How do you store a puffy jacket?

[AZElk]

I have a First Lite Uncompahgre jacket and am wondering how people store a puffy jacket. I was worried to hang it in the off season because I didn't want the shoulders to go flat. Is it acceptable to hang the jacket or would I be committing a cardinal sin of puffy jackets?

 

[Matt Cashell]

I just keep my puffys hung on a regular hanger, but if you are really worried about it, you could just hang it from the hanging loop.

Just avoid storing it compressed.

 

[HeadnWest]

I hang mine by the little loop by the tag on the inside

 

[Jardo]

On a hanger in the closet. I don't store it in a stuff sack or compressed.


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[Dobermann]

I use proper 'coat' hangers, not just thin shirt hangers. These are wood, and have wide, rounded shoulders. They keep all jackets in far better condition than thin hangers, which can cause permanent distortions in the shoulder shape.

If you have the room, full-size coat hangers are also great for base layers, as well as regular dress shirts.

 

[boom]

i stuffed mine into a go bag during our last wildfire evacuation. i forgot about it. i just pulled it out this weekend. i fluffed up beautifully..and i was glad.

i hang mine from a proper goat hanger.

 

[Rwbrew3]

I store all my puffy in a big sealed container, one on top of the other, the big container allows them to not get compressed and has a 04 system built into it, i run it for a few minutes before storing, then again come hunting time....

This is just my way.....

 

[mfllood3800]

They are so light it probably wouldn't be an issue, unless you have your 95 spotter in one of them there pockets

 

[Owenst7]

I just leave them in their stuff sacks. Long term compression doesn't do anything to feathers. Synthetic should be stored uncompressed, though.

 

[ssssnake529]

Long term compression will ruin down or synthetic fill.

I just leave them in their stuff sacks. Long term compression doesn't do anything to feathers. Synthetic should be stored uncompressed, though.

 

[Owenst7]

Long term compression will ruin down or synthetic fill.

Doesn't do anything to down. Synthetic, yes.

 

[lonedave]

I just leave them in their stuff sacks. Long term compression doesn't do anything to feathers. Synthetic should be stored uncompressed, though.

I don't know about feathers, but this seems to go against every manufacturer of down sleeping bags that I know of. I doubt it would be different with jackets in stuff sacks. I do know it took many years of storage in a stuff sack to basically ruin my original REI down sleeping bag, but it was pretty bad when I finally got rid of it. All my new down bags have come with a storage bag in addition to stuff sack. That said, I doubt hanging a down jacket would do much long term damage to the small area of the shoulders, but you were worried about it, why chance it if you could store it otherwise. To the original question, i have been leaving my Uncompahgre hanging for a while and it doesn't seem to have hurt the loft at all. Now that this is on my mind, I may just store it in a bag of some type along with my down sleeping bags.

 

[Owenst7]

I don't know about feathers, but this seems to go against every manufacturer of down sleeping bags that I know of. I doubt it would be different with jackets in stuff sacks. I do know it took many years of storage in a stuff sack to basically ruin my original REI down sleeping bag, but it was pretty bad when I finally got rid of it. All my new down bags have come with a storage bag in addition to stuff sack. That said, I doubt hanging a down jacket would do much long term damage to the small area of the shoulders, but you were worried about it, why chance it if you could store it otherwise. To the original question, i have been leaving my Uncompahgre hanging for a while and it doesn't seem to have hurt the loft at all. Now that this is on my mind, I may just store it in a bag of some type along with my down sleeping bags.

I spoke with Western Mountaineering about it and trust them. My 30+ year old down items still loft to the MFG specs, so I'll keep going with what the OEM says.

I'm also a materials engineer and have zero concerns over the resilliancy of the protein that a feather is made from. Creases would actually increase dimension if it were even a concern. Even if that did happen, all the hydrogen bonds that give it shape would reset when you get it wet. The hair on your head doesn't take a permanent shape from wearing a hat. The only thing that's going to reduce dimension of a feather permnently is if pieces break off, which is really only going to happen if you denature the material with an organic solvent or some similar chemical.

I don't know of any companies other than WM that have done any sort of empirical testing on down that is scientifically repeatable, especially long term testing. None of them are hiring materials engineers, so unless they are doing in-house testing that they aren't publishing (which would be a dumb marketing move), they are simply going off anecdotal evidence and whatever their materials salesman tells them. Good example of this is hydrophobic down treatments.

Your REI bag probably just needed to be washed. I've bought old mildewy bags off eBay that more than doubled in loft simply with a good hand wash with a down specific detergent. I hand wash them because most front loaders won't get the bag saturated until the spin cycle. The bag will just float on top of the water.

 

[Kulshan]

I spoke with Western Mountaineering about it and trust them. My 30+ year old down items still loft to the MFG specs, so I'll keep going with what the OEM says.

I'm also a materials engineer and have zero concerns over the resilliancy of the protein that a feather is made from. Creases would actually increase dimension if it were even a concern. The only thing that's going to reduce dimension of a feather is if pieces break off, which are really only going to happen if you denature the material with an organic solvent or some similar chemical.

I don't know of any companies other than WM that have done any sort of empirical testing on down that is scientifically repeatable, especially long term testing. None of them are hiring materials engineers, so unless they are doing in-house testing that they aren't publishing (which would be a dumb marketing move), they are simply going off anecdotal evidence and whatever their materials salesman tells them. Good example of this is hydrophobic down treatments.

Your REI bag probably just needed to be washed. I've bought old mildewy bags off eBay that more than doubled in loft simply with a good hand wash with a down specific detergent. I hand wash them because most front loaders won't get the bag saturated until the spin cycle. The bag will just float on top of the water.

Interesting perspective and some great information.

Not knowing much about down or synthetics it seems safe to hang or loose stuff sack after drying.

 

[Owenst7]

Interesting perspective and some great information.

Not knowing much about down or synthetics it seems safe to hang or loose stuff sack after drying.

Yeah I don't leave my compression socks tight simply because I believe it will pull the stitching and over time material creep will open up the seam taping/sealing. None of my stuff sacks keep things rock hard anyway.

I have almost always had to store my gear in a shed outside. I've had issues with rodents and yellow jackets attacking coats and bags that are stored on hangars. I haven't had this issue in stuff sacks.

 

[oenanthe]

i hang mine from a proper goat hanger.

I'd do the same, but proper goat hangers are getting to be hard to find. To start with, goats just aren't all that proper. Know what I mean?

In all seriousness, I've never noticed any degradation in my synthetic or down coats, whether hung from a wire hanger or a wide wooden one. I just don't think it matters too much. But I do tend to hang the more expensive gear off the nicer, wider, wooden hangers.

 

[lonedave]

I spoke with Western Mountaineering about it and trust them. My 30+ year old down items still loft to the MFG specs, so I'll keep going with what the OEM says.

I'm also a materials engineer and have zero concerns over the resilliancy of the protein that a feather is made from. Creases would actually increase dimension if it were even a concern. Even if that did happen, all the hydrogen bonds that give it shape would reset when you get it wet. The hair on your head doesn't take a permanent shape from wearing a hat. The only thing that's going to reduce dimension of a feather permnently is if pieces break off, which is really only going to happen if you denature the material with an organic solvent or some similar chemical.

I don't know of any companies other than WM that have done any sort of empirical testing on down that is scientifically repeatable, especially long term testing. None of them are hiring materials engineers, so unless they are doing in-house testing that they aren't publishing (which would be a dumb marketing move), they are simply going off anecdotal evidence and whatever their materials salesman tells them. Good example of this is hydrophobic down treatments.

Your REI bag probably just needed to be washed. I've bought old mildewy bags off eBay that more than doubled in loft simply with a good hand wash with a down specific detergent. I hand wash them because most front loaders won't get the bag saturated until the spin cycle. The bag will just float on top of the water.

In all seriousness, I've never noticed any degradation in my synthetic or down coats, whether hung from a wire hanger or a wide wooden one. I just don't think it matters too much. But I do tend to hang the more expensive gear off the nicer, wider, wooden hangers.

Good to know and you're probably at least partially correct in how dirty my bag probably was! I agree about the larger wood hangers (I use them too).

 

[ssssnake529]

I've seen several down sleeping bags ruined by being stored in a compressed state for an extended time.

Leaving a down bag in a compressed state will compromise its loft. Proteins are not magic and are not immune to compression set (permanent deformation) as a result of pressure and compression.

Doesn't do anything to down. Synthetic, yes.

 

[Owenst7]

I've seen several down sleeping bags ruined by being stored in a compressed state for an extended time.

Leaving a down bag in a compressed state will compromise its loft. Proteins are not magic and are not immune to compression set (permanent deformation) as a result of pressure and compression.

Oh, OK. Changed my mind with that little anecdote.

Compression set is not a test that could be relevantly applied to the microstructure of a feather. Exceeding yield strength in bending could permanently change the structure (try doing that with a feather next time one pops out. Good luck), but like I said, putting a permanent bend in a feather would actually provide more loft by increasing the volume it displaces. Try crumpling up a sheet of paper to make it take up less space, again, good luck.

 

[KNPV PSD]

All I know is WM says not to store the bag in a stuff sack.

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