Description
Ships in 1-2 business days | Based in Newport, OR | Est. 2021
With a streamlined design, this Alpha™ Direct fleece hoodie is made for layering up or as a stand-alone piece when you're on the move. Soft to the touch and lighter than your typical long-sleeved shirt.
Polartec® Alpha™ Direct fleece fabric has an incredible warmth-to-weight ratio, providing active insulation and helping regulate body warmth for optimized comfort during stop-start activities. Its lightweight lofted fibers, mesh knit, and hydrophobic qualities make Alpha™ warmth-to-weight dependable, highly breathable, and fast-drying.
Features:
- Fitted hood with a 2mm Paracord drawstring
- All-season active insulation layer
- Extremely fast wicking
- Ultralight
- Hydrophobic
- Excellent compression
- High warmth-to-weight ratio
Out of stock? We receive batches of FarPointe monthly. Sign up for our notify list to hear when they'll be available! Alpha™ Cruisers have limited color runs, monthly restocks may not be in the same color as the previous batch.
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Sizing: View FarPointe's sizing guide
Weight:
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Alpha 90gsm: 4.9oz | 139g (Medium)
- Alpha 60gsm: 4oz | 113g (Medium)
*Weight may vary due to fabric variation
Materials: Polartec® Alpha™ Direct 60gsm or 90gsm: 78% recycled polyester, 22% polyester
Made in the USA
***Discounts are not available on FarPointe Outdoor Gear products.
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Care: All FarPointe garments should be washed cold and air-dried. Using a mesh laundry bag will extend the life of your FarPointe.
- Reviews
- Questions
Cautiously optimistic
Cautiously optimistic about this. Got this top and the matching pants. I will be taking them on trail. This top is definitely men’s cut. As a woman, it’s too tight on the hips and way too generous in middle and shoulders. This is expected but it will be appreciated when they start making these cut for women too. Sleeves are easily five inches too long so this may run long even on guys. Photo attached. (I had to pull the sleeve up a little just so you could see my fingers.) Torso length good. The hood fits nicely and has a small drawstring I didn’t notice in the pictures which should be super helpful at night. Extremely snuggly feeling. This should make a nice midlayer after I shorten the sleeves.
Awesome lightweight backpacking layer
This sweater/ sweatshirt is ideal for backpacking or hiking. It provided warmth without overheating. Super lightweight and the lemonade colour is rad!
Super light and pretty warm!
If you need to save some space in your backpack and okay to spend a little more - this item is right for you.
Strange fit
It’s a nice light weight garment but the sizing was unusual. It was tight in the chest, shoulders and arms, but loose and baggy in the trunk. I returned it.
It loses a ton of heat after washing
This is nothing against FarPointe, more a review of Alpha Direct more broadly. I got a 60 gsm. TLDR it's magic while new but is irreparably damaged by getting wet and I'd estimate loses about 67% of it's warmth. The good: This thing comes with little tufts or puffs of fabric woven in a fishnet. There's maybe 3000 tufts on the garment. When it's new these stick out straight in all directions, like a little crystal, or static electricity. When new the garment is shockingly warm when you're just sitting around, dare I say too warm sometimes. It's a strange feeling when moving since it's so insulative but also lets the wind cut right through. Warmth to weight is impressive, if not magical. It's a very unique feeling unlike any other garment, how it can be so warm in one moment and so bare the next. the bad: it all goes away after it gets wet. I washed mine in a regular washer with regular detergent and no softener 3 times, which is when I noticed it lost all its warmth. After I noticed problems I tried hand washing with technical washes. I always hung to dry. The fibers hold a ton of water, the garment can hold 10x, maybe even 100x of its weight in water. The water squeezes out and air dries super quickly, and in a spin cycle washer it comes out practically dry. However when it gets wet these little tufts turn into little clumps and knots. All those lovely insulative fibers get mashed together into one big knot, and the knot persists even when fully dried. I've tried everything to get the knots out, various different washes, detergents, a ton of brushing, combing, even picking them apart with tweezers. Brushing and picking them apart helps a lot, but the crux is that the fibers are now kinked, not straight. They'll never form the perfect little puffs they did before. And the magic is gone. It feels just like any other polyester fleece of a similar weight. I'd estimate it loses about 67% of its warmth, and that unique feeling is no more. I'd only recommend the 90 and 120 gsm weights. The 60, once the warmth is gone, is as warm as a mesh sun hoodie. I'd recommend getting it wet a few times and get used to it before taking it on anything serious, so you know you're not going to magically lose a ton of warmth in the wilderness. All that being said, is it better than a generic polyester fleece, even after the tufts collapse? I don't know. My gut says no. I'm going to explore the octa and microgrid and other options before taking a chance on another Alpha Direct garment.
