- REI is on a rare sale. Don't miss. Patagonia's are like up to 70% off...
What's going on with arcteryx.com? Why does it look unorganized?
Well, because for the first time in years, Arc'teryx decided not to release the update in full, all at once. Rather, they're practicing a 6 step launch now. Full catalogue update is not expected to roll out completely before early-mid Jan.
The plan is to spread out the update over 6 months, releasing the revisions and new products of the catalogue at the beginning of each month.
We still do have some information as to what to expect from the F22 update, though. Which is what you'll find out in this post.
1- Evolution of women's counterparts
This is the most striking news of all.
Naming scheme and fit of women's counterparts are changing dramatically. I'm excited and anxious about this at the same time. Let's see how this plays out.
Naming scheme
Suffixes (e.g LT, AR, SV) in insulated jacket names are wiped off for women, with the exception of Cerium SV (expected release is early 2023).
Following is the full naming changes on the making. Only applies to women's counterparts, including vests.
- Atom LT (read my review) → Atom
- Atom AR (read my review) → Atom Heavyweight
- Cerium LT (read my review) → Cerium
- Kyanite AR (read my review) → Kyanite
- Proton LT (read my review) → Proton
- Rho AR (read my review) → Rho Heavyweight
- Rho LTW (read my review) → Rho Merino Wool
- Thorium AR (read my review) → Thorium
- Sentinel LT (read my review) → Sentinel
- Sentinel AR (read my review) → Sentinel
- Sentinel IS (read my review) → Sentinel Insulated
With Arc'teryx putting more and more focus on fashion day after day, this might not be all that surprising when you think about it.
From what I can see, this isn't going to remain limited to women's either. Men's counterpart has slowly been undergoing the same evolution, and we can also expect seeing similar changes with men's department soon. Maybe as soon as F23 update.
My guess is that this new stance will do some harm on the performance and technicality side of things. Let's hope that I'm wrong, though.
Still, even if that turns out to be the case; Arc'teryx is still very, very likely to keep up with its "best winter outerwear brand" reputation in the market by a large, clear margin.
Updated fit
Seems like the delta between the cuts of men's and women's counterparts is growing. I no longer recommend wearing cross gender products, not even just to a minority.
This isn't a negative, though. I never truly recommended wearing cross gender Arc'teryx anyway. So from my point of view, this is a step forward for women.
2- Focus on hiking and skiing
Activity sharp point through fall is fast and light hiking. Through winter, it's ski & snowboard.
Expect to see new products and revisions for both activities.
Strong marketing on Micon Litric
We're going to hear about this a lot this winter. Seems like Arc'teryx decided to fill the gap in "high-end avalanche packs" space.
Arc'teryx partnered up with Ortovox (ortovox.com), a high-end brand centered around wool expertise and safety pioneering. Together, they designed what they call the highest quality avalanche pack in the market, that is, Micon Litric.
Sales handled on litricavalanchesafety.com. Yes, the backpack is sold on a whole another website.
3- More products on ReGear
As you can see on my 5 things all Arc'teryx newbies should know post, a revision doesn't always equal to a better product.
As you can also see anywhere on the web, but mostly on arcteryx.com, the price tags of Arc'teryx are often staggering.
This is where ReGear comes into play.
It offers older models, at much lower price ranges. They are used, though; hence the name ReGear.
ReGear is not something new. It's been around for years now. But the amount of models were usually limited there. I hope the effort delivers and we see start seeing more products by the end of this year.
I'm excited for this because there are many cases I can think of where I'd recommend a cheaper ReGear product over a brand new Arc'teryx piece.
Shop ReGear: https://www.regear.arcteryx.com/