Buffalo Systems - Made in Sheffield

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Buffalo Systems has been making the Double P system in Sheffield since the late 1970s — pile fabric bonded to a Pertex shell, worn straight against the skin, replacing the base layer, the mid layer

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Buffalo Systems and the Double P system

In the late 1970s Hamish Hamilton, a Sheffield mountaineer, got tired of being wet inside his own clothing. He looked at how Inuit garments worked — animal hides worn with the fur turned inward against the skin, so moisture could move outward through the hide rather than condensing inside it — and set about doing the same with fabric. Pile did the job of the fur. For the outer he needed something windproof that would still let vapour through, and found it at Perseverance Mills in Padiham, Lancashire, where Pertex was developed. Put together, the two fabrics became the Double P system: pile inside, Pertex outside, and nothing between them and you.

Why a Buffalo Mountain Shirt replaces three layers

This is the part that takes some getting used to. A Buffalo garment is designed to be worn next to the skin — no base layer, no t-shirt, nothing. The pile pulls moisture off you and moves it out through the Pertex, so you stay dry from the inside while working hard, which is the failure point of a conventional membrane in wet British hill weather. It means you stop managing layers: no stripping off on the ascent and piling back on at the top. The Mountain Shirt won the Outdoor Writers Guild Golden Boot in 1986 and has barely changed since, and it is what Mountain Rescue teams, police and military units have used for decades. It is windproof to 50 mph, has a scooped back cut ten centimetres longer than the front, and a map pocket on the chest that predates anyone putting a phone in it.

Mountain Shirts, Belay and O3 jackets

The Mountain Shirt is the piece to start with and the one everything else is judged against. The Belay jacket is the insulated over-layer — the thing you pull on when you stop moving and the cold arrives, over the top of everything else. The O3 jacket is the newer addition to the range. All of it is made in Sheffield by a small team in a working factory rather than assembled abroad, which is unusual enough in outdoor clothing now to be worth stating plainly. The blanket uses the same pile construction as the garments.

See more jackets or browse all clothing.

Buffalo Systems FAQs

Pertex and Pile. A fibre pile lining bonded to a windproof Pertex outer, worn as a single garment. The pile moves moisture away from the skin and the Pertex lets it out while keeping wind and rain off, which means one layer does the job that a base layer, fleece and waterproof shell normally share between them.
Yes, and it matters. Buffalo garments are designed to be worn directly against the skin with nothing underneath. A t-shirt or base layer sits between you and the pile and stops the system moving moisture properly, which is the most common mistake people make with it.
Not in the sense a membrane shell is. Pertex sheds rain and blocks wind, but the system is built to keep you warm while wet rather than to keep water out entirely. That is the point of it — in sustained British hill weather you will get damp whatever you wear, and Buffalo is designed to work anyway.
At The Old Dairy on Broadfield Road in Sheffield, where the company has manufactured its whole range for over forty-five years. It is one of very few outdoor clothing brands still making garments in the UK.