In the Spere LT Hoody, the typically severe look of Veilance pieces such as the Gore-Tex Field Jackets meets a typically summerweight Terratex for a curious combination.

Personally, I was going back and forth with this piece for a bit.

Pros and Cons

The M65 / field jacket look of it is a style I like.

Terratex in this style is a bit odd; it could easily be too light for the pockets to work.

Boxy and relaxed as this jacket should be, my usual size M felt too wide.

A hood that is not stowable is not my favorite, either – and the description of Terratex as being made for protection against rain feels a bit questionable, too.

The non-hoody version does not have the classic Field Jacket 4 (or 6, two more zippered ones are integrated with the lower big ones)-pocket design and stand-up collar, though.

And then, there is the Moondust color which I liked the most – maybe.

Eventually, with the Spere LT in hand, in size S – or rather, not in-hand but on-body – I did not want to do without it.

Looks, Not Only

For true protection in summer (and definitely, spring and fall) rain, the Gore-Tex Deploy LT will definitely do a better job.

The Spere LT Hoody is more for the look. But, not only.

Terratex pants have already served me extremely well through summers in Austria as well as in China.

They have proven ideal for hot and humid temperatures (and what I can wear in such temperatures, I could wear in cooler temperatures as well, if need be).

Their low weight also makes them immensely packable and light.

Protective Lightness

The Spere LT Hoody is not entirely as light. As a jacket, and in this cut, it requires more material and therefore becomes less light and packable.

Terratex isn’t all that great as protection against rain, in my experience. It does protect a bit and dry very quickly, though.

For the Spere LT, however, I find that less of a selling point, anyways.

By now, I have used it quite a bit as the weather has been highly changeable, and I have to say that it has worked better than I anticipated.

On cool mornings, it is protective enough against cold wind to make things comfortable. On hot evenings, it’s light enough not to be a problem. And in summer drizzles, the Spere LT Hoody is protective enough for long enough.

And those, of course, are the conditions that this jacket has been made for.

At the same time, this is not the main argument for the Spere LT Hoody.

Terratex FTW

The Spere LT Hoody uses the Terratex material to become a warm-temperature outerwear piece that combines properties that shouldn’t necessarily be combinable:

Cut

The cut is rather severe, minimalistic, with a touch of the military-inspired. (Of course, given the field jacket heritage.)

It is a piece, in this regard, to stand erect in and make a good figure, not be a slouch.

It is, at the same time, cut in a boxy, wide, relatively relaxed way.

For me, this meant that the size M had rather too much material around the midriff. Size S proved more slender, yet not much shorter, so that it fit me better.

Of course, there are the aforementioned 4 (or actually, 6) pockets.

As usual with Veilance, they are worked in an “architectural,” interesting way.

One should not put overly heavy things in them or the thin material will get pulled down quite a bit, but wallet, phone, passport, keys,… work.

Color

The color, in the Moondust version, manages to be reminiscent enough of a military green, as well as a spook country grey, to fit into the aesthetic, into summer, into the nature-like colors of many a Veilance piece.

As visible in the photos just above, the tone of the color varies depending on the light.

Travel Comfort

The feel, however, is one of protected comfort more than comfortable protection.

With the pockets – which do work for a few, not too heavy, not too bulky, things – the Spere LT Hoody should work well as a travel piece, like the Field Overshirt does.

In moderate conditions, the protective properties of this jacket should be nice, as well.

The feel is rather one to snuggle into, and I can imagine this making the Spere LT Hoody great for traveling in cool summers with a layer that helps on trains or planes and on cool evenings, in a light drizzle.

All while looking sharp and feeling, actually, comfy.

Hygge comes to mind… but a very peculiar kind of it.