Filson Ultralight Vest

I’ve long been wanting a warmer vest to wear stand alone, or as a layer. The Filson Ultralight Vest kept coming up top on my search, so I picked up a navy version on a sale at the start of the year.

This vest is excellent, and quite warm.

Materials

This vest has vertical baffles which house 60-gram PrimaLoft® Gold insulation inside a shell of 1.5 oz. Cordura® ripstop nylon. The inside of the collar, and the hand warmer pockets are lined with moleskin cotton.

The entire vest can be compressed well enough to make this a nice item for travel. While still being warm enough and performant in nature for the city. I was worried about the durability of the shell, but it’s proven to not be a problem at all.

Fit & Style

This vest is firmly in the outdoor style of vests. The cut and wear of this is low-bulk — this is not a puffy vest — while also wearing a touch thicker than a standard fleece vest. At the same time, it wears substantially warmer than a fleece vest, but not so warm that you find yourself wanting to shed it when you start to become more active.

Most reviewers note that this runs large, and while I wear a large in most items, I picked this up in a medium. It fits well except the shoulders being a touch short. If you want to layer under this vest, I’d buy your normal size, otherwise you can likely size down safely.

Performance

I am very impressed with this vest overall. The moleskin is a nice touch, and makes the collar feel very cozy and comfortable against my neck. The hand warmer pockets are nice, and placed well, and the interior zipped pocket is useful without being too in the way.

The warmth is exceptional on this. And with Primaloft Gold, there’s little worry about losing performance when getting wet or compressed in your bag. It compresses well into your gear when you need to pack it away, but is ready to go when you toss it on. There’s no water resistance on this, so you’ll need another layer in wet weather. I find this a better option to pack for the performance it provides versus the bulk it packs down to when comparing to a standard fleece vest for travel. However, the downside is you trade off on style with this, since it lends more to outdoors and workwear adjacent.

Overall

I would wear this vest more if I wasn’t in Texas, but as it is I take it with me whenever I travel to the much colder northern states. It’s warm, and easy to toss on.

I’m a big fan.

Buy here, $165