The 30/30 jacket ‘out of the box’

It will be a long time before I do another ‘A casual buy’ post, not this year anyway, probably not for another year. The reason is this latest purchase. The ’30/30 Anniversary Jacket’ from Stone Island. This came at an eye-popping price, but I couldn’t resist owning a piece of SI history, plus you’re really getting two jackets for the price of one, or more accurately one and a half jackets, as will be seen. This will also be a very long, photo-heavy, post.

That ugly 30th Anniversary badge again

The blurb for this jacket from Stone Island themselves states:

The 30/30 jacket is a cross section of the state of the art of Stone Island. A testament to three decades of exploration and development, it has been designed to embody the spirit of Stone Islands endless creativity. Linked by the signature looped rigging system, both the jacket shell and jacket liner are reversible. These can be worn, either together or alone, in a total of 10 different ways. The transformative properties of the fabrics mean that these 10 ways can each be worn in 3 different states: Ice, Reflective, and Normal; resulting in a total of 30 different jacket modes. The numerous details, such as the reversible cuff and liner button, have been specially engineered to ensure the smooth operation of all jacket features in every worn state. The inclusion of both natural and man made face fabrics, as well as engineered knit and down components, ensure that the jacket can be worn across the broadest spectrum of climates and situations.

Total ways: 10

1. Shell alone: Raso face outside
2. Shell alone: Prismatic face outside
3. Liner alone: Knit face outside
4. Liner alone: Thermo Reflective face outside
5. Shell and liner together: Raso face over Knit face
6. Shell and liner together: Prismatic face over Knit face
7. Shell and liner together: Raso face over Thermo Reflective face
8. Shell and liner together: Prismatic face over Thermo Reflective face
9. Shell and liner together: Thermo Reflective face over Raso face
10. Shell and liner together: Thermo Reflective face over Prismatic face

Total States: 3

1. Normal
2. Ice
3. Reflective

Total Modes: 30

Wow, there you have it. For ‘Ice’ read ‘really cold weather’. For ‘Reflective’ read ‘night time’.

The shell alone: Raso Gommato outside

Shell alone: Mussola Prismatica outside (I really like this)

The liner alone: Knit face outside. Can’t see many wearing it like this, looks just like what it is – a coat inside out. Horrible.

Liner alone: Thermo/reflective face outside (I really like this, there’s an idea forming here)

I then started putting it all together in the different ways the two elements interact. The jacket(s) have the famous SI ‘Dutch rope system’ to keep both jackets tied together once assembled. They also have inner sleeve and collar buttons to hold it together. I would’ve been out in the yard all day tying up little loops of cord, fuck that. So, I’ve just put one jacket loosely over the other as best I can for this next sequence of phots, to give a rough idea of how it looks in various guises; it will look better properly ‘joined together’ later. Promise.

Ice/thermo/reflective inner over the Prismatic face

Detailing: loose ‘Dutch Rope’ and the Mussola fabric

The ‘Ice’ jacket doing it’s thing, it was nippy out today. This will go a very dark grey in the really cold. (I love Ice jackets – pattern forming mmm)

Ice over Raso. The hood has a detachable inner/outer on both shell types, same material as the ice/reflective

That detachable section of the hood, looks too blocky on the outside for me

Detailing: buttons and reflective cuff on the Raso

Pocket detailing on the puffa (yes the Ice is down filled)

The hood with the reflective section reversed with Mussola outside (best combo I think)

More Mussola detailing, love the contrasting orange stitching

The Mussola Prismatica shell from the back

The wee booklet that comes with the jacket

Instructions for the dopey/uninitiated in dutch roping

“30 Ways to Love”

Ok, after playing around with the jacket and getting sore arms – it’s a heavy thing when put together – I decided which way I liked to wear it best. I like the Mussola on it’s own, but Winter is nearly here and the best way to get this worn is to put it together as one. So, I roped it all up like a good Dutchman, and voila, below is the jacket assembled the way I intend to wear it (for now). So, by Stone Island’s own criteria it’s ‘Shell and Liner together: Thermo Reflective face over Prismatic face’. It is a beautiful garment, but as I said before, that’s it for a long time for clothes shopping for me, this was pricier than it should have been, but I had to have one. That’s all folks.