It was an unreleased soft-shell jacket from a big-name brand. Brand-spankin’ new—so new, that the jacket’s color wasn’t even finalized, the PR rep told me.

The women's medium jacket weighs 11.9 ounces, which is not super light, but it is comparable in weight to other high-end hiking jackets, like the Arc’teryx Zeta SL. Outdoor Research MicroGravity ...

A soft shell would be very different from his Columbia. I had one of those too, a 3-in-1 jacket with the zip-out fleece liner. Very useful piece (and they still do make 3-in-1s).