When hiking a steep incline, windy ridgeline, or in the pouring rain, this All-weather Activewear keeps you comfortable anytime, anywhere.

Our All-weather series is significantly lighter than other conventional moisture/air-permeable jackets using the Pertex Shield Air fabric. The fabric’s superior breathability makes the jackets work as equally well as a windshell or as a rain jacket.

The UL All-weather Long Hoody is long enough to wear without rain pants, offering an unparalleled sense of freedom around the legs. Weighing only 134g in size S, it is about half the weight of a normal set of rain jacket and rain pants.

Both sides have deep slits, allowing for easy access to your pants/shorts pockets.

The UL All-weather Long Hoody offers overwhelming breathability compared to conventional rainwear. It has evolved into a new product category we call “All-weather Activewear” equally suitable for sunny and rainy days.

Its excellent ventilation performance lets the heat out and keeps you dry when running or going uphill, even when normal rainwear is too humid and warm to wear. The 10,000mm water pressure resistance will protect you from getting wet in case of sudden rain.

The chart below shows a comparison between the UL All-Weather Series and general mountaineering rainwear (assumed to be products weighing 200-300g that use breathable waterproof membranes such as Gore-Tex).

General rainwear tends to have excellent insulation, but poor breathability and a tendency to trap heat. However, the UL All-Weather Series is lightweight, highly breathable, and does not trap heat even during intense activity.

However, due to its high breathability, the UL All-Weather Series may sometimes make the wearer feel cold in strong winds. Therefore, proper layering is necessary when using it to ensure warmth.

What’s so special about the Pertex Shield Air? It’s a novel nanofiber fabric that is permeable not only by moisture but also by air. This air/moisture-permeability creates a truly unique kind of breathability.

We tested the breathability of the Pertex Shield Air of the UL All-weather series and the existing UL Rain Hoody (PU Shinsui), the Pertex Shield fabric. The test method is as follows:

The test fabric is placed in the middle of the tester. The upper half of the tester has some water in it, while the lower half is empty (filled with air). When the lower half is pressurized by the pump, the fabric lets the air pass, and bubbles are created in the upper half. The more air that passes through, the more bubbles are created. The Pertex Shield with no air-permeability does not generate air bubbles. On the other hand, the Shield Air creates many air bubbles, indicating its high air-permeability.

The UL All-weather Long Hoody is designed for hikers who love shorts.
It is long enough to wear without rain pants, and its relaxed fit achieves unparalleled comfort. It is like a paper-thin, flexible layer gently covering you and your shorts.
The area around the neck part is nice and spacious and the side slits are added for ease of wearing and for easy access to your pockets.

Weighing only 130g in size S, the Long Hoody is about half the weight of a normal set of rain jacket and rain pants, making your backpack lighter and more compact.

The body and neck parts are designed roomy for better ventilation and cooling performance.

Both sides have deep slits for easy wearing, which allow for direct access to your pants/shorts pockets.

The Long Hoody is especially convenient if worn together with our 5-pocket series pants/shorts, and all five pockets can be directly accessed from the slits.

Usually, the stitching of the rainwear is seam-taped from the back to prevent water penetration. However, seam tape lacks durability, and water may seep through seams due to deterioration over time.

The UL All-weather series adopts ultrasonic welding, the latest technology that melts and welds the fabrics together by the heat of ultrasonic vibration. This method creates no stitch holes with less damage to the fabric, minimizing the risk of water penetration from the seams due to deterioration with age.

Yamatomichi has teamed up with one of a few craftsmen and factories in Akita Prefecture that are capable of ultrasonic welding and is developing new technologies to make better products.

New technology allows the fabric to be layered and then welded together, making it even more durable, stronger, and waterproof than its predecessor, the UL Rain series.

Yamatomichi Journals featured the All-weather Activewear in a series of three articles.

In the first part of a three-part series on rainwear, we will review the technological improvements of waterproof, moisture-permeable fabrics such as Pertex Shield Air, etc. In the second part, we will highlight each fabric through our in-house gear test. And finally, in the last part, we invite Mr. Tomoya Tsuchiya of Hikers Depot and Mr. Kei Kuwahara of “Run boys! Run girls!” to discuss the current situation of rainwear. Don’t miss it!

UL All-weather series has five products: The standard Hoody, lengthened “Long Hoody”, double-zippered Jacket, zippered and pocketed Coat, and a pair of Pants. The features of each product are as follows:

It is said that the thicker the fabric, the more water-repellent agent it contains, so thicker fabrics have a more enduring water-repellent performance. The UL All-weather series, however, uses a very thin, breathable fabric for the surface to maximize lightness and air-permeability. This means that it has enough water repellency when it’s used for the first time, but this gets weakened quicker than other more heavy waterproof jackets.

The All-weather turns the water into droplets and repels them well, but as the water repellency weakens, the water remains on the surface like a water film, hindering the moisture-permeability. Consequently, the moisture builds up inside the jacket, resulting in wetting out.

Thus, the UL All-weather series requires regular maintenance to restore water repellency by washing after the hike to remove dirt and applying heat in a tumble dryer or hairdryer. Water repellency can be restored by the water repellent detergent, if necessary.

Most rainwear provides a certain level of heat retention by allowing moisture to build up inside of the garment. However, the UL All-weather series has overwhelming breathability, and the heat generated by the body is always ventilated outside the garment. Keep in mind that you will need to be creative with your layering if you want to focus on keeping warm when resting.

So, we’d like to introduce the layering suggestions for the All-weather series by Tomoya Tsuchiya (Hikers Depot), Kei Kuwabara (Run boys! Run girls!), and Yamatomichi Lab (Akira Natsume and Takahiro Watanabe), who collaborated with us in “Yamatomichi Lab Special Issue: All-weather Activewear #3: Tomoya Tsuchiya x Kei Kuwahara x Yamatomichi Lab Trilogy”

The Pertex Shield Air is a novel fabric developed by Pertex to further improve water pressure resistance, washing resistance, and overall quality from existing nanofiber membranes.

Nanofiber membranes are net-like structures made of extremely fine polyurethane (PU) fibers that are water repellent (hydrophobic). They have a sponge-like structure with many micropores, allowing the air and moisture to pass through. This air-permeability creates exceptional comfort within the clothes.

The Pertex Shield Air is much lighter than conventional nanofiber fabrics, with a weight of 50g/㎡ to 60g/㎡. For breathability and durability, our proprietary version of Shield Air has 15 denier nylon fabric (40 denier ripstop) as the outer layer and 7 denier nylon as the inner layer. This combination makes it much lighter and more breathable than other nanofiber-based, waterproof moisture-permeable fabrics.

• The UL All-weather product is our ultralight waterproof rainwear made of ultrathin, moisture-permeable fabric. Please handle it with care as it can be torn or ripped when rubbed against rocks or scratched by spiky branches.
• The UL All-weather product is comfortable when you are on the move in a relatively warm environment. However, it is less warm than normal water-resistant jackets or winter hard shells so we strongly recommend you wear a merino wool base layer to keep you warm especially when severe weather is to be expected.
• To maximize moisture-permeability, after-use care is necessary. The performances of the membrane, the performances of the facing and lining can be impaired by dirt, sweat, skin oil, or other substances. Please follow the washing instructions of each product to properly wash, dry, and keep it clean.
• When the surface water-repellent coating is hindered, so is moisture-permeability. If you notice the water repellency has been weakened, tumble dry at low temperature or apply heat by the hairdryer to restore the water repellency. Please note that initial water repellency is meant to be weakened by repeated washing. Use water repellents for regular care.
• The UL All-weather products use ultralight, thin microporous fabric. Vaseline, insect repellent, and ethanol-containing substances such as hair creams, cosmetics, and sunscreens may stain the fabric. They may also hinder the water-permeability of the fabric.

• Machine wash, gentle at 30°C.
• Use rainwear-specific detergent or a neutral detergent that does not contain bleaching, softening, or brightening agents.
• Wash separately or use a laundry net bag.
• Apply detergent diluted with water and wash with a soft sponge if badly stained. Do not scrub the surface joints or the seam tape on the back.
• If necessary, tumble dry the garment at a upper limit of 60°C to restore water repellency.
• Do not bleach and do not use fabric softener.
• Iron on low. Do not steam.
• Do not dry-clean.
• Vaseline, insect repellent, and ethanol-containing substances such as hair creams, cosmetics and sunscreens may stain the fabric. They may also hinder the water-permeability of the fabric.