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Arc’teryx Opens First U.S. Brand Store In Seattle

Vancouver BC (September 6, 2013) – Canadian based outerwear manufacturer and retailer Arc’teryx will officially open a new 2,300 square-foot store in downtown Seattle, WA. Situated at the base of the Seaboard Building at Fourth Avenue and Pike Street the new store will open September 7th, 2013. This will be the first Arc’teryx brand store in the U.S.

Arc’teryx is built upon the principle of obsessive, precise design and production. Manufacturing high performance outdoor clothing, accessories and climbing equipment to the highest possible standards, their products include GORE-TEX outerwear, down and synthetic insulated jackets, gloves and backpacks.
The new store will open premiering the brand’s full collection for Fall/ Winter 2013 and will offer customers an opportunity to learn firsthand about the company’s innovative and forward thinking design process via special engagement areas inside the store.

“There’s a growing, loyal following for the brand and this store is a way for us to showcase the newest and fullest assortment of Arc’teryx products to our consumers, while also allowing them to discover what the brand stands for,” said Adam Ketcheson, VP Senior Director of Marketing & B2C. “Customers will be able to learn more about our research and design processes through hands on technology engagement areas within the store as well as from trained store staff.”

Seattle

All Arc’teryx product design, research and development is done in-house at their head office in North Vancouver, British Columbia.

“In our own facility, we are able to dedicate time and resources to explore unorthodox design concepts and we have complete control over the development of new products,” said Carl Moriarty, Design Manager for Arc’teryx apparel. “Arc’teryx has a philosophy of design that centers on a product’s intended use. The aim is to create something that increases the user’s enjoyment of the activity. By being functionally invisible, what people experience is the activity and their equipment simply does what it’s supposed to do.”

The new Seattle store will officially open its doors on Saturday, September 7th at 10am. There will be GORE-TEX Science & Technology presentations along with a special rain room available where consumers can test out the products and learn firsthand how GORE-TEX works.

Designers from the company’s head office will also be on hand over the day to talk with customers and answer questions.

The Seaboard Building is an 11-story landmark building at Fourth Avenue and Pike Street that was developed and is managed by the Pine Street Group L.L.C.

Seattle store hours:
Mon-Sat: 10am-8pm
Sun: 12pm-6pm

www.arcteryx.com

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25 Responses to “Arc’teryx Opens First U.S. Brand Store In Seattle”

  1. B says:

    Sigh…I can’t help but feel like the bird just went down”The North Face” path. Making money is fine…but please, please, don’t compromise your technical edge and quality so that you may appeal to the masses.

    • mike says:

      This. A thousand times this.

    • Welshy says:

      I doubt they will. There’s a reason that they opened a store in Seattle. Washington, and the PNW in general, is full of avid hikers and backpackers that have been using Arc’Teryx shit for years.

    • GKoenig says:

      There is a very long way between where Arc’Teryx is today and where TNF has plummeted to.

      I know a lot of people like to complain about Arc moving production to China, but even the cutters and sewers at the Burnaby factory in Canada will not just tell you that the quality of goods coming out of Arc’s Chinese facilities is on par with their own, they will take off the Hyllus jacket they are wearing (that they made themselves) and the one you are wearing (made in China) and show you how they are identical. This happened to me.

      They are happy to tell you that because the Arc’teryx facilities in Canada are all running at maximum production capacity and they would be hiring any qualified soft goods fabricators that they can get. Problem is, the North American pool of companies sewing goods (and, just as importantly, the community of workers who have the skills) is bone dry. It takes a minimum of 3 years for someone to gain the skills necessary to do the *most basic job* on the Arc’teryx production floor. Without 2nd and 3rd quality tier manufacturers around to feed Arc’teryx’s experience needs, they had to move production to one of the Asian countries with a healthy sewn goods center of gravity.

      Besides which, for all the bitching about Arc moving to China, has anyone demonstrated consistent product quality issues or a drop in the overall durability of Arc’teryx goods? No they haven’t.

      In fact, most of the new Fall/Winter lineup is getting pretty solid reviews. They’ve absolutely knocked it out of the park with the new down gear and word from my local Arc retailer is that they were warned last week to get all their down orders in ASAP as the production run is already basically gone.

      Not only is Arc’teryx gear still the very best in class, they keep pushing. Nor have they decided to enter into the $50 logo fleece sold in major retail chain business. Instead, they are pushing on the high-end with Veilance gear (that sells out consistently) and the LEAF line (which is expanding). Not exactly the maneuvers of a brand looking to cash in the way TNF has.

  2. Craig says:

    Absolutely a top notch company with fantastic products. My question though, “special rain room” in the new store in Seattle, WA. . . so in other words, outside?

    • SSD says:

      WL Gore has a rain room and so does NEMO Equipment. Granted, they aren’t in storefronts but they exist all the same.

      • Craig says:

        I was just making fun of the fact that they have a rain room (which is cool) in Seattle, which is known for being rainy most of the year.

        • Brian C. says:

          Seattle isn’t rainy as much as just drizzly. It usually isn’t even raining hard enough to justify a hard shell (at least in my opinion).

        • Stefan S. says:

          Contrary to popular belief the summers in Seattle are generally dry. We just had our warmest and driest summer in a long time!

    • Brian C. says:

      The flagship REI store in downtown Seattle used to have a rain room as well, I think it was in the mens clothing (jackets) section.

  3. maresdesign says:

    I remember when they were known for their climbing harnesses. Spending $99. on a harness appealed to a small number of enthusiasts. But the product was a functional work of art. The manufacturing processes designed and developed by Arc’Teryx is what defines the technical soft-goods design industry. I’ll be keeping my eye on this concept shop.

  4. Qball says:

    Could they just rent a cheap warehouse and bring their prices down? I am just a lowly meager wage earning warrior and frugal backpacker. That shop looks expensive to run and pay for! Guess I will have to stay with LL Bean and Campmor sales.

    • mike says:

      No. They can not. You’re not going to find cheap Arcteryx gear because it’s not cheap to make, design, refine, or execute,

      Arc’teryx is expensive, but the price is always justified by features. Can you get a cheaper rain shell than the Alpha? Sure! But the Alpha is top notch and you can beat the crap out of it and it will still be serving you ten years later when you’re not humping rucks in the mountains anymore. No problem with buying lesser stuff and replacing it more often, but know that Arc’teryx is a brand that is worth the extra scratch.

      You’re paying for features, not the name.

    • Brian C. says:

      Something tells me that their retail store has very little impact on their prices…

      • Haji says:

        Absolutely. This is just a flagship showroom. I have no doubt that the store will turn a profit, but even if it didn’t it would serve its purpose. There’s more to branding than a logo.

    • BradKaf308 says:

      They already have a retail warehouse store just across the border in Vancouver. It wouldn’t have been as expensive to dress it up. They aren’t interested in redusing the retail price on anything. $30 for a simple ball cap? really? Somethings can be justified others not so much.

  5. Axe1477 says:

    I love all the Arc’teryx stuff I have and it all works flawlessly. That being said there is no question that the prices on some of their stuff is quite inflated. $110 for the rampart pants. Sure they’re an excellent design, but they are just nylon pants made in Bangladesh. Same thing goes for the Candidate shirt. It is just a poly-cotton t-shirt. No complaints about the way it fits or feels, but its a $50 t-shirt. No one can complain about well designed climbing gear, rain gear or packs but the apparel, in my opinion, is quite steep for what you’re buying.

    • GKoenig says:

      If the post above doesn’t make it clear, I am a pretty big fan boy of Arc’Teryx. I make camera accessories and I got that fan boy bug by learning much of what I know about soft goods design and sewing by taking their stuff apart and learning from it.

      So having said that, an honest assessment of the Arc’teryx lineup must acknowledge that their lesser apparel is absolutely not priced in-line with the value proposition, other than the fact that it commands a significant premium for having the dead bird on it. Yes, it is all up to the general fit-and-finish of the brand, and it has their trademark patterning, but PolarTech fleece sewn every which way still makes for a PolarTech fleece product. Their pants are fantastic, but they really should knock about 15% off the price – still a premium, but not as obscenely overpriced as they currently are.

      Good news is that stuff like the Rampart pants and Raider pants often languish on the retail floor as customers have a difficult time coughing up that kind of money when decent quality stuff at 50% of the price is sitting right next to it. I’ve never paid more than $50 for any of my Arc pants because you can always find them on sale.

  6. Jorge says:

    They are not the brand they used to be…a lot of their talent has left the company due to crap management- more interest in making a higher margin than better kit…too bad.

    • Nedla says:

      That is your opinion. But many don’t think the same way. I work with LE/AF and 99.99% are satisfied. Local VPD is now using LEAF Gear.

  7. Tim says:

    I headed up there Friday. I let you all know the scoop. I hope they have a clearance rack.