Goldwin Hooded Spur Down Coat (2017)

Type: Parka / Use: Lifestyle / Face: Cotton/Poly / Insulation: Down

Technologies: GORE-TEX 2L, KODENSHI Down, Pertex Quantum

One thousand three hundred and ninety-nine dollars (00/100).

That is how this coat check would read.

Plush, high-tech, and priced to intimidate, Goldwin’s Hooded Spur Down Coat is more than a luxury sports toy. It’s a superlative expression of how to jacket. Patagonia’s Frozen Range: that’s the Range Rover. Goldwin’s Hooded Spur? That’s the Bentayga.

Performance-wise, the Spur is a checklist of how to pinnacle parka. A 2L GORE-TEX membrane keeps weather out. A Pertex Quantum lining makes it comfortable. Between them, Goldwin’s proprietary KODENSHI Down filling stops winter in its tracks. Sure, lots of fancy jackets have brand name bells and whistles. Marmot, Patagonia, and Arc’teryx do it at literally half the price. Yet here is Goldwin – a flat black spaceship at a month of New York rent.

Allow me to explain what pictures cannot.

Goldwin’s Hooded Spur Down Coat is the best full-length parka on the market. Between clever design touches and a comfort window that borders on magic, the Spur confers a technologist’s vision of luxury.

Every feature on jacket was built – and placed - to serve the wearer. Oversized slash pockets positioned at just the right height open and close with magnetic flaps. A full-length double zip with ski-inspired glove pullers offers the smoothest exit of any jacket out there. And then there’s the snaps. Delicate, unobtrusive, thumb-pressure fixtures dot the Hooded Spur. They’re how the cuffs are ratcheted. They’re how the storm flap (also magnetized) locks in for wind. After three winters of use and abuse, these little metal snaps are as effortless as ever.

The sum total of these intuitive, precise features is a wear experience unlike any other. But that’s not even the best part.

Whether it’s the KODENSHI Down or the designed-for-airflow fabric layering, the Spur is a magically comfortable parka between negative 15 and 45° F.

“Well, I run hot.” Cool, dude. So do I. Believe me: the Hooded Spur is somewhere, somehow, immaculately nice.

I’m not kidding when I say I’ve worn this to walk a mile in temperatures so cold that the local government warns you about going outside (s/o Ann Arbor) just weeks before wearing it in spring rains. Most insulating jackets heat along an exponential curve: the first few seconds are cold, then it’s off to the races. The Hooded Spur heats on cruise control. A leisurely, adaptive, somehow-never-too-hot mellow.

While a lion’s share of this smooth heating is likely due to the Hooded Spur’s tech-y KODENSHI Down filling (ceramic particles are bonded to the down to reflect your body’s heat), I think it’s bigger than that. Somewhere in the design process, a series of very intentional choices were made around user comfort.

The face fabric is a 65/35 polyester/cotton blend – not the most waterproof, but more breathable than most pure synthetic textiles and good enough when paired with DWR and a GORE membrane.

The GORE membrane in question is a 2L, not GORE’s standard 3L – not the most hardcore, but big enough to handle urban winter weather and, again, more breathable than the alternative.

Then there’s the tech-y down, and the voluminous pockets, and the thoughtful design touches that are discovered, not tripped over. Wrap it all in a slimming, A-cut, thigh-length parka silhouette, and it’s the recipe for greatness.

In summation: the Hooded Spur is singular.

As a fashion piece, it’s a slick, versatile silhouette with interesting body lines and a soft-enough face fabric to throw over a suit. As a function piece, it is magnificent. I wear mine at least twice a week, all winter long: from the subway, to the office, to the mountain, without fear of overheating.

It’s my opinion that is the best full-length parka on the market. It’s a fact that it’s $1400. For a jacket designed like a luxury car, Goldwin’s Hooded Spur Down Coat certainly fires full-bore. Buy if you can, used if you must.