High-End Arc’teryx Menswear
October 15, 2009
Clark Kent always kept his Superman suit underneath his professional wear. But what if he’d wanted to mix his performance-oriented superhero outfit with his stylish, Don Draper buttoned-down look? He’d probably check out the new Arc’teryx Veilance collection, which the company claims “brings the application of technical performance into urban apparel.”
Just launched October 1, the high-end collection includes pants, Merino sweaters, dress shirts and tees made from technical materials. For instance, the field jacket is built with a Gore-Tex fabric. The line’s blazers and pants are made from Windstopper.
“In the same thread as the performance outerwear that Arc’teryx makes, the Veilance collection is technically focused menswear, based on knowledge gained by constructing premier outdoor apparel,” explains a rep for the company.
The line was designed for more “sophisticated environments,” the company says, than outdoors-oriented apparel can swing. The Veilance garments are a few steps up on the fashion food chain, and they use “top-tier fabrics and state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques” to create a new category of performance menswear, Arc’teryx adds.
If you’re wondering on what market they’re going for, just take a look at a place like The Tannery in Boston, one of the stores that’s featuring the line. Located in Harvard Square, the store sells high-end outerwear as well as sneakers and shoes. It also doubles as a sneaker boutique featuring limited edition kicks as well as some carefully-selected snowboard and skateboard gear. The Tannery is not a skate shop, board shop, or sneaker shop per se, but a store that has “curated” its high-end gear, long before The New York Times wrote about this recent phenomena.
The Veilance line is not available in all stores that regularly carry Arc’teryx. Instead, it’s at premium men’s clothing stores like: 290 Square Metres in Amsterdam, The Glade Firmament in Berlin, International Gallery Beams and Beams House in Tokyo, and The Hideout in London.
The prices? You knew it wouldn’t be cheap. At $250 for a merino wool sweatshirt and $1,000 bucks for the stylish, field jacket, Arc’teryx is obviously marketing beyond the ski bum and climber-dirtbag categories.
Maybe too rich for a journalist like Superman, too. But the prices are in line with designer fashion found in many boutiques. And the Veilance line offers both high fashion and high performance. (www.veilance.arcteryx.com)
—Stephen Krcmar lives in Mammoth Lakes, Calif but is still paying for some limited edition Vans he picked up at The Tannery in Boston.
About time someone actually made useful “mens wear” – nearly a century of worthless, leaky “trench coats” and other crap later…
My most expensive clothing is are Arc’teryx Alpha SV pants and jackets that I ski in year after year. I slid down an icy face in Chamonix several year ago – stuff that would burn through regular clothing and it didn’t even show a mark. Amazing and worth every penny.
Sad to see that they’re being run by a bunch of TLA’s these days (Tassle-Loafered A**holes).
Agreed, I’ve always wondered why there weren’t more products like this. I understand the market but I think they are excluding people that may be willing to pay the regularly Arc’teryx prices. I don’t see much in material to justify a greater than doubling current prices and do have questions about where they are produced. I could see $1000 if they are being handmade somewhere in North America in smaller lots.
An internal mole here – this blog article essentially nailed why we are doing Veilance.
It’s a bummer some folks want to blast us for trying something different.
We could have sold out and created some cheezy $100 outerwear garments with our logo. Or we could try making some technically advanced, premium quality stuff in another market segment. Which one is “selling out”?
Here’s some other facts: the Veilance products are handmade in Vancouver. The production runs are small, with some proprietary processes and insane quality materials.
We are the same guys running the place since Amer “took over” (Actually they let us pretty much be, and they just pay our bills. It’s a pretty good deal). We still play a lot. I’m a bit older and don’t climb 5.12 anymore, but I can skin up 1000M vert. faster than you.
Yah, we make some of our other stuff in China – not in a sweat shop, but actually an advanced “state-of-the-art” factory, and the workers are treated well and paid well. For some reason hard for some of you to believe but true.
And, hey, we still make a lot of stuff in Vancouver, too.
<p>Funhog: do you really think starting an online pissing contest with someone is an effective way to help launch a new luxury brand? Your comment was childish, silly, and ill-informed. If your attitude sincerely represents the mindset at Arc’Teryx, you are destined to fail at selling to a demographic willing to pay $1,000 for a coat. You should be assured that the brand managers at Prada (whose Gore-tex trench coat your long coat appears to be a direct copy of) do not waste their time insulting potential customers in the comment sections of gear blogs.</p>
Jonathon
You’re absolutely right. No excuse for my attitude. I guess I get a little too proud of what we have going here. I get frustrated with the mis-truths – but this isn’t a forum for me to vent. This is a good reality check.
Thanks to all for the good words. As in my first line, Steve’s article really nailed it. As you can imagine, in getting this project off the ground, we were all thrilled with such a positive article.
funhog, congrats on the new line. I love Arc’teryx stuff, but am pissed off at the outsourcing of production without a corresponding reduction in price. I’ll gladly pay $500 for a technical shell designed and manufactured at your main shop, but refuse to pay $500 for a technical shell made in China. You went there to save money, it really is that simple. The very essence of a corporate sell-out. Yes, good stuff can be made in China, for a fraction of the cost. Don’t insult your core customers by still charging us Canadian manufacture prices.
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Great Post! As I pointed out over on my blog, I have been waiting for someone to do high-tech menswear for years.
More than I want to spend, but gives me hope that other companies will jump into this space.