The Arc'teryx design team has done a great job this year - a few items we'll be bringing in ASAP (head to the bottom of this post for a glimpse of one of the best puffies we've seen), others we'll see in Spring 2010.
First up is the all new Theta AR. This is a great GORE-TEX Paclite jacket with a longer length that falls below the rear, it has a stow hood, pit zips and GORE-TEX Pro Shell reinforcement - a fully decked out jacket for $349. The other Paclite jacket we liked is the Beta AR - while it's a little shorter and lacks the pit zips, it'll retail for $250 and has some great colors in the line up.
Arc'teryx' most technical jacket is the Alpha LT. It's "storm ready", comes in at a light weight 13oz and has received quite a bit of press as one of the top jackets in the outdoor industry. While all the colors are great, we particularly liked it in this Aztec color.
The Traverse Endurance line - a line made for those of us that sweat (perspire?) - had some great pieces!
The Accelero jacket is impregnated with charcoal to reduce odor and the Velox comp crew is a bi-fabric shirt that has a very soft Italian knit on the torso with mesh panels on the side.
The Solano jacket is made of taped GORE-TEX Windstopper, and while that means it can't be called waterproof, lets just say that it's 99.9% of the way there. We think this will be a great backcountry or spring skiing addition to the line up.
The Delta LT is new this year - it's made out of micro-grid fabric and was one of our favorite of Arc'teryx' fleece line up. Definitely look to see the men's version of this in the store next spring. For the women, we think we'll be going with a similar product called the Caliber.
Also new is the Escala line up. Made of super soft fabric, this line up with be great for climbing, yoga, pilates... or just hanging out! A hoody, two lengths of pants and two different tanks will give a lot of options.
We also took a look at a bunch of the "lifestyle" pieces Arc'teryx offers. They look great and we'll definitely be bringing some of these in for next spring.
Now for the promised puffy! The Atom is one of the nicest synthetic puffies we've seen. It's trim and looks like it would be great under any of the Arc'teryx hardshells, but with great colors and wind/moisture resistant shells, it's a great outer piece too. Look for these in the store as soon as we can get our hands on them (or maybe once the temp drops lower than 100)!
Labels: Arcteryx, jackets, outdoor retailer