The Layering System
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Most people own too many jackets and still get cold. Not because the jackets are bad, but because they were bought one at a time, each one trying to solve the whole problem on its own. Three garments that each do a third of the job beat one that tries to do all of it, every time.
Here is how the Raven Works range is built, and what each layer is actually for.
Layer 01 — Baselayer
The baselayer has one job, and it is not warmth. It is moving sweat off your skin before that sweat cools down and starts working against you.
This is the layer people get wrong most often, usually by wearing cotton, and occasionally by buying something so tight it stops functioning as a layer at all. BROOD™ is a midweight synthetic knit with a deliberately relaxed cut. It sits against the skin, wicks moisture outward, and dries fast. The half-zip is not a styling detail — it is the fastest temperature control you have, and on a climb it is the first thing you should open, well before you take a layer off.
Midweight, not lightweight, because everything we build is aimed at cold. If you are working hard enough to soak a midweight baselayer, the answer is to open the zip and slow down, not to wear less.
Layer 02 — Midlayer
This is where the warmth lives. It is also the layer you will adjust most across a day.
COVERT™ and HACKLE™ both carry synthetic insulation. The choice between them is about how much you generate and how long you stop for. The HACKLE™ Vest is the option people underrate: it keeps the core warm and leaves the arms completely free, which is exactly what you want on a long climb where a full jacket would have you overheating in ten minutes.
We use synthetic rather than down throughout, and that is a deliberate trade. Down is warmer per gram — genuinely, significantly warmer. It also stops working when it gets wet, and everything we build is aimed at cold, damp, active use where a garment sees sweat from the inside and weather from the outside. Synthetic keeps a usable amount of its warmth when damp and dries far faster. On a still, dry, very cold day, down wins. On the days we design for, it does not.
The midlayer is cut so that a shell closes over it without binding at the shoulder. That sounds obvious. It is not what happens when you buy a midlayer from one brand and a shell from another.
Layer 03 — Shell
The outer layer keeps weather out and lets vapour through. That is the whole job. It is not insulated, because insulation belongs one layer down where you can take it off.
TALON™ is the full-commitment version: 3-layer construction, 20K/20K waterproof and breathable, fully taped, helmet-compatible hood, pit zips, pockets sized to open with gloves on. It is cut Loose because it is designed to go over the whole system.
PREEN™ is the other approach. Single-layer, waterproof, packable — the parka you carry and put on over your kit when the rain arrives, then fold away when it stops. It is not a technical main layer and it is not pretending to be. It is an extra shield exactly when you need one.
And then there is the case where the layers are already combined for you. MURMUR™ is 2-layer with the insulation built in, which makes it a single-piece resort jacket: less adaptable, much less faff on a chairlift day where you are not going to be stripping layers off anyway.
Putting it together
Three examples, using pieces that exist in the range.
Ski touring, cold and dry
BROOD™ half-zip, HACKLE™ Vest, TALON™ jacket in the pack. You climb in the baselayer and vest with the zip open, and the shell only comes out at the top. The vest is the key piece: warm core, free arms, no overheating.
Resort, wet and cold
BROOD™ half-zip and MURMUR™ jacket and pants. One insulated layer, one set of decisions, done. If the forecast turns properly wet, PREEN™ goes over the top.
Alpine, changeable
BROOD™, COVERT™ or HACKLE™ jacket, TALON™ jacket and pants. This is the full system and the most adaptable version of it — you can shed the midlayer on the climb and put it back on at the col without ever taking the shell off.
The two rules that actually matter
Adjust before you are uncomfortable, not after. Open the zip on the way up, not at the top when you are already wet. A baselayer that is soaked at the summit will make you cold for the rest of the day no matter what you put over it.
Never fill the system with cotton. One cotton t-shirt under a €500 shell will make the shell worse than a fleece. The whole system is a chain, and the layer against your skin is the link that fails first.
Sizing follows the same logic. A shell is sized around what goes under it, which is why TALON™ and PREEN™ are cut Loose and MURMUR™ is cut Regular. If you are running three layers and you sit at the top of a size on chest, go up one size in the shell only — not in everything.
