I am looking for a lightweight, synthetic insulated vest, with no, or minimal, seams on the front.
Uninsulated back (or the ability to easily cut out the back panel insulation, so not quilted all over).
Hood would be nice, but is not essential.
Something like  an Enlightened Equipment Torrid jacket in vest form, would be great.
Any ideas? Any cottage makers offer something like this?
Here is the backstory, in case you care:
I am currently using an older Montbell Thermawrap vest. I have really grown to like it for winter/spring use, backcountry skiing and Nordic touring.
I have been wearing some kind of shell (wind or hard) with venting, for the uphill. On the descents, I want to quickly add a touch of warmth over the top. The vest has been great: easier to pull on and lighter, than a full jacket. Less likely to catch on branches, so super light fabrics are ok.
So, the standard Thermawrap vest has been nice. However, it is not very optimized for this use case:
- It has an insulated back. Since I am wearing a pack, and most cold air is coming from the front, I don’t want the additional weight and volume of that insulation (my daypack is a bit tight to pack, and overnight always a struggle)
- It has sewn though seams all over, reducing the warmth and wind blocking effect of the garment. Since wind is an important part of the cooling while skiing, this makes it significantly less thermally efficient.*
- It doesn’t have useful pockets. Instead, it has open hand warmer pockets, located underneath my pack’s hip belt
*if you have seem the articles reviewing and testing  the EE Torrid, you will have seen how the lack of sewn through seams increased it’s warmth. Given that for AT skiing there is always wind on the descent (from skiing speed), and with other ski tours I would wear it in windy weather, this factor would really increase the overal thermal efficiency of the garment for me.
