Skip to content

Cookies 🍪

This site uses cookies that need consent.

Learn more

Zur Powderguide-Startseite Zur Powderguide-Startseite
gear of the week

Gear of the Week | Penguin S.Café Fleece Hoodie

Midlayer with added coffee

by Lea Hartl 01/26/2020
PowderGuide partner Penguin is a small and - in our opinion - very likeable clothing company from Switzerland that produces a manageable collection ranging from ski underwear to hardshells according to the motto "by freeriders for freeriders". This week, the S.Café Hoodie - a fleece midlayer - is our Gear of the Week.

The S.Café hoodie consists of 61% normal polyester and 39% recycled polyester that has been "enriched with coffee grounds". According to the manufacturer, the outer material is particularly abrasion-resistant thanks to the new polyester, while the recycled polyester with extra coffee used for the inside is said to have an odour-neutralizing effect and provides sustainability points by recycling polyester waste. The fleece contains no elastane (cannot be recycled), but is still stretchy thanks to a special fabric construction. The whole thing is dyed and manufactured using a Bluesign-certified process.

These are all good-sounding things that you can find out on the manufacturer's website and which are neither positive nor negative when wearing the hoodie. I would like a light coffee scent in my ski clothing, but unfortunately you can't smell the coffee in it. "Other" odors gradually develop when you sweat into the jacket a few times. The supposedly odor-inhibiting coffee-polyester fiber can't keep up with merino in this respect, but I've also had synthetic pieces that smelled much worse much faster. Maybe that's where the magic of coffee grounds comes in after all?

gear of the week
presented by

The outside of the hoodie is indeed abrasion-resistant and looks quite robust. The inside is nice and fluffy, even after a few washes. Otherwise, the piece is functional, as you would expect from a mid-layer fleece hoodie, and simple in terms of design and details. The jacket has two normal zipped pockets, thumb loops and a drawstring at the bottom to tighten the hem if necessary. The hood is roomy and if you close the zipper completely, it goes down around the chin and up to the nose. You are protected from the wind and weather and well camouflaged. An option to make the hood tighter would perhaps be a practical additional feature, but otherwise I can't think of anything I'm missing from this item.

The material dries relatively quickly and although it is not particularly thick, I find the jacket quite warm compared to thin merino hoodies, which I usually wear for the same purpose (as an extra layer in the ski area or in windy or cooler temperatures over a base layer on the ascent).

Conclusion

Simple, comfortable hoodie. Rather wide cut, comfortable to wear. Contains coffee grounds. You don't notice the latter, but just knowing about it is perhaps an advantage for coffee lovers?

ℹ️PowderGuide.com is nonprofit-making, so we are glad about any support. If you like to improve our DeepL translation backend, feel free to write an email to the editors with your suggestions for better understandings. Thanks a lot in advance!

Show original (German) Show original (French)

Related articles

Comments

gear of the week
presented by