Technical details Open Accordion
- Material made in Italy
- 62% Baby Alpaca wool, 11% Merino wool, 27% organic cotton
- Alpaca wool is sourced from Peru and is certified by the Responsible Alpaca Standard
- Merino wool is sourced from Chile, is mulesing free and is certified by the Responsible Wool Standard
- Organic cotton is sourced from Turkey
- The hoodie is completely dye free
- Built with a 5 gauge knit
- Fast drying
- Naturally water repellent
- Thermoregulating
- High-wicking
- Insulating
- Breathable
- Odour resistant
- Weighs 600g
- Hand wash or dry clean
- Do not machine wash
- Tumble dry on a low heat
- Iron on a low heat
Size + fit Open Accordion
Fit guide: The Nomad Hoodie has a regular fit. If you prefer a looser fit, you can go a size up like we’ve done in the photos here.
Model wears: Runner Tyler Maher is 6ft 4 / 193cm with a 38 inch / 97cm chest. Tyler has an athletic build and is wearing the Nomad Hoodie in size XL to get a more relaxed fit.
Personalised advice: See our size guide for more advice on sizing, or you can ask us for personalised sizing advice here.
Returns and exchanges: Don’t worry if you order something and it doesn’t fit – we have a free, no hassle 30 day return and exchange period.
| XS | S | M | L | XL | XXL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fits chest | 83-90 | 91-98 | 99-106 | 107-114 | 115-122 | 123-130 |
| Fits waist | 71-76 | 76-81 | 81-86 | 86-91 | 91-96 | 96-101 |
| XS | S | M | L | XL | XXL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fits chest | 33-36 | 36-39 | 39-42 | 42-45 | 45-48 | 48-51 |
| Fits waist | 28-30 | 30-32 | 32-34 | 34-36 | 36-38 | 38-40 |
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Also available
Nomads know what it takes to survive
From arctic tundra to arid deserts, nomadic communities have always lived in some of the most remote and inhospitable places on Earth. Guided by the seasons they make the most of scarce resources by simply packing up their homes and moving to new ground, only leaving a faded patch of earth behind them. But as our climate becomes more extreme and resources become scarce, their lifestyle gives us a glimpse of what our future might hold if the next century doesn’t turn out quite as planned.
The art of travelling light
On a two million year timeline, the material comforts of cities, towns and villages remain a modern-day luxury. They represent less than 1% of our time on Earth. People who still roam the planet know the true challenges of survival. Because you have to travel light when your life is spent on the move. If you need to be able to pack your entire home up on your shoulders, there’s no use having a lighter closet. Everything you wear, pack, and carry has to count. And when the seasons turn hostile, and your nearest neighbour is 100km across the local tundra, you need gear you can rely on.
Why nomads use wool
To build the Nomad Hoodie we started with the most versatile and natural raw material in the world. For centuries nomads have used wool from their livestock to stay warm and dry. It’s soft, elastic, and superb at keeping your temperature stable. It’s also naturally water repellent and fast drying. While all wools are known for having incredible properties, we set out to source one of the most extraordinary varieties on the planet, produced in a remote corner of South America.
The hoodie is made with ultra-soft alpaca wool
In our first 5 years we’ve turned a series of cutting-edge materials into high performance clothing – from graphene and copper, to carbon fibre and ceramics. This time we’ve done it with one of the most sought after wools in the world. The Nomad Hoodie is made with huacaya alpaca wool from a single farm in the Peruvian Andes.
Why we’ve chosen alpaca wool
Alpacas have been central to Andean cultures since they were domesticated thousands of years ago. As descendants of the wild vicuña they’ve evolved to survive the harsh climate of the mountains, providing communities with a constant source of warm clothing and income. Their fleece is not only softer, stronger and lighter than sheep’s wool, but it’s capable of coping with everything from blizzards to intense high-altitude sun.
The softest, strongest, lightest wool on Earth
Having adapted to life at high altitude, alpaca wool has some properties which sheep’s wool just can’t match. While sheep’s wool fibres are coated in microscopic scales, alpaca fibres are completely smooth which makes them even softer. Alpaca wool also has a higher tensile strength. And as each fibre of alpaca wool is more hollow than sheep’s wool, it has a better warmth to weight ratio.
Made using zero dyes
Although the majority of alpacas have white fleeces, we’ve sourced our wool from a small but diverse herd with fleeces made up of a spectrum of natural shades and colours. To make the Light edition and Dark edition of the Nomad Hoodie we simply pick out the lightest strands for one, and the darkest strands for the other. Left in its raw and undyed state the hoodie will work with almost any colour you want to wear it with.
The softest hoodie ever built
The Nomad Hoodie is zero effort clothing. Once it’s on you simply forget it’s there. Not only have we used one of the softest wools in the world, but we’ve also designed every detail of the hoodie to follow your body so that you never feel restricted. The engineered panels, thermoregulating textures, and crossover collar and hood, let the hoodie quietly get on with its job while you get on with yours. We’ve also added a small amount of raw and undyed Merino wool and organic cotton to the alpaca wool for extra stability, to create an astonishingly soft and strong material.
You can wear it year-round
The exceptional natural properties of alpaca wool mean you can wear the Nomad Hoodie year-round no matter what the weather is doing. The wool is so soft on your skin that you can wear it on its own in warmer temperatures. When the weather turns colder you can layer under and over it just like a regular hoodie. Or you can carry on wearing it on its own and the thermoregulating, naturally water-repellent wool will still insulate you from the cold, and keep out the rain and snow.
How alpaca wool keeps you warm in the cold
Staying warm is all about trapping as many pockets of air next to your body as possible and that’s what alpaca wool is built for. Every alpaca fibre is completely hollow which means you have millions of air pockets trapped next to your skin. And as the natural curl of wool fibres traps more air than straight fibres, the microscopic texture of the fabric itself will also retain heat.
It keeps you cool in the heat too
Alpaca wool will also stop you overheating in higher temperatures as it simply releases its warmth if you’re getting too hot. Alpacas have to stay cool even under the intense heat of high-altitude sun, so their fibres naturally absorb the moisture from sweat and disperse it to start releasing heat.
Fast drying and insulating even when wet
Once the hollow structure of an alpaca fibre has trapped body heat, it uses this heat to repel water so that the wool never reaches saturation point. While sheep’s wool absorbs over a third of its weight in water, alpaca wool will only ever absorb a tenth of its weight, so it dries out faster. And any moisture which it does soak up is spread over a large surface area so that it evaporates at high speed to keep you dry.
It’s hard to make the Nomad Hoodie smell
It’s not sweat that smells, or even the clothes themselves, it’s the build-up of bacteria on the surface of the clothes. Alpaca wool is naturally odour resistant. Odour molecules are absorbed and locked into the centre of the fibre of the wool so you simply can’t smell them. They’re then released when you wash the hoodie. It’s perfect if the nearest shower or waterfall is a couple of months away.
How we source our wool responsibly
While alpaca wool is an amazing material it has to be made ethically and in the right way. Our partner in Italy is a member of the International Alpaca Association (AIA), an independent body in Peru committed to protecting the welfare of the alpacas, indigenous communities, and the land they graze and work on. The alpaca wool is certified by the Responsible Alpaca Standard, while our Merino wool is certified by the Responsible Wool Standard and is mulesing free.
Vollebak aims to do for outdoor clothing what Tesla did for cars and El Bulli did for food, using science, wit and imagination to create products no-one thought possible.
