What is the difference between a body warmer and a gilet

The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. Allow Cookies. Home Home What is a Gilet? What is a Gilet? How are Gilets and Bodywarmers Different? What are Gilets and Bodywarmers Filled with? Synthetic Synthetic insulated gilets contain polyfibres, a man-made equivalent of natural down.

What are the Features of a Gilet? Baffles: Baffles are sections that contain insulation. Stitch-through baffles keep insulation evenly distributed while box wall baffles allow insulation to expand. Hood: Not all gilets come with a hood, but they will shield you from wind and rain, trap warmth, and add a stylish touch. Pockets: External pockets can be lined for additional warmth. It is also possible that you will have internal pockets for insulated and down gilets.

Chest Pockets: These are a zipped pocket to provide practical storage for keys, phones, wallets and anything you may need more urgently. Drawcords: To help keep the gilet closer to your body and retain heat. Body-Mapped Design: This has insulation strategically placed to ensure the best possible warmth without adding weight.

Reflective Technology: Some gilets will have a reflective lining to reflect your core warmth back on you. Fleece: Consider the weight of the fleece and how it relates to the activity you will wear it for. Softshell: A stretchier fabric than fleece, ideal for more active use.

Why Should I Wear a Gilet? How Should a Gilet Fit? What are the Best Gilets? Browse the links below for more outdoor clothing essentials. What to Wear Under a Gilet. For Men: Casual Gilet Styling.

For Men: Formal Gilet Styling. For Women: Casual Gilet Styling. For Women: Formal Gilet Styling. How Should a Gilet Fit.

How to Care for a Gilet. How to Dry a Gilet. The History of the Gilet A little fashion history for good measure. Enjoy Layering Your Gilet. Shop women's gilets. By the 18th Century a more feminine and elegant version of the gilet was embraced by women too, who wore them quilted in silk over the bodices of their hooped dresses.

Throughout the 19th Century the gilet morphed into an elaborate dress garment often fashioned from velvet, silk or a heavy brocade. These sleeveless, collarless versions did not feature pockets, making the fit much smoother and tighter to the body.

During the First World War, a protective, gilet-style garment came about, covered with metal plates to protect those going into battle. This was similar in function to the chain-mail tunics worn in Medieval times and the protective, sleeveless fencing jackets of old. In conclusion, the earliest gilets were wholly functional, before their grand transformation into a luxurious fashion pieces worn by kings. Today the gilet straddles both fashion and function.

Having reverted back to its practical roots as an insulated layer to provide extra warmth, it is also enjoying life as a fashion phenomenon, worn purely to add interest to a street style outfit. Interestingly, regardless of its purpose, the gilet has maintained the same basic shape throughout the ensuing decades.

The only thing that has really changed is its length and the material from which they are made. Gilet jaune protestors in Paris [photo credit: thelocal. It began in October and was initially motivated by rising fuel prices. Yellow high-visibility vests — a legal requirement in all French vehicles — were chosen as the item that visibly unified members of the group, not least because of their association with working-class industries.

The movement now receives international attention and protestors around the world — some with similar grievances, others with unrelated issues — wear the yellow vest as symbol of solidarity. Alongside the traditional materials such as wool, fleece and corduroy, gilets are now available in a multitude of eye-catching fashion-forward fabrics — metallics, two-tone, fluorescents etc.

Reversible versions are proving popular too. Although initially a little baffled as to why this piece of admittedly rather handsome knitwear proved such a phenomenal success, my in-depth research of this garment — its history, popularity, fashion vs function attributes and USPs — has given me the answers. With the introduction of pockets from their 19 th century French counterparts, you can carry any small sporting accessories in your Gilet or simply keep your hands warm whilst you are enjoying the fresh country air.

Easier to carry and pack than a quilted jacket, the gilet provides a happy medium between warmth and weight. The Quilted Gilet. The quilted Gilet usually refers to externally visible quilting which has insulation in pockets that are separated by stitching.

This helps to keep you very warm even on the coldest of days because the air remains trapped. The Fleece Gilet. The fleece Gilet is, as you can imagine, made of a fleece fabric and tends to be more lightweight and a slimmer fit. This means the fleece Gilet works great as both an outer layer and a mid-layer worn underneath a jacket or a coat.

You may find that some fleece Gilets can be zipped in to special interactive jackets to function perfectly as a mid-layer.