Superlite Hybrid Jacket - the story behind the development

Originally launched in 2019, this jacket has been an all-time favourite amongst the team at Rooster HQ, as well as our community on and off the water. So much so, we’ve decided to restock it into our core collection moving into the 2023 season.

With so much disruption over the last few years with the pandemic unexpectedly hitting us all hard, with the offset hugely effecting the clothing and production industry, it has become more and more apparent to make sustainable choices, not only in the development process but also in the consideration of if we are to keep a product in the collection.

This one wasn’t plain sailing (excuse the pun), even though there is a lot of demand, our main priority is always to try to make sure that we have enough neoprene in stock to feed our community. Often the tech casual range ends up taking the hit when priorities have to be considered. 

Whenever we do reintroduce a product, we always make sure to make little tweaks to ensure that the product can be the best it can. Often these go unnoticed by the innocent eye, but we know about them. The reason we blend the updates into the current models is so that we can support our dealer/distributor network and limit the consequence of leaving them with a load of ‘old’ stock, with too much product on the market. We’re not a fast fashion brand, so our motto is to only replace when necessary. 

Back to the reason you probably headed to this blog - to find out about the development of the Superlite Hybrid jacket. Well here you go: The design team at Rooster are on the constant hunt for the best materials to be used on our products, with considerations into durability, performance, environmental impact, source-ability, end of use, lifecycle, all with the overshadowing reason for sustainability. Sustainability is such a broad term with so many factors dialling into the term.  Can you ever make a fully ‘sustainable’ product? I will leave this question open. 

So, after the decision to reintroduce this jacket, the team looked at all the feedback we have had on the previous version, personally and from customers. This particular product was not hard to gather feedback, as I mentioned earlier, it is widely worn by the team. And although the original version was a sturdy and great jacket, we felt that there were some small improvements that could be made to make it functionally even better. Used mainly for active wear, and when doing sports, the jacket now benefits from some extra space around the shoulders so that it can move with you better. As a sailing brand, where many of our community actively partake in other sports like swimming, climbing, and rowing, the lat-gain* can be a real problem. Our latest update to the fit will go a long way for functionality. 

As part of our general love and mindfulness for our playground (aka the planet), we also try to, where possible, use recycled fabrics or low impact fabrics. We know this is not the complete answer to solving climate change, but in a field where technical garments are still hugely reliant on manmade ‘plastic’ products for performance, we feel like moving away from ‘virgin’ fabrics, will at least help in the process. Enter the recycled fabrics used on the jacket, with the addition of recycled filling/padding and a slight increase in thickness to give that extra bit of insulation. 

The final improvement that we made was to change to a ripstop recycled nylon for the outer shell fabric, as with any jacket of this nature they can be susceptible to snagging. The ripstop outer will prolong the durability of the product, meaning it should last longer and be stronger – we’ve tried to take the worry away from you that you might damage your jacket so you can get on with enjoying it – whether that be on a hike, sailing around the coast or whilst tinkering with your boat on the shore.

* large latissimus dorsi back muscles due to working out or partaking in certain sports.