7 Best Fleece Jackets for Hiking

Rdruko calls this a hiking jacket, and the cut backs the claim up: light on the shoulders, roomy enough for a baselayer underneath, and finished with a stand-up collar that keeps the wind off your neck while you’re getting your boots on. There’s a full zip, a zippered chest pocket and a handful of others, which means more places to put a phone, a key and a snack than most fleeces here bother with.

The value is what earns it a place on this list. It holds heat on a cool, still morning about as well as layers that cost noticeably more, and the full zip lets you dump that heat the moment the trail tilts uphill. Slipped under a shell it does the same job as our top pick, and it looks tidy enough to wear into town afterwards. For a first hiking fleece, or a second one to keep in the car, that’s a hard combination to beat.

Layer it over a thin baselayer and it still moves with you: the arms don’t bind when you reach for a handhold, and the hem stays put under a hipbelt instead of creeping up. It’s a plain-looking jacket in the best sense — nothing on it that needs explaining.

Where our top pick is thin, stretchy and built to disappear under a shell, the Benton Springs is the other half of a hiker’s wardrobe: a fuller, warmer full zip that works as the outer layer on a mild day. The women’s cut is the reason to look at it — it sits close through the shoulders and then skims rather than clings, which is why it reads as a jacket rather than a sweatshirt with a zip on it.

We reach for it at cold trailheads and long lunch stops, where a thin pullover isn’t enough. The pile is thicker than the Klamath’s, so it holds warmth while you’re standing around, and the full zip means you can open the front wide on the climb instead of wrestling the whole thing over your head. At the middle of the price range here, it’s also the easiest of these to justify wearing five days a week.

Sizing runs a little large, so if you’re between sizes, take the smaller one. The sleeves are cut slightly long, which the elastic at the wrist takes care of — no hitching cuffs up all day, and no cold gap at the wrist when you reach for a handhold.

Nothing about the Amazon Essentials full zip is technical, and that’s the appeal. It’s a plain polar fleece with a full zip, a stand-up collar and zippered hand pockets, and it’s the least expensive jacket here. For a lot of hikers that’s the whole point: a layer to keep in the car, lend to a friend, or wear under a shell without worrying about it.

We rate it the budget pick without much hesitation. It’s warm enough over a baselayer on a cool morning, it’s cut long enough through the body that it stays put under a hipbelt, and it rolls into a pack without complaint. The pile is on the thin side, and that’s precisely why it layers so well — there’s nothing bunching at your shoulders once a shell goes on over the top.

Treat it as the layer that makes the rest of your system work rather than the jacket you build a day around. Worn that way, it covers more ground than its price suggests, and it’s the one here we’re happiest to leave folded in the bottom of a pack for months at a time.

The pile on this one has a brushed, fuzzy hand that feels better than its price suggests, and the colours are the nicest thing about it — deep and even rather than washed out. It’s the sort of fleece you put on at the trailhead and forget about until you’re back at the car.

We keep it for mild mornings and travel days. It’s warm over a t-shirt on a cool start and light enough to stay on once the sun is out, which is more than the thicker jackets here can claim, and it holds its colour through a wash. On a short walk in shoulder season, that’s most of what you need a fleece to do.

Zippered hand pockets take a phone and a key, and the elastic cuffs seal at the wrist without leaving a mark. It goes under a shell as a light extra layer and comes off without dragging half your sleeves with it.

There’s no elastic band at the bottom of the GIMECEN, and that single omission is why it’s here. The hem hangs straight over the hips instead of bunching at the waist, so it covers your waistband and sits still when you lean into a pack or drop onto a bench. It’s a small thing that makes the jacket look less like sportswear and more like something you’d wear into town.

The pile is a soft polar fleece — light, not bulky, and warmer than it looks, which is the combination you want for late fall and early spring. Covered elastic cuffs keep the sleeves where you put them, the collar isn’t tall enough to fight a beanie, and the pockets are zippered so a key doesn’t end up in the leaf litter.

What settles it for us is the mix: a long, straight cut, a light pile and a budget price, which is a combination that’s hard to find together. It’s the layer we hand someone who wants hip coverage and a neat line without a parka’s weight, and it packs small enough to live in a daybag.

The pockets are why you look at this one. They’re zippered, there are enough of them to hold gloves, a hat and a phone at the same time, and the placement is sensible rather than decorative — the kind of storage that stops you patting down five pockets at a summit.

It’s also one of the warmer jackets in this group. The pile is thick, the collar stands high, and the arms have room for another layer underneath without binding at the shoulder. That makes it a cold-weather outer layer rather than a fast-and-light midlayer: the jacket for a slow, frosty walk rather than a hard climb in October.

What it does, it does for midrange money, and the fit runs small enough that going up a size is the safe call if you plan to layer. We’d take it over a fashion fleece every time on a cold day — it just asks you to pick your day.