Collection: Women's Patagonia Clothing & Accessories

Patagonia Fleece: Better Sweater, Retro-X and Retro Pile

Four families, and the difference is the pile. The Better Sweater is the one that looks like a jumper rather than a fleece, in a knitted face that goes with jeans and doesn't shout outdoors; it comes as a full zip, a quarter zip and a vest, and it pills under a rucksack strap like every knitted fleece does. The Classic Retro-X is the deep sherpa with the contrast binding, the one people recognise from a distance. The Retro Pile is softer and shaggier again, and it sheds for the first few washes. Synchilla and Micro D are the plainer, cheaper end. If you want one piece to wear every day through winter we'd take the Better Sweater; if you want to be warm standing still, the Retro-X.

Patagonia Jackets and Shells

The Houdini is the one to understand first because it is so often bought for the wrong job. It weighs almost nothing, packs into its own pocket and stops wind completely, but it is not a rain jacket and a steady downpour will get through it. For that, the Torrentshell 3L is the waterproof one, and the Outdoor Everyday and Boulder Fork sit alongside it. The Nano Puff is the thin insulated layer that goes under a shell, the Light Variable is the lighter version again, and the Jackson Glacier is the proper winter parka. The Pine Bank and Tres are three-in-one, so the liner comes out and you get two jackets. We'd wear a Houdini over a tee in spring and keep the Torrentshell in a bag from October.

Tees, Tops and Baggies

The P-6 Responsibili-Tee is the one with the logo everyone knows, made from recycled cotton and polyester. The Capilene Cool shirts and tanks are the quick-drying ones for warm weather and running, and the Regenerative Organic Certified cotton pieces are the softest things here. Baggies shorts come in a five-inch and a two-and-a-half-inch Barely Baggies, both of which dry in minutes and are as much a swimming short as a walking one. There are a couple of dresses, a romper and the Point Reyes canvas wide-leg trouser for anyone who wants Patagonia without the mountain.

Patagonia Bags, Caps and Belts

Almost a quarter of this page isn't clothing. The Atom Sling is an eight-litre cross-body that sits flat against your back and takes a water bottle, a jacket and a sandwich, which is the right size for a day out and too small for a commute with a laptop. The Terravia hip packs come in two sizes, and the mini is the one people actually use: phone, keys, cards, nothing else. On heads there's the Trad Cap and the Lo Pro trucker with the P-6 label, the Terrebonne for sun, and the Fisherman's Rolled and Honeycomb Knit beanies for the other nine months. The belts are webbing with a flat buckle and go under a shirt without a lump. None of this is cheap for what it is, and all of it will outlast the thing you bought it to replace.

What Patagonia Actually Does

Yvon Chouinard started selling hand-forged climbing gear in 1957 and founded Patagonia in 1973. Since 1985 the company has given one per cent of sales to environmental groups through One Percent for the Planet, which Chouinard helped set up, and in 1993 it became the first company to make clothing from polyester recycled out of drinks bottles. The Worn Wear programme, started in 2017, repairs and resells used Patagonia rather than replacing it. In September 2022 Chouinard gave the company away: the voting stock went to a trust and the rest to an organisation that spends the profits on climate work. It is a genuinely unusual way to run a clothing brand, and it is the reason these prices are what they are.

There's more in coats and jackets, fleeces and and wander.