Our little practical guide for using your two-way zipper

Many of our jackets, whether thickly lined for winter or light rain jackets, have a practical feature that many people who already know it don't want to do without: the two-way zipper .

It opens the jacket not only from the top, as you are used to, but also from the bottom. This has a number of practical applications that allow the wearer to:

• To provide ventilation when worn without exposing sensitive areas such as the neck or sacrificing the protection of a hood.
• When cycling, opening a longer jacket allows for more legroom and mobility without compromising the rest of the body's protection from the rain or cold.
• Gives the wearer more options when styling their jacket. Opening from the bottom allows you to reveal layers underneath or dramatically change the shape of the jacket, which can create a different, desired look.

All in all, the two-way zipper is a great addition to almost any jacket. But handling it can be fiddly and frustrating at first, especially if you're not used to it. In a short guide, we'll show you how to use your 2-way zipper correctly and reliably to avoid frustration and wear and tear.

Step 1:

Pull both sleds all the way down so that they lie on top of each other at the bottom.

Step 2:

Hold the upper of the two sliders by its pull tab and pull it slightly onto the lower slider so that the lower one cannot move.

Step 3:

Now, while continuing to press the upper slider slightly downwards, guide the opposite end of the zipper through both sliders until it stops.

Step 4:

Now pull the zipper end you just inserted downwards slightly and move the upper slider upwards. Sometimes it helps to fix the lower slider in place. The zipper should now be closed and working - pressing on the upper slider prevents the lower one from slipping out of its guide, which is usually the reason for stuck or interlocking zippers. Pulling the other zipper end downwards ensures that the threading piece can enter the sliders correctly and all the way.

Step 5:

Close your jacket as far as you need or want. You can now move the lower slider to open the jacket from below. Viola!