Bisley Autumn Range

Autumn is about layering, winter is about warmth. The autumn range is built around the long sleeve swap and the pieces you put over the top of it: soft shell jackets and vests, quarter zips, fleece pullovers and packable lightweight rain.

Deep winter gear is deliberately not in it. Puffers, sherpa linings, heated jackets and freezer gear sit in the winter range, because a garment you cannot take off at eleven in the morning is the wrong answer in April.

In most of Australia the trigger is the morning rather than the afternoon. When you are cold at a seven o'clock start but back in shirtsleeves by ten, you want a layer you can shed rather than a heavier shirt.

That is why the autumn range is layer-led. A soft shell vest or a quarter zip over a long sleeve drill shirt covers a much wider temperature range in a day than any single garment can.

For a mild winter day, often yes. For a genuine cold snap, no. A soft shell blocks wind and sheds light rain but carries very little insulation on its own.

If you are working through winter mornings, or in a cold store, buy from the winter range instead of expecting a soft shell to do that job. Layering a fleece under a soft shell is a reasonable middle ground and is how most people bridge the two seasons.