthetic fibre, at which point it gets really expensive. Rab did some thing along those lines called the Syncrino HL Merino Blend  jacket – HL is high loft – and it retailed for £200. Or, more accurately given that Sport Pursuit has it in a full range of sizes for £89.99, it didn’t retail for £200…

Woollen stuff’s great for general wear and sitting about it, not quite so good for technical stuff, though still not awful. Unfortunately I think the outdoors industry is pretty much wedded to fleece and so is the outdoors consumer and as long as that continues, there’s no incentive to focus more on natural materials.

It tells you something that Patagonia, arguably the most sustainably-orientated outdoors brand, is still mostly awash with synthetic fleece albeit with an emphasis on using recycled fabrics – mostly made from plastic bottles. It’s a bit like the thing with cars where we’re so addicted to the bloody things that instead of trying to build a world that works better with fewer of them, we think powering them with electric motors will do.

I’m wearing a thin merino jumper at the moment that is definitely as warm as a fleece of equal thick(thin)ness.

How does the weight compare though?

I’ve been wearing an R1 air heavily since January and it seems fine still, but time will tell. Like anything, the older days/version were probably better.

Sitting here in a better sweater that I’ve probably taken a disposable razor to a couple of times to remove bobbles. I still like it.

I think as a versatile mid layer fleece is excellent. I have been revisiting my old kit cupboard and found a couple of largely unused fleece jackets that got jilted in the primaloft love affair, and to be honest they are really damn good. A montane jacket in what you’d describe as 200 weight in old money is particularly good as an all day top, with a shell for windy outdoor shopping or hill trips

I can also sit in a pub or at a function without looking like a wannabe mountain hard man

Never really owned much Patagonia stuff mainly because it’s pricey. Bought a Nano Puff jacket a year ago and it has become my go to jacket. Warm but not too heavy and hasn’t shown any wear in the year so far. Deffo better quality than the Alpkit one I had before that has had a tear repaired and is the back up jacket in the car.

I had a couple of merino tee shirts that I got in a sale from a well-known outdoor clothing manufacturer based over Aberystwyth way, and after several years they started getting holes in and fell apart. I’m currently wearing a Jack Wolfskin tee shirt just a regular short sleeve tee, but it’s Polartec 100, so nice and light.
I guess it’s at least twenty years old, I can’t remember, but it’s impossible to find another one like it. It’s my go-to base layer when the weather’s like it is now, windy, damp and chilly, I can put a light down jacket on top, which keeps the wind off, and it’s just a tee shirt in the pub or café with the jacket off.

I asked someone in what used to be Blacks outdoors shop, and he’d never even heard of a Polartec tee shirt! There’s loads of those thin ‘technical’, for want of a better term tee shirts, made of thin synthetic fabric, but I’m not out running and climbing and sweating, I want something that’s warmer than cotton but just as easy to wear. 🤷🏼

I quite like my R1 it’s very nice… But I rarely buy “new” I’ll find something that generally reviews well and then find a pre loved version on eBay or MP.

Probs my fave fleece though is the TNF Denali.

All the Patagonia stuff I’ve bought has been doing pretty well.  Quite a bit of capilene, couple of R1’s I’ve been thrashing for a couple of years i guess  , wearing ok.

A traditional fleece has not been on my kit list for a long time now

The thing is, with the wider availability of merino and other natural fibre stuff, the use-case for fleece has pretty much disappeared hasn’t it?

I would say definitely not. In wet or sweaty conditions I find merino to be pretty much useless, it gets wet and stays wet. I’ve also had a number of merino items that have worn poorly.

nd after several years they started getting holes in and fell apart

Same! i’ve had exactly the same with my merino layers

I’ve started looking at the revolutionrace clothing after having their trousers for 2 years which have held up very well. Recently bought a soft shell from them which i love

Womans fleeces

Mens fleeces

I asked someone in what used to be Blacks outdoors shop, and he’d never even heard of a Polartec tee shirt!

There are plenty of Polartec baselayer tees out there. Polartec 100 is actually microfleece – lightweight mid-layer – so generally gets used for long-sleeved tops. Also, Polartec has gradually evolved its fabrics over time to differentiate itself from generic fleece manufacturers, so the fabrics it produces currently tend to be more complicated, grid backed for example.

And back to the original, loaded question, gridded fleeces tend to be less durable because the sections between the gridded areas are thinner than conventional fleece, which is all a thicker, uniform fabric. Fwiw, something like R1 Tech Face is probably more robust than trad fleece because of the way it’s structured – actually a material called Storm Fleece – so it’s hard to generalise about Patagonia fabrics. Blah…

Going back to trickydisco’s question, one is the microfleece and the other an early better sweater. The sweater has bobbled badly but the microfleece has bobbled and gone permanently grubby however you wash it. In contrast, my son has an R1 which he wears a lot and doesn’t seem to wear.

My wife has a debobbler for her jumpers so I can see me getting some use of it

slight tangent, but has anyone any experience of this type of postfilter device?

Fleeces are good at what they do and increasingly being made from recycled plastics, so a means to remove their microplastics from the wash water at least offsets.

https://planetcare.org/en-int