Smartwool Hudson Trail Fleece Vest Review 2024

The great looking Hudson Trail Vest is almost too good to take hiking.

PROS

• Looks great
• Toasty warm
• Easy to care for

CONS

• Welted pockets are not so good for hiking
• Bobbling needs occasional attention
• Bulky

We recently featured the great performing Smartwool 1/4Zip Thermal Classic base layer – a great baselayer for winter and early spring. The Hudson Trail Fleece Vest is a great compliment and they work well as part of a layering system for hiking and general wear. 

The Smartwool Hudson Trail Fleece Vest is part of the Hudson range of everyday wear that is mountain inspired. and includes a full fleece jacket. It is a mid-layer piece and is going to be of interest to those who like to wear a gilet and don’t want to go the full Gorpcore look with a TNF puffer. I would put it in the same category as the Patagonia Better Sweater Vest – which I have owned two of and think the Hudson Trail Fleece Vest is better. 

Why is it better? Well, the fit is so much better – I have owned two Better Sweater Vests because the size Medium was too tight under my arms and the size Large made me look too much like my Dad was wearing it. I have used a size Medium with the Hudson Trail Fleece Vest and the fit is spot on. I am between a 39-40” chest and there is plenty of room for the vest to go over various wool sweaters whilst keeping a performance silhouette if I wear it with thinner layers like a base layer or shirt. So it’s proven to be perfect for both occasional hikes, meetings, and for working from home. Although I have worn it for outdoor bouldering, it’s just been more of a throw-on to keep warm, I wouldn’t want to use it to climb in as it’s too bulky for that and not designed for it. I haven’t used it for indoor climbing either as I feel the brushed nature of the material will get climbing chalk embedded in it and then need washing more often.

It did work well for hiking, although using a waistbelt restricts access to the pockets.

The material is brilliant, when the vets first arrived it had the appearance of boiled wool (think woolly, Dachstein mittens that you see in old-school Scottish winter climbers) and it has developed into more of a pile appearance over the couple of months I’ve been using it. It has worn in better than any other fleece vests I’ve owned. The material is a mix of recycled wool (as the wool is from recycled or reprocessed sources it is not exclusively Merino), polyester and nylon – this offers maximum warmth and durability as well as being as easy to wash as full polyester fleece. Using recycled/reprocessed wool is more sustainable than using virgin wool, as you would expect, and mixing it with XXXXX RECYCLED synthetics offers maximum durability so it shouldn’t need replacing as often.

Perfect for that lunch stop throw on and it works well with baselayer. It is also well sized to go over a midlayer jacket/sweater.

The Hudson Trail Fleece has three outer pockets, two welted hand warmer pockets that are easy to access and plenty big enough for stashing gloves and other small items as well as keeping hands toasty and warm and a zipped chest pocket which has been great for stashing my phone and glasses in. The hand warmer pockets are fully sewn internally so can be used as extra inside pockets for stuff you want to keep warm on a hike (like gloves). Zips work well and have faux leather tags, which are riveted and discrete.

So, all good on the pocket front but they are tricky to access when using a pack waistbelt so would be better to use with a pack that doesn’t have one. Other finishing touches include a nice, high collar, non-elasticated armholes and hem, rainbow collar tape (which adds a little colour) and a discrete embroidered ‘Little Guy’ logo. On a final note the Hudson Trail Fleece Vest requires a little more care than a normal fleece – think of it more like a well loved and looked after wool sweater – it does need de-bobbling from time to time, especially if you are wearing it as a regular piece for the office. Totally brilliant and the reviews on the Smatwool website confirm it.

The Smartwool Hudson Trail Fleece Vest comes in two, office friendly colour options and sizes S-XL. 

The SRP is £99.99 and it can be bought directly from Smartwool UK.

Disclosure – CGR reviewers and writers are never paid to provide a review and the website does not take advertising or link to affiliate sales. We are a bunch of keen climbers and travellers who accept sample products and offer an honest and independent review of the item.