Knoble Standard Jacket
Size Tested: Large
Blister’s Measured Weight (size L): ~963 grams
Materials: Polyester face fabric, Nylon backing fabric
21K Breathable
20K Waterproof
Stated Features:
- Fully taped seams
- YKK waterproof zippers
- 19 inch pit vents
- Wrist gaiters
- Mechanical stretch
- Powder Skirt
- Recycled materials
- 2-way adjustable, helmet compatible hood
Pockets:
- Two large exterior hand pockets
- One exterior snap chest pocket
- One exterior zipper chest pocket
- One audio compatible internal chest pocket
- MSRP: $265
Reviewer:
Cy Whitling: 6’, 180 lbs
Days Tested: 12
Locations Tested: Grand Targhee Resort, WY; Driggs, ID; Jackson Hole, WY
Intro
Knoble is a small brand based out of Salt Lake City with an interesting mission statement, and this particular portion stands out: “Knoble is a project to make ski apparel that is among the best in the world and to help make the world better. That is it. We sell the goods at a low cost to spread stoke and raise awareness of important humanitarian issues.”
For every Standard Jacket they sell, Knoble pays for one cataract surgery for a person in need through CharityVision.
I’m all for humanitarian causes and helping others, but on a more practical level, “spreading stoke and raising awareness” isn’t going to keep me warm and dry during a storm. But so far, the Knoble Standard jacket delivers performance and quality that is as good as its cause.
Fit
Knoble doesn’t have a size chart on their site. They write, “We don’t do sizing charts because everyone prefers a bit different fit, but we do provide the length of the jackets and pants.”
Unfortunately I was unable to find the stated lengths of their jackets or pants on their site, but at 6’ 180 lbs, I’m very consistently a size Large in ski outerwear, and the Large Standard turned out to be a great fit.
I measured my Large Standard jacket’s zipper at 31” long, and the sleeves are proportional to the torso. That’s a bit longer than most technically-cut jackets on the market (like the Trew Wander or Lethal Descent Eagle I’ve been wearing recently), but a little shorter than more casual-styled jackets like the Saga Fatigue or Orage Sarge. And that will be a common theme of this review: the Standard blends the best attributes of those two categories to deliver quiver killing performance.
The Standard is pretty slim—not to the point of being skinny, but it definitely falls on the long and sleek end of the spectrum. I can easily fit a mid layer and a puffy under the Standard, but it doesn’t billow out or bunch up at all, even when I’m wearing only a base layer underneath.
Overall I would classify the Standard’s fit as very versatile. It strikes a nice balance between technical performance and sleek style, and doesn’t look out of place on the slopes or down at the bar.
Pockets, Vents, and Hood
Pockets: The Standard uses a pretty conventional pocket layout. The two main hand pockets are fleece lined and comfortable. Unfortunately, the opening is a little small to fit my 190x11cm skins, and I’m not a big fan of keeping my skins in a fleece-lined pocket anyway.
The zippered exterior chest pocket is perfect for a phone, and while I didn’t use the snap chest pocket, it should fit a wallet securely.
The interior audio pocket is serviceable and similar to the competition’s. My one quibble would be that while keeping your phone inside the coat is great, it means you have to open the main jacket zipper, and then the inner pocket zipper to access your phone. I’m a huge fan of jackets with an audio pocket that’s accessible from the outside but has a headphone port to the inside, although these are few and far between.
Vents: The Standard has long pit vents (19”) with double-headed zippers. I found them to be very easy to operate, and never had an issue with the zippers catching. The longer sleeves made it easy to grab a handful of the end of the sleeve to keep it from pulling down when adjusting the vents.
Hood: The Standard’s hood is large, and works very well with a helmet. It’s adjustable both by tabs on either side of the collar and another tab on the back of the head. I found the hood to be a little too roomy to stay on my head while skiing at speed without a helmet, but that same roominess was a huge plus when trying to get it over my helmet while wearing thick gloves. Since I only ever wear a hood while riding the lift anyway, the size of the hood wasn’t an issue for me at all.
NEXT: Other Features, Durability, Etc.