High-End Arc’teryx Menswear

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.

Sweet looking jacket! They are not the first as North Face put out a line over a year ago. Just a shame they were too hard to find anywhere. TNF collection looked a little better but something tells me Arc’teryx’s line will be superior quality.

Aether Apparel is pursuing this market too, though in a slightly lower (but still very expensive) price range: http://aetherapparel.com/

I think its a great move someone just had to do at some point.. I also think its pretty lame that arcteryx still doesnt round off the ends of their glued-in zippers. booh..

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.

This is unbelievable achievement by Arc’teryx. I had the honor of seeing and trying the Veilance products on at the start of the month. This stuff is gold. Upping the Arc’teryx standard and design and utilizing their expertise to 100%. As I said Gold.
Congrats

Good heavens- $1000! Looking that good is just out of this guys budget. Heck of a good looking coat though. I envision most of these coats doing duty on the backs of guys who would never venture into an adventure situation. I’m still going to be jealous…

<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&#8217;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.

I can get that jacket at 30% below wholesale ;)