Rad, I thought as I was handed this Etnies Iceland jacket to review. I’ll wear that to the pub later to see how it performs in a controlled environment, that was the plan. That was the plan that never happened, because during the course of the day I decided to crack my elbow socket and break my scaphoid.
And so, the first outing the jacket got was to Kings College Accident and Emergency ward. Not the perfect situation to review a jacket you may think, but not so. I quickly discovered that the pockets worked as a near perfect makeshift sling to keep my arm all cosy on the journey to A & E. Once in the ward, the jacket (which reminds me of an 80’s puffa in construction) acted as both a cushion to protect my arse from germs, and a blanket, which would protect my legs from any stray vomit/spittle that may be spraying about from other hospital users.
There is only so much you can do to entertain yourself in hospitals, me and my brother whiled away the hours by watching characters such as ‘ski jump hat’ and ‘power brow’ and taking bets on how long the bag head would be in the toilets. You could of course pass the time by counting the amount of bamboo leaves that are printed all over this jacket (I reckon about 2350).
Luckily for me I was called for an x-ray before we had to resort to this. Whilst waiting for the results of my x ray, I discovered I had put the jacket in a puddle of what I hope was water, once again, the jacket came through- no damp had gone inside and the jacket dried in seconds due to the hospitals heating which I swear is extra hot to help the spread of bacteria. The detachable hood can act as a handy bag to carry your notes about, as well as acting as a neck support when attached to prevent you falling asleep on the person your sitting next to and catching head lice or other ailments.
Overall, this Iceland jacket performed really well in the hospital situation, it was warm and comfy, but didn’t make me feel like or look like the stay puft marshmallow man, and more importantly I didn’t contract MRSA while wearing it. Now that must be the sign of a decent jacket.
http://etnies.com/
Joe Sketch