Why We Chose The Yuki Threads Northbound Jacket: 100% recycled materials, practical, stylish and great all-mountain functionality.

Price: $399

BUY HERE

Hailing from the ‘Land Down Under’, Yuki Threads are as Australian as they come (minus the cork hats, cans of Castlemaine XXXX, and spiders the size of your face). They were founded back in 2010, when co-founders Mitch and Lani were in the middle of doing back to back seasons between the Mount Buller ski resort, in eastern Victoria, and Japan.

The vision that brought the company into existence centred around the idea of bridging that often gargantuan gap between mountain and street. It was a vision of a 100% Australian owned snow apparel company that cared about its customers, and the world as a whole. One entire decade on from that initial vision’ it’s clear that the Yuki Threads dream is alive and well. Take the excellent Northbound Jacket, for example. It’s in our Ski 100.

Materials

There’s a green-fingered environmentalism at the heart of this jacket that we really, really, like. It’s made of Bluesign approved 100% recycled polyester, and its insulation (40g in body, zero in the arms) is 100% recycled polyester – as are the microfibre sections used in the pocket linings and internal collar. The lining of the jacket is also 100% recycled nylon. Basically, if it’s a material on this jacket the likelihood is it’s recycled. It can get boring banging the sustainability drum all the time but, seriously, this stuff is important. Keep up the good work, Yuki Threads.

Underling the jacket’s environmental credentials is the fact the jacket has an eco-friendly DWR C0 coating. What this means is that the water repellency treatment it went through was free of harmful PFCs. PFCs can be harmful to nature and people. They’re bad news.

“Hailing from the ‘Land Down Under’, Yuki Threads are as Australian as they come”

With a waterproof and breathability rating of 15k / 15k, the Northbound is clearly made to handle more strenuous mountain conditions. The good waterproofing level means that, if you’re a long way from shelter, it’ll be able to stand up to extreme weather punishment. It also means that it’ll keep you dry if you’re charging through the nipple-deep powder you often dream about, often watch on Instagram, but only very rarely get to experience. 

The very decent breathability level, meanwhile, means you’ll have no problems doing a bit of casual ski touring in this (especially as the arms are free of obstructing insulation). Jackets with low breathability ratings, of course, suck for such activities because the sweat you inevitably produce has nowhere to go. In those scenarios, you can end up feeling stuffy, sweaty, and uncomfortable quite quickly.

To make matters worse, this build up of sweat moisture can result in you feeling cold (dangerously so if you’re out for a long period of time). Fortunately, for all concerned, that’s not an issue here. 15k breathability is good.