Last December 5th we went to see and buy the Arc’teryx Winter 2012 Collection. The truth is the very notion of an entire collection being ready a year before it appears in the shops fills one with a certain sense of vertigo; more so when you observe that the weather seems to be behaving decidedly “out of season”.  When we entered the Arc’teryx exposition, we were blown away by the apparel in store for the 2012 season, starting with the latest from Gore Tex Pro Shell (as many of you know, Arc’teryx  buys Gore Tex but the thermo-sealing of its Pro Shell along with its color and technology is its own creation, thus ensuring unbeatable resistance, durability and breathability.

For women, the nuclear white color, with purple and a black that borders on ebony and new color nomenclature such as hosta, hibiscus, blue curacao make everything exceedingly more colorful. The color collection is gleaned from natural settings such as mountains, sunrises, plants, you name it. Men are not forgotten either – the colors are reds, chocolate browns, greens and, here we go: blue moon, tobiko, cypress, shall we go on?

As far as the material used for the new backpacks is concerned, the silo model has disappeared and has been replaced by the kata quintic model, equipped with new back supports and improved fanny packs. The Atom is still around for the most rugged and radical mountaineers in LT and SV, while there’s a new jacket made of hollow fiber with an urban kick, the handsome Aphix model.

The new ski jackets are filled with very few grams of hollow fiber, modon in Arc’teryx. The hollow fiber is Coreloft, a contrast with Primaloft in which long threads alternate with short ones.  Remember: less volume equals thermo-regulation and plenty of heat. Stay tuned.