The big Arc’teryx story at ORWM is the Alpha IS Jacket.
The IS suffix is for Insulated and the Alpha IS relies on ThermaTek for incredible warmth to weight ratio. ThermaTek is a hollow core fiber which gets a DWR bath and is then laminated to a face fabric with a second DWR bath. That face fabric is an air permeable Gore-Tex fabric. It’s a very technical piece. Use the Alpha IS in cold/wet/windy environments down to around -15 Celsius.
It also features the new TPU zipper pulls above and Cohesive Cord locks below which tuck into the harness belt.
Coming Fall 17.
Im facinanted by this new tech but god knows what the proce will be…
I get what they’re doing, but i don’t like the new zipper pull design. The oldschool tube wrapped cord was much nicer looking
Anything to save a few grams.
It works much better than these old-school designs as the entire surface is highly anti-slip. It will work regardless of being wet, dirty, wearing gloves or no gloves, won’t cause issues in the cold…
But aesthetic is a personal thing. I like their modernity. I feel like your oldschool idea goes on smocks and not much more.
i guess it’s just that i’m used to them. it looks like the main advantage to these is that they require much less handiwork to install than tying off a section of 550 and tubewrapping it, which translates to significantly lower cost.
Will be interesting to compare with the LEAF Cold WX LT
Hoping for some subdued colors…greens/browns/grays…
On the Outdoor side, they’ll offer a few options but they always give it some contrasting pop, which can really stick out.
nice, thanks for the info brother… I’ve been using a sharpie on the few OR/NF/BD layers I use, works pretty well to neutralize that “pop”… still waiting to hear back on my LEAF pro account, I think I know why now with this event and shot around the corner…
If the jacket is that good it’ll be added to their LEAF line in subdued shades
Ten-Fo