You bought the thick fleece because it was warm. Then winter arrived properly, you tried to put your waterproof on over the top of it, and the sleeves rucked up to your elbows and the front wouldn't do up. So the fleece stays in the car and you go out cold.

This one is built to go underneath.

Here's how it works

The fabric is knitted in raised chevron rows rather than finished flat. Those ridges hold still air against you, and still air is what actually keeps you warm — not the depth of the pile. The result is a jumper that insulates at a thickness thin enough to layer, which is why grid and waffle knits have quietly taken over from thick pile fleece for anyone who wears a shell.

It also means the surface has some structure to look at. It does not read as gym kit.

The pocket you can actually reach

There is a zipped pocket set into a smooth panel on the left chest. On a mid layer this is the pocket that matters. Hand pockets end up buried under a jacket and a rucksack hip belt, and open pockets tip out the moment you lean over a stile. A zip at chest height stays reachable through the front of an open shell, and your phone stays in it when you bend down.

Quarter zip, stand collar

Open the zip on the climb and shut it at the top, instead of stopping to take a layer off and put it back on twenty minutes later. The collar stands up on its own and covers the bit of neck a crew neck leaves open to the wind.

The gear it replaces

• The 300-weight fleece — warm, and far too bulky to get a shell over.
• A hoodie under a coat — the hood bunches behind your neck and there is nowhere secure for a phone.
• A shell straight over a t-shirt — nothing in between doing any work.
• Carrying a jacket you never put on — the whole autumn problem.

What's in it

• Raised chevron knit — holds warmth in the texture, so it stays thin enough to layer.
• Zipped chest pocket — set into a contrast panel, reachable with a coat on, and it stays shut.
• Quarter-length zip — vent on the way up, close it at the top.
• Stand collar — covers the neck without a hood to get in the way.
• Plain cuffs and hem — nothing to catch, no drawcord to fiddle with.
• Seven colours — Navy, Black, Grey, Mustard, Olive Green, Forest Green and Khaki.
• Six sizes, S to 3XL.

Wears on its own from September, and under a shell when the weather turns. Suitable for walking and hill walking, camping, jobs outside, and the long middle of the year that is too cold for a shirt and too warm for a coat.

Warm from the texture. Thin enough to layer. Somewhere to put your phone.