Durability of Alpha, direct, 90

… And hip belt too?

I haven’t tried that, and I personally wouldn’t plan on doing it regularly. AD is pretty fragile. I typically wear it as a base under a shirt or wind shell.

My way of thinking about it is that grid fleece is more versatile and much more rugged. If I’m going to wear it a lot, I’ll choose the grid fleece.

The AD goes in my pack, where weight matters more. Or as a base, where it is highly breathable, while wind is handled by a soft shell, windshirt, or just a woven shirt.

It’s been fine under my pack straps and hipbelt (Gossamer Gear Gorilla).  Been using the same Macpac Nitro since 2019 and my partner has one too, that she’s used even more.

Obviously some of the time it’s under a windshirt or waterproof, but I’ve worn it directly against my rucksack many times.

It gets to a point quite quickly where the fabric isn’t as fluffy as day one, then just stays much the same.

Probably won’t last as long as standard microfleece/grid fleece, but they last for many years!

I also have an older Norrona Lofoten Alpha 90 Hoodie which seems a slightly different Alpha (more robust  maybe?) Paired with grid fleece panels. It’s been worn A LOT for years, both hiking  and everyday wear.  It looks really good still.

I’ve read that AD67 is not as durable as AD90, which makes sense. Not tried it though.

I have somewhere between  300 hours and 90 days of wear (I switch duration increments at one point and then ad some mistakes) of a macpac nitro hoody under a pack.  Typically there was a shell between the nitro and pack straps.  Pack was either GG Vagabond (adventure travel, done in day) or a Gorilla.  Still in very good condition.  Not as fluffy as the unused nitro I have in storage… but didn’t think to measure the loft difference.  Away from home for the next month so won’t be able to measure this.