At Outdoor Retailer’s 2020 winter show, Patagonia announced its new R1 Air line of layers the first big update to its flagship fleece in two decades. As my colleague Ariella Gintzler wrote, its new design meant it would be “warmer yet also more breathable than any iterations before it, without sacrificing packability or the ability to keep it on all day.”
I received a testing sample of the R1 Air Full-Zip Fleece Hoody ($159) in January 2020, and I’ve beaten it up on adventures across four seasons. After a year, it’s become one of my most used layers for moving in cold weather.