Arc’teryx

a canadian brand of technical outerwear valued by literally any professional mountain guide, rock climber, or ice climber.

while the north face has become the abercrombie and fitch of outerwear, arc’teryx keeps a low profile and can be seen warming up many of the top outdoor athletes in the world.

if you see someone wearing an arc’teryx jacket, it has likely actually seen the rugged outdoors since even yuppies are unlikely to pay $500 for a jacket while they would be fine dropping $150 for a north face fleece despite the fact the arc’teryx jacket is literally worth the $500.

also, anybody with an arc’teryx softsh-ll or jacket will brag about temperature ranges in celsius because they’re too cool for fahrenheit.

the brand is named after the oldest bird currently known to man: the archaeopteryx.
person 1: dude aren’t you cold with that spandex pullover?
person 2: actually, it’s called a technical softsh-ll, and since it’s made by arc’teryx it weighs 200g less than your stupid north face fleece and keeps me warm to -10c.
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an outdoor apparel company. generally known for producing high-quality (read: expensive) clothing, that is undoubtedly nicer than other companys’ lifestyle/low level lines. however, most outdoor companies manufacture a high-end line of clothing that is comparable if not superior to arc’teryx products (eg tnf summit series).

the company started out manufacturing high-end climbing harnesses and packs (these were also too expensive for anybody to buy), but then broke into the goretex sh-ll market. they now have an extensive product line that is fairly redundant (ie the differences between many products is negligible at best) that includes softsh-lls, hardsh-lls, insulation pieces, pants, baselayers, hats, fleeces and gloves so pricey you can buy a mid-range car with the money you could save by not being a fanboy. in addition to their technical garments, arc’teryx recently revealed a line of technical-fashion line (who wouldn’t want a gore-tex trenchcoat?! only 1k too!) g-d help us all if they start to make shoes.

arc’teryx used to be made in canada, but have grown larger and now manufacture in thailand, china etc in addition to the small portion of sh-lls that are still made by canucks.

due to a recent rise in popularity, some outdoor store employees theorize that arc’teryx may become something like tnf in years to come, but that remains to be seen.
“look at that guy’s arc’teryx beta ar!”
“great, another well made, overpriced gortex prosh-ll addition to their redundant product line.”
“does this mean he’s an outdoor professional, daddy?”
“no son, no it does not.”