The materials are top notch. I really wanted to like them, but there are two problems and I had to return them.

1. Fingertips are too long. While the fit around the palm and wrist was perfect, the fingers were too long so I had an extra half inch of material hanging loose at the fingertips. This is important for climbing, ropes, handling gear, etc...

2. Should have removable liner. These are pretty heavy (9 oz on my scale). For a heavy warm glove like that, you are talking about some pretty aggressive trips in which you would want a removable liner so that you can a) dry overnight in your bag and b) couple up with other gloves for varied conditions. These need a liner system like other gloves in this class (black diamond prodigy).

This may be a good ski glove, but not a climbing/touring glove. And if you just need a ski glove, why not get cheap columbia winter gloves? It is like they made this with top notch materials intended for heavy alpine use, but the fit (on my hand at least) and design do not align with that objective.

Other quick notes:
- The sizing is fine. I'm not sure why everyone says to order up. I got a large, and it basically fit fine (except for long fingers as noted above).
- They seem really warm. I wish that stoic made a lighter weight version as well.
- Not a huge deal, but I don't like the "talon" stitching on the finger tips. It makes for extra fabric between you and your gear (or the rock). If that design was effective, don't you think other manufacturers (black diamond, arcteryx) would be using it too? My guess is this is stoic trying to be 'unique'. I am sure anyone reading this review would just prefer simple gear that works. When you are in a tough situation in the mountains you will too.
- You will want to treat the leather. I stuck them in the sink for 10 seconds and the leather saturates pretty quickly. But the leather seems awesome quality.

The fit well and look like good construction, but I found out mine leaked while on a trip to Iceland. It was raining a little and had to cross a couple small streams when I noticed they soaked through pretty quickly.

When I got home, I put them in a full sink and found out that they could last only 20 seconds before water started to seep in just above soles. Both boots did this, so it wasn't like I had just lucked out and got one bad one from the factory.

Now whenever I buy boots, I stick them in the sink and make sure they stay dry for at least 5 minutes. I have bought 3 other boots (other brands) and have no problems with any of them during this test.

I also traded some emails with Asolo customer service who was not helpful at all. I don't think they understand that we are customers who are keeping them in business. I won't be keeping them in business any longer. No more Asolo's for me.

This is a great little hat. It is not really thick but perfect for active days outside. The red is more like a maroon - it is not as bright red as shown in the pictures. This would get 5 stars if only they didn't put obnoxious "stoic" branding around the entire hat.

My head is big but I stretched it out a little and it fits well now.

These are the best softshell pants. The material is great, and is definitely DWR although I will have to see how it holds up after a season of use. The fit is great and they do not have "boob" knees like another reviewer described. I take a 33" waist by 34" length and the medium is perfect.

Suggestions for Stoic:
- put cargo pockets on either side, not just one
- position the cargo pockets straight up and down so that stuff rides in them better. Stop designing "unique" junk to look cool, but doesn't work as well
- thinner material in belt loops so that when you have a heavy pack pressing in, the weight is evenly distributed and not pointing in sharply around the belt loops (especially important on multi-day excursions)

The material and colors are good.

The fit is really bad for two reasons, as it has been on several other stoic shirts. First, Stoic has an amazing capacity to design a shirt that is so long, it bunches up not just down by the wrist, but also up between the elbow and shoulder. It way longer than anyone could ever possibly need to fit your thumbs through the thumbhole (which I would prefer not to have anyway).

Second, the armpits fit really tight. Unless you're talking about a compression shirt, 99% of guys shirts do not fit straight against your armpit. Stoic does.

I think stoic shirts would fit nicely on a skinny gorilla.

I am 5'11", 170 pounds. In dress shirts, I take a 16.5" neck, 33/34" sleeves. I bought the large and returned it. If you are anything like me, which is to say a pretty average guy, then this will not fit.

The other reviews are all accurate so won't bother repeating everything. I am 5'11" and 175 pounds, and the sleeves on the large are so long they go at least to my middle knuckles. Why?

I find myself with my hands inside the sleeves, to stay warm and dry, but then when I need to grab onto a rock or tree, it is a struggle to get your hand out. I don't know why they don't put an elastic cuff on here, instead of velcro, because it would make it fit better overall. Once you cinch down the velcro cuff, you can't easily get your hand in and out of the sleeve.

Like another review mentioned, the material is ripstop (good) in the main front and back body section, but some other type of material on the outer arms. Wearing this the very first time, I noticed in a rainstorm that the ripstop material beads water really well, and doesn't come close to wetting out. But the other material doesn't bead up the water well and seems to wet out very quickly (30 minutes). I'm not sure why there are two materials and two different DWR treatments. I don't really trust it, since if there was a good reason to do this, they would have advertised it as a benefit of the product. It is not like a small section of the jacket is non-ripstop, it is like 40% of the material.

Backcountry, could you clarify this concern?

The last drawback is the zipper which is on the 'wrong' side.

The fit is great, length is great, hood is great, pit zips are big, and seems pretty breathable.

Great fit and nice material. But the synthetic weave is pretty tight and this thing keeps you warm. It is not a good gym shirt because you will get too hot. It is good for hiking in cooler weather, and dries pretty quickly.

You can't tell how big these are from the images, but they are very big. My girlfriend laughed. The other drawback is since there is no metal frame around the glasses, there is not much for you to bend to fit your head, if your head is either wider or narrower than the glasses are. They also fit pretty close to my eyebrows so getting eyebrow grease/marks on the lenses immediately. The quality, weight, and everything else was top notch though.

I am 5'11" and 175lb, and got the large which is my normal t-shirt size. It fit terribly like an XL. And it is not athletic cut. It seems to be as wide at the waist as it is in the shoulders. I returned it. Terrible fit that you would expect buying a shirt from walmart, not from an outdoorsy company.

These pants have an excellent, heavy woven material that seems very durable - more so than a standard softshell material. The DWR seems excellent too, but haven't had the chance to test them outside yet. I did spill some spaghetti sauce on them and it just slid right off, leaving absolutely no marks. Great pants, just note the price and the drawbacks below before you make a purchase. At the SAC price, they probably make sense to a lot of people.

Cons
- the fit! At 5'11" and 175 pounds, the medium is a good length (although if you are any shorter, they are going to be too long for you). And the width is about right, maybe a little tight at the waist but that is okay for an active pant that you don't want drooping down (I normally wear 33x34). But they are too tight in the upper thigh area, in a way that is really hard to describe. I don't think I could comfortably put much of anything in the front pockets, given how tight the material is stretched there. If you are less than my 175 pounds, they might fit ok. If you are heavier, no way. I have to knock at least 2 stars off the review for this single issue alone - Backcountry designers I hope you are reading this review and can relax the fit in these pants because they are awesome.
- The belt loops are thick and if you have a heavy pack on, you are definitely going to fill the belt loops poking you a little.
- They are probably TOO warm. As you can see when you compare the weight of these to competitors, these are heavier than most everything you can find in this class. If you are using these for ski pants, that is ok. But if you are using these for winter snowshoeing, mountaineering, hiking, then you are probably not going to need any base layer underneath. If these were lighter, you would just use a base layer if it was going to be freezing cold. It is like they built these pants without the concept of layering in mind. I only plan to wear these when it is below 45 degrees F, and even then I will probably be warm until I gain a few thousand feet and get exposed on the mountain tops. Backcountry, please fix this!
- There is only one cargo pocket on the right side. Would be nice to have one on the left as well. I don't see why the cargo pocket is angled forward, other than to look cool different. When I put stuff in there, it doesn't fit as well as if the pocket were straight. Backcountry, please stop designing stoic gear just to look cool. It doesn't.