Alé Future Nordik Jacket for Ladies
by Larisa Chinces
The Alé Future Nordik Lady jacket is a superb winter garment, and extremely useful for other cold days in the hills. Best of all, the ladies and the men’s jackets are cut differently, ensuring that the fit is maximised for the person wearing it. Too often, ladies jackets can simply be a smaller version of the men’s, but Alé pride themselves in quality and design and this jacket is no exception.
With this in mind, I tested it here in Transylvania over the winter months. Let’s start off with the design for a change, as this really is a very smart and stylish looking jacket. It oozes quality in both the body mapped cut, which clings to your form so comfortably due the strength and stretch of the material, and the simple design aesthetic. The cut is ideal for women, being slim at the waist and allowing room and comfort across the chest area, not feeling unduly tight or constricting. I have a slim waist and good shoulders, and the jacket felt just right, stretching and sitting nicely on me.
What I also like about the Ale Future Nordik Lady Jacket and the womens Color Blcock Jersey, is the bright and vivid colours. I recived both items in blue, my favorite colour. From my perspective, ALÉ have always had among other brands, the most impressive designs and also the highest quality materials.
It’s stylish and chic and looks like a high quality garment, and the blue coloured ladies jacket that I tested looked really amazing. It has a high collar to protect my neck and slim cut sleeves that extend across the back of the hand at the cuffs. I really did like the collar, which has an inner lining to the high cut design, which is a soft perforated fabric that extends above the collar at the rear and which kept me feeling very snug and warm. It’s important that on the neck area it’s softer mesh which feels much more comfortable. It’s these small details that Alé seem to be very good at, adding a great deal of technicity to their cycle clothing.
The waist grippers were nice and wide and strong, which I also really liked, as it pulled the jacket in and kept it in place. Alé call this their J-Stability System, enabling further aerodynamic gains and a perfect fit. This shapes the jersey at the sleeve and bottom hem to sit smoothly when you’re settled in the riding position, helping to maintain a natural fit and reduce drag – and yes, it works well and looks and feels great in action.
It’s finished off with simple black styling to the fabric at the rear, with 3 deep and easy to access rear pockets. There’s ample room for all the essentials in the pockets and importantly, they’re held well in place. The zipper is very strong and I loved the wide elasticated fabric band behind the zip, all the way from the waist to the collar, and which really helped to keep the wind out.
The rear of the jacket has a curved bottom panel to cover you when in the riding position, and it’s super stretchy for all shapes of rider 😉 Like the collar, this is lined with the perforated cloth and finished with a gel band to hold it firmly in place when the jacket is fastened. And, when it is fastened, I felt so good and the jacket looked amazing. Yes, it’s an Italian race fit garment, so be careful when ordering; but when wearing the right size, it offers good freedom and movement and feels great when riding.
How does it perform overall – time to look more closely at the fabric. When putting the jacket on, you immediately notice the thermo winter fabric, so soft on the inside. The jacket also feels close and warm straight away, and due to the quality of the materials and the cut, movement is not restricted and I felt comfortable in the riding position. I love to check out the quality of the finishing on cycle clothing, and the stitching looked first class and beautifully finished. The outer fabric is a tough and strong 4-way stretch laminate, which meant that when we rode in bad weather, the rain simply beaded away and we were kept dry. It also ensured that the wind was kept out too, and the jacket worked well with just the Alé winter base layer underneath. The fabric on the front panels is heavier and thicker, because that’s where the winter winds will hit you.
I also really liked the way that Alé have designed the under arm area, using a very nice softer material which lets the body breathe. For such a tough winter jacket, I also found breathability was quite good, even on some tough hill climbs. The very best kit isn’t necessarily the cheapest and this Alé Future Nordik jacket is no exception, but the price fits the quality. It’s designed for the coldest of conditions and performed well on winter roads in Transylvania. It felt really great on and very comfortable when riding long and hard winter routes.
At the end of the day, that’s what you need from a good winter jacket: performance and style, and the Alé Future Nordik simply oozes quality in performance and style.
Take a look at their site and you can find a variety of the most unique and feminine designs for ladies and not only .
