The Upstate Mesh jacket from Icon is a relaxed fit, minimal styling riding shirt with a worker shirt kind of look to it with a direct resemblance to Icon’s Update Canvas jacket, in fact the two are basically the same with this version replacing canvas panels for mesh. Overall construction of the Upstate mesh version is a combination of a Durable 400D polyester and Iron Weave™ mesh chassis with 300D Polyester Reinforcements in the Elbows and Shoulders as well as YKK® Zippers. This combo offers great breathability, better than the canvas version, allowing for riding in much warmer weather. Impact protection comes from the included D30® level 1 elbow and shoulder armor as well as the included level 1 D30® Viper back protector. This combination of materials and armor yields a CE Level A rating.
Moving on to features, comfort and convenience, there is no ventilation on the cuffs and chest pockets like there is on the Canvas version (there doesn’t need to be since the entire jacket is mesh) but otherwise its identical to its canvas sibling. Speaking of pockets, you get two chest pockets with button closures, two hand pockets on the side with zippers and one internal Napoleon pocket that is also zippered. That’s basically it, this is a very simple and minimal jacket, infact even the ICON logo (a company known for bold graphics and colors) is subtle and simple, honestly I love the look of it, to me It looks good in every color it comes in.
Fit wise I tried on a XL, what I normally wear and it fit exactly as I would expect an American cut XL to fit me, so Id say get your usual size. My only note on sizing, and maybe I just need to hit the gym more was that I felt the sleves, especially in the elbows were just a tad lose making the elbow armor move more than I would like, that concerns me a tad if they were to move out of place in a situation where I would need them. With that said, I always upgrade my jackets to Level 2 armor, and to me putting in Level 2 armor in the elbows picked up that “slack” and made the sleeves at the elbows tight enough to make me comfortable.
At the time of this review the Upstate Mesh jacket retails for $175 which to me is a darn good deal when you consider that the armor included is around $100 on its own, so to get a CE rated jacket, and one that looks this good with full armor for $175, that’s a really good deal. Honestly I have two complaints, the first being the main zipper, yes its a benefit, it is a two way zipper so you can get more comfortable by adjusting just how much you want to zip, but because its a double zipper its sometimes hard to get it to close, so it can be annoying. And two, I am really disappointed that this jacket is CE A rated, no not because it is CE A rated, because it makes sense based off how its built, but rather because I personally only wear AA rated gear and higher and that really bums me out since that is how much I like this jacket. I highly recommend checking it out, oh and if you want a more mild weather canvas version of this jacket, well there is one, its the Upstate Canvas, check it out. :: Damir 8/9/24
