My SeV Evolution Jacket has Arrived

I’ve admired SCOTTEVEST clothing for a long time. Last year, I ordered my first item – the Microfleece Pullover. A great fleece for a really good price – I picked it up on sale for just $40. However, in January at CntrStg I had a good long look at Jack Cook’s Evolution Jacket. It’s a little more money, but a ton more jacket. I was able to try on Jack’s Evolution to get an idea on the size and fit of the jacket. That’s not something everyone can say. And since one of my biggest concerns when ordering clothes online is how will it fit along with the pain that is involved in returning or exchanging items. While SeV has a very understanding return policy, It’s still one of those things that concerns me when buying clothes online. I knew the size and had played with the actual jacket before ordering. Would it live up to my memories from CES?

After a little delay in customs, the Evolution jacket finally arrived yesterday in a bright red pouch as the picture below shows. On the other side, in the same font size it says “SCOTTEVEST / SeV” followed by “The difference is inside”. There’s a really big SeV logo that wraps around the end of the bag. A very attractive shipping bag, especially when you compare it to the regular white bags that USPS / FedEx use.

Once you rip open that bag, you’ll find your article of clothing along with a copy of the latest SeV catalog and your packing slip. The Evolution is nicely bagged and folded to fit in the bag.

There was a number of tags hanging off the front zipper of the Evolution. The first one is a general tag for TEC (Technology Enabled Clothing). The second tag is for the Evolution jacket itself. It covers off a couple of the key features of the jacket like zip off sleeves, 25 pockets, and the use of PAN (Personal Area Network). The next tag talks about cord management and controlling your MP3 player through the special fabric of the pocket. The next tag is an information card letting you know about the use of magnets in your Evolution and that these potentially interfere with pacemakers and other medical devices. The last tag is for ENAFF (New Advanced Functional Fabric) and details it’s waterproof, windproof, yet breathable and environmentally safe features.

Below is a picture of the inside of the Evolution. Like all the pictures in this article, you can click on the image to view a larger image. In this case, you very well may need to do that to see all the little details that have been included on this jacket. There are 3 pockets with a special clear fabric on them that allows you to interact with the screen or buttons on your device without removing it from the pocket. Beside each of these pockets is a small tag with a picture or wording on it to indicate what the pocket can be used for. MP3 player on the jacket’s right side, cell phone on the left side of the jacket with an ID pocket below it. Following the red trim up from the cell phone or MP3 player pockets, you’ll notice a couple small plastic clips that are designed to hold your headphone cables. Below the MP3 player pocket is a long narrow pocket with a tag that displays a pair of eye-glasses. On the other side, the same pocket is displayed with a tag showing airline documents. Perhaps that’s a perfect place to store your passport and boarding pass?

On each side of the coat, between the top and bottom parts of the jacket, you’ll find a massive zipper. This pocket is big enough to hide a magazine or even a netbook. This pocket is directly behind the pockets on the front of the coat, which are equally as big, but without the large access panel.

Around the neck you’ll find a couple elastic loops that are perfect for feeding your earphone wires through and then a little velcro flap to hold the wires in place and prevent them from dropping back down into the coat. There’s also a hood hidden away inside the collar. Oh, and the sleeves can be unzipped and of course, each sleeve has a couple pockets on them.

I’ve talked a lot about the pockets, and to be honest, I’m still finding more of them with each time I wear the jacket. And while pockets are important for those highly mobile people, so it the overall function of the jacket. The Evolution performs in this area as well. The Evolution is not a winter coat. It’s a great spring, summer, fall jacket. If you’re going to wear it in the winter (Especially here in Canada), you’re going to need something underneath it to add a little more warmth.

There was lots of talk and interest at the office today about the jacket. I’m still breaking in the Evolution, so you can expect more posts about it as time goes by. I’m only at the end of my first full day with this jacket and it has not disappointed one bit. If you want to see a video of how much stuff you can load into a SeV jacket, check out this video of Xavier from Notebooks.com that was captured at CntrStg, as he unloads all his pockets. It’s well worth watching!

If anyone has any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them.

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