Rumpl Puffy Blanket

What’s better than curling up in a warm blanket on a cold day?  A lot of things of course, but there is something about the ‘curling up’ experience that is just warming to the cockles!

The term “warm blanket” is a bit of a misnomer.  Blankets themselves don’t actually produce warmth. In fact, what makes blankets feel warm once we are wrapped inside is the trapping of our own body heat.  Warm air is lighter than cold air, and so as our bodies radiate heat, the warm air just rises to oblivion.  That’s where the blankets come in and flex their warmth capturing muscles!  Once under a blanket that warm air produced from your body is trapped, creating a warm air bubble which provides comfort and happiness.  The blanket is a heat trapping tool that makes us feel cozy on chilly days.

Perhaps we should think about changing the expression “curling up in a warm blanket on a cold day” to something along the lines of “curling up in a temperature neutral blanket which can be used among other things as a cover to trap in the heat of its user thus creating a pocket of warm air on a cold day”.  It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but I think it’s a bit more technically accurate.  Your call, use whichever suits you better.

There really hasn’t been that much progress in the blanket making game since prehistoric times.  This is not to say there hasn’t been significant changes to capturing body heat since prehistoric times, I’m just saying that over the millions of years of human existence, you might expect more.  

Although not necessarily historically accurate, here are some of the high-points of blanket progress.

Someone wrapping themself up in a dead animal must have been an absolute game changer.  Small incremental changes would have occurred over time, for example, cleaning the blood and organs out of the animal, and just using the hide and fur.  Then maybe around 10,000 years ago wool comes onto the scene.  Another game changer.  The science of wool advanced greatly over the years and in the 7th Century CE, we get our first historical reference by the Chinese scholar Xuanzang.  The Kambala is described as a cover from a woolen material of the kind used in clothes.  Xuanzang is describing a blanket!  Eventually, several hundred years later we get cotton blankets, which became the most common type of blanket by the mid 1800’s, cotton was another game changer.  Synthetics like polyester came along, and that is where we currently find ourselves in the history of blankets.  

To summarize, over the entire history of humankind we go from animals to wool to cotton to synthetic fibers.  When you average this out over the entirety of human existence, it’s equivalent to one game changing blanket improvement every 1.25 million years.

Apologies to George Crowley (inventor of the electric blanket), but we haven’t seen a significant improvement to the blanket world for a long, long time…until now!

Rumpl has done what no one since Flemish weaver Thomas Blanquette¹ has done since the 1300’s.  They have revolutionized the blanket!

The major problem with the traditional blanket is that it is made to stay indoors.  Blankets aren’t designed to endure the harsh conditions of the environment, and this is a problem. Often times, it’s the harsh conditions of the environment that demands blankets!

Rumpl’s Puffy Blanket is 100% recycled 30D ripstop polyester, meaning it’s perfect for any type of terrain.  From coarse granite ridge-lines to sandy beaches, you won’t have to worry about a single rip, snag, or snare!  It also has a DWR finish making the Rumpl blanket both weather and stain resistant.  Of course, the classic army style wool blanket is pretty durable and weather resistant, but the Rumpl weighs in at only 2.1 lbs making it not only incredibly lightweight, but also highly packable.

As a company, Rumpl is fully carbon neutral and a proud member of 1% for the planet, meaning that each year they give 1% of their sales to environmental nonprofits.  Each single-person blanket uses 60 recycled bottles to make the 100% post-consumer recycled polyester shell and insulation.

And while it’s not listed on the Rumpl website, each blanket maintains an A+ rating on theDIHEDRAL cozy factor.  This blanket is built for snuggles; I’m literally wrapped in mine at this very moment!  I have no idea how 60 recycled bottles could be so soft, but alas, here we are.  Wrapped in the pinnacle of comfort with the highest possible cozy factor.

In addition to exemplary form and function, Rumpl blankets come in an array of styles that are bound to fit everyone’s taste.  I’m a fan of the entire Rumpl aesthetic, but the National Park series brings their designs to another level.  They are the perfect complement for your next outdoor adventure!

However, even if you don’t have any rugged outdoor adventures planned, Rumpl blankets are just as comfy while lounging around the house.  So, while their blankets are perfect for the outdoors, they are also perfect for the days at home when you just want to curl up in a warm blanket on a cold day.  Or should I say curl up in a temperature neutral blanket which can be used among other things as a cover to trap in the heat of its user thus creating a pocket of warm air on a cold day.

No matter how you say it, Rumpl Blankets have once again, changed the game.

Recommendation: Great For Everyone.

Specs: Fabric – 100% recycled 30D ripstop polyester fabric. Insulation – 100% recycled 3D hollow fiber siliconized synthetic insulation; 240 gsm. Weight – Junior: 0.6 lbs, 1-Person: 2.1 lbs, 2-Person: 3.7 lbs

MSRP: $125

Website: Rumpl

1. Thomas Blanquette is probably given too much credit for being father of the blanket.  It is more likely That Blanquette was able to capitalize on his name corresponding to his trade.  The word Blanke refers to a type of fabric that was an undyed woolen weave, and that word was likely in use prior to the work of Thomas Blanquette.