Product Review: Altra StashJack (coming to stores Spring 2016)

Altra, best known for its running shoes, is starting to venture into the apparel market. The Altra StashJack is a yet to be released lightweight jacket that will retail around $130.00. Altra is calling it the “don’t wait until it’s too late” jacket, as it’s designed to be put on in seconds without having to take off your backpack. It is wind and water-resistant and features a ripstop nylon so you don’t have to worry about catching and tearing it. The jacket itself will stash into a self-contained pouch on an elastic belt that you wear around your waist.

Having been caught in inclement weather a few times in the last couple of years, I have learned to carry a stashable jacket. Typically, they are super lightweight nylon and are designed to wear over 1-2 thin layers max…and never over the top of a pack. Until now. This new Altra jacket is perfect for getting caught in the rain or the snow and needing that waterproof layer, while also having a cutout in the back for your pack! This open back is fastened with Velcro near the bottom, so slipping it off and on is a piece of cake.

The entire product weighs just 3.3 oz and stashes into this little pouch that you wear kind of like a fanny pack. I wear a hydration belt sometimes and it worked just fine with that but it is definitely designed to be worn with a hydration pack for long runs. In 2 of the 3 instances I had it on over the past couple weeks, I had to throw it on. From the moment of pulling it out of the pouch to completion was probably about 20 seconds and I even did it the second time while continuing to run!

This will likely retail for $130.