Kathmandu’s Any Time Down Short Jacket  – Reviewed & Tested

Kathmandu’s website says that the Any Time Down Jacket is perfect for fresh winter mornings, and boy have they been fresh lately. This jacket’s been a welcome addition to Kate’s winter wardrobe, though hard to place as an everyday jacket.

Moving to the Northern Rivers earlier this year, I thought I was free of chilly winter mornings. Didn’t I leave bleary, cold weather behind in my hometown of Melbourne?

Kathmandu Any Time Down Short Jacket arrived in the mail and I was keen to see where it sat in my wardrobe on a scale of ‘doona jacket’ (as my warmest jacket is affectionately known) to ‘Byron shawl’ (I do live in the Northern Rivers, after all).

The newest addition to the Northern Rivers uniform: the Any Time Down Jacket

Now, let me be clear. I hate the cold. It takes me an age to creep into a body of water that isn’t a thermal hot spring. The Bureau of Meteorology is my most-visited website. I am positively not ever dreaming of a white Christmas.

Turns out even Ballina gets its fair share of cool mornings, but with warm daytime temperatures, I needed something that didn’t have me feeling like I was in a sauna as soon as I stepped outside.

The Any Time Down Jacket has a lot of green ticks straight off the bat – the shell is made of 100% recycled polyester, and the down feather and filling are ethically sourced as per Kathmandu’s policy. Some may argue there’s no such thing as ethical down, but, we’ll get into that below.

This jacket really hits the three ‘B’s for me: busy mornings, boarding planes, and bushwalking. Here’s why.

Quick Specifications

Waterproofing: Water repellent
Colours: Dark Haze, Black Stingray
RRP: $349.99
Pockets: Yes! And they’re lined, so your hands don’t feel cold.

Performance

Given my passionate aversion to the cold, I just wanted to know one thing – was the Any Time Down Jacket going to keep me toasty?

We unfortunately had a spell of warm weather in the first week of reviewing. Still, I gave it a whirl. The forecast was to reach 20 degrees – my husband wore his warm ‘doona’ jacket (a Volcom insulated number) while I wore the Any Time jacket.

By mid-morning on our expedition along the river walk to get coffee, Arron was the first to succumb to the sun’s warm rays. I lasted a further 20 minutes before needing to shed the ATDJ.

The mild winter weather was proving unsuitable for the jacket.

So, to a cooler climate we went.

Goonengerry National Park has entered the chat.

Let’s see how it goes in the bush

Our car tells us it’s 11 degrees outside as we wind up the mountain. I’m in leggings, a T-shirt and the Any Time jacket.

The cold air blasts my face, and my legs feel the icy chill through the fabric. My upper body though? Cool, but not cold. If I’d had a long-sleeved top on, it would have been the perfect temp.

However, we’re here for a walk, so I know I’m going to warm up. The lined pockets are a warm fabric, and my hands are grateful. I’m at a comfortable temperature for the majority of the walk, and only when we hit a steep incline do I take the jacket off.

I’m quick to put it back on when we reach the top of the waterfall as another icy blast greets us, and I’m soon back to a comfortable temperature.

Success.

It’s cold in our house that evening, too. The nursery room thermometer tells me it’s 15 degrees, so I pop on the jacket as I meander through the evening’s routine – dinner, play, little gumnut’s bedtime. Am I warm? Yes.

Durability

I’ve worn the Any Time jacket pretty much every day at some point for three weeks now, and apart from a spaghetti stain courtesy of my 13-month-old’s hands after dinner one night, there’s been no wear and tear. Honestly, at three weeks in, I‘d be horrified if there were. Kathmandu jackets are built to last, after all.

The jacket has been thrown in the car, taken on bush walks, dropped on the floor, worn all day, survived windy beach days and still looks as it did when I took it out of the package (minus the aforementioned pasta stain).

It’s not waterproof, which does let it down on the versatility front – as Kathmandu explains, down feathers are not designed to get wet. For light drizzle, the water beads off, but this is not a jacket to wear in a downpour.

(Kathmandu does recommend that if you want a down jacket that’s also waterproof, to go for synthetic down, rather than the real deal.)

You could wear a raincoat over the Any Time Jacket, but you’ll start to risk looking like this.

How you doin in this downpour?

Comfort

The Any Time Jacket is so light and soft, it’s like wearing a marshmallow.

The thing that prevents me from pulling it out of my wardrobe on a cold morning or chilly evening around the house, as opposed to, say, my dressing gown or an oversized knit, is the fabric.

This is my main pet peeve with puffer-style jackets. It’s not cosy. The fabric is cool when you put it on – made worse if you’re wearing just a tee underneath, as I often am for when the day warms up.

Not so marshmallow for indoor comfort

This is what stops this jacket from being an everyday jacket for me. Bushwalking in the mountains? Yes. Packing for a holiday? Absolutely. Morning coffee run or farmer’s market? Slide it right on and let’s go outside. But for wearing around the house when it’s really cold (and in my 1940s rental, boy does it get cold) it’s just not appealing to slip on.

I have to mentally gear up. Even with a long-sleeved top underneath, it feels cold, like a snake skin. And on cold mornings, it’s not just about feeling warm. It’s about feeling cosy and snug, too.

Design

Colour

‘Dark Haze’ is not what I was expecting this light lilac colour to be called, but gee it’s a nice shade! Something a bit different to the usual black and navy. There’s also a black one called ‘Black Stingray’ and honestly I would like the job of naming the colours of clothing items.

Read more: The Most Outlandish Outdoor Gear Colour Names

Fabric

It gets a big tick on the sustainability front: the Any Time Down Jacket is made with PertexTM Quantum Eco, which is a 100% recycled polyester. As for the filling, it’s 80% duck down and 20% duck feathers, and I was today years old when I realised down and feather weren’t the exact same thing.

Shape

I personally prefer a jacket that’s a little longer a) because I am tall and b) because it gives a bit of extra warmth around your waist. Kathmandu also has a longer parka in their Any Time range, but my sweet spot is probably somewhere in the middle.

Worked well for walks with the gumnut

Weight

When the package arrived in the mail, I was genuinely surprised that there was a jacket inside. It was so small, so light. My immediate thought was that it would make an excellent travelling jacket, given it packs up so small and weighs next to nothing, and I stand by that. This is the jacket to pack on the plane for holidays in cooler climates. I’ll be heading to the Dandenongs on the outskirts of Melbourne in a few weeks, and you better believe the Any Time is coming with me.

Size

I have a size M. I’m usually a size 10, and while I tend to opt for a size up in jackets to allow for layering, I probably could have had a size S and it would have felt less ‘roomy’.

Sustainability

We’ve already covered that the outer shell is made of a recycled polyester – tick!

As for the down filling – Kathmandu has been sourcing down that’s been certified to the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) since 2016. I’m no vegetarian, but I did wonder how ethical it can actually be if the animal in question must be killed for it.

Well, according to Kathmandu, down is a by-product, rather than the end game, and even if we stopped using down as a clothing and bedding insulation product, the animals are still used for meat, so the feathers just end up in landfill.

And by following the RDS, it ‘certifies animal welfare practices in down and feather production from the farm to the final product’.

This isn’t going to convince vegans to go out and buy a down jacket, far from it, but any measure that can be taken to ensure animal welfare in industries notoriously known for, erm, not animal welfare, is a step in the right direction.

Kathmandu have also been a B-Corp since 2019, meeting the high standards of social and environmental transparency and accountability.

Read more: We Are Explorers Reconfirmed Its B Corp Status (& Improved Its Score by 13 Points!)

Price

I’ll be upfront – $349.99 is more than I’d be willing to spend on a jacket. Even one that has ethically-sourced its down filling. Yes, we need to be willing to pay more for sustainable business models, and Kathmandu are big on fair worker compensation (as they should be!).

But we all know the mantra, right?

We buy Kathmandu items when they go on sale.

For instance, at the time of writing, the Any Time Down Short Jacket was marked down to $244.99.

Now, if you bought the jacket on sale and wear it every day during winter (~90 days) for 10 years, that is $0.27 a wear (yes, I love the calculator app on my phone, why do you ask?).

And according to anecdotes (and a Reddit thread I found), Kathmandu jackets *do* last.  I think spending $250 on a jacket that you’ll wear regularly, can take travelling with you and will last you for years to come is a good investment, and a damn sight better than spending $40 on a [insert large chain retailer] jacket that’ll end up in landfill in a year’s time.

North of $300 is out of my budget though – especially as for me, this is not an everyday winter jacket.

Final Thoughts

The Kathmandu Any Time Down Short Jacket has a lot going for it, and it has its place in the wardrobe.

It’s not for:

• Mild, sunny Northern Rivers winters
• Wearing in the rain
• Replacing your cosy winter knit as you snuggle up on the couch

It’s perfect for:

• Morning meanders around the farmer’s market
• Bundling into luggage
• Winter bushwalks

So catch me outside.