@S.Clancy that's exactly right, you guys are talking about jackets that are virtually identical to what I know as a classic softshell jacket, folks now are just calling it something different apparently (except BD and Rab, they both still call their jackets a softshell)--hence the confusion. The jacket I have in front of me is a Mammut Verglas jacket which I got in 2004. It is a stretch-woven material--no laminate, no fleece lining, it's basically the same fabric as a OR ferrosi pant or the rab borealis or the BD alpine start, ie Schoeller Dryskin. Mine is a touch heavier being a size XL with pockets, a big hood, old-school seam-allowances, etc, but same/same. Hold it up to your mouth and breathe through it, there is pretty much zero resistance to the air flow. This is what "softshell" was defined as up until some point in the mid 2010's afaict. Apparently the term has morphed into something completely different outside of technical climbing circles (which is my background), but suffice to say that what I knew as a classic softshell through the 90's and 2000's is what you guys are talking about.
Fabric thin enough to see my thumb nail thru it.
Fabric thin enough to see my thumb nail thru it.
