Hello there,
thanks for the replies. With regards to the delamination, the bubbling is most likely just that. Not much, but happening nevertheless. More interestingly, there seems to be some micro delamination across most of the front of the jacket on the thinner 40D fabric, whereas the 80D sections are totally fine. This makes me wonder if the 40D hasn't been manufactured quite as reliably?
I am in touch with the shop where the jacket was purchased and am being advised to send it in. Can't say I'm thrilled by the fact that I'm expected to pay for 2 way recorded delivery to the shop and back; this will be refunded IF the manufacturer accepts a fault.
Anecdotally, I have previously dealt with Mountain Equipment in relation to leaking Drilite waterproof trousers, with frustrating results. ME insisted I sent the item back to the shop, the shop messed up and didn't communicate with ME. In the end the whole returns process took close to 2 months until the shop issued a refund while ME stated they had nothing to do with this specific returns process. Additionally, I never found out from ME whether the leaking trousers were faulty or just a badly designed product.
Okay, rant over. Let's see how it goes with the Jacket.