Stone Island Parka Round-Up
Posted on February 12, 2008
Filed Under Feature: VS, Jackets and Shoulderpieces, Stone Island
With a new parka released every season, finding the right Stone Island parka might seem easy, but each is unique in fabric, shape and details. Check out a side by side of a few of different parkas from AW 03 to this season current release. Click below to take a closer look.
Clockwise From Top Left: AW 03 Lino Gommato 39154L39, AW 05 Teflon Coated 43154918, AW 06 Polyester Microfibre 45157349, AW 07 Polyester Microfibre 47157549.
Overall Impressions
The Aw 03 4L39 is a great looking parka in one of my favorite materials, Lino Gommato, but suffers from a few annoying design features, including a badly designed detachable hood lining and not enough snaps to properly hold the hood lining in place.
The AW05 4918 fixes the original flaws of the detachable hood lining and with the new felt lining is an improvement on coarse wool hood lining of 4L39, but the teflon coated cotton just doesn have the weight and thickness a parka should have.
Newly designed arms on the AW 06 7349, allow a larger range of motion in the arms but suffers from too much material gathered in the armpit when the sleeves are down. The lack of any lining in the hood makes this parka not really suited for the cold.
This season’s 7549 has some great improvement over the other parkas. The non removable hood lining is an improvement, but doesn’t offer enough difference from the other parkas to really warrant getting one if you already own a parka.
Clockwise From Top Left: AW 03 Lino Gommato 39154L39, AW 05 Teflon Coated 43154918, AW 06 Polyester Microfibre 45157349, AW 07 Polyester Microfibre 47157549.
A detachable hood lining definitely provides more flexibility but tends to look messy when worn down. So its a toss up between the option to remove it or a cleaner look when the hood is worn down.
The 4918 which buttons to the collar from the outside is a more successful design than the 4L39. If you look at the pics above you can see that the 4L39 tends to gather around the neck. The “Detachable Winter Hood” branded into the fabric on the 4918 is a nice touch.
The 7349 comes with no lining in the hood at all so is the least favorite of my parkas. This season’s 7549 comes with a fixed hood lining and doesn’t offer as much flexibility but of the four looks best when worn down.
Clockwise From Top Left: AW 03 Lino Gommato 39154L39, AW 05 Teflon Coated 43154918, AW 06 Polyester Microfibre 45157349, AW 07 Polyester Microfibre 47157549.
A new feature Stone Island has started doing on some of their AW07 piece is the addition of logo text on the brim of the hood. When the hood is worn down, the brim can be worn down like a collar to reveal the logo text. I think it looks quite nice and while a bit over branded, personally I quite like it.
Clockwise From Top Left: AW 03 Lino Gommato 39154L39, AW 05 Teflon Coated 43154918, AW 06 Polyester Microfibre 45157349, AW 07 Polyester Microfibre 47157549.
Of the inner linings the AW 03 has probably the nicest and most finished looking lining. The linings on the 4918 and 7549 are both warm and not to stiff. Worst of the inner linings is on the AW 06 7349 which doesn’t even have buttons to allow the lining to be closed separately.
Clockwise From Top Left: AW 03 Lino Gommato 39154L39, AW 05 Teflon Coated 43154918, AW 06 Polyester Microfibre 45157349, AW 07 Polyester Microfibre 47157549.
Surprisingly the 4918 is the only one of the parkas to come with a plastic Lampo zipper. While I like the look of the YKK silver zips on the other parkas, the YKK’s are just too much of a pain to zip up so find its easier only using the snaps.
Clockwise From Top Left: AW 03 Lino Gommato 39154L39, AW 05 Teflon Coated 43154918, AW 06 Polyester Microfibre 45157349, AW 07 Polyester Microfibre 47157549.
The silver metal cuff buttons are a nice touch on the the 4L39. Both the 7339 and 7549 single button elastic inner cuffs and are an improvement over the 4918’s adjustable elastic cuffs. The 4918’s ability to adjust the cuffs was a good idea, but the elastic tends to feel awkward against the wrist.
Clockwise From Top Left: AW 03 Lino Gommato 39154L39, AW 05 Teflon Coated 43154918, AW 06 Polyester Microfibre 45157349, AW 07 Polyester Microfibre 47157549.
While all are supposed to be waterproof, the 4L39 in Lino Gommato is by far my favorite of the fabrics. It has a nice stiffness and weight to it. The 4918 in the coated teflon has tape over the seam to seal out the water, but a bit too thin for my taste and tends to wrinkle easily. The 7349 and 7549 are both in polyester micro fiber which is one of my recent favorite fabrics SI has been using a lot of and is great at keeping out the wind.
See the full images of the parkas below:
AW 03 Lino Gommato 39154L39
AW 05 Teflon Coated 43154918
AW 06 Polyester Microfibre 45157349
AW 07 Polyester Microfibre 47157549.
Nice article G, have you got a spare metal cuff button for the AW03, lost one off my ventile parka in Canada last week
I wear the teflon coated one to work everyday, my most used SI piece ever - quality
great article, could there be any chance of mentioning the reflective parka from AW ‘07 in the roundup and how that compares to the others as a parka leaving the reflective issue aside?
Paul
great, would be really good to see a similar discussion around cp parkas
Anyone know where i can find one of these and price one up. They are the shit
does anyone know were i can get my hands on the polyester microfibre 45157349 or & the ventile parka with coyote fur trim 45157349 & wat type of cash i would expect to pay for them.can someone really put a price on perfection.mad 4 it