There’s something you should know.
About us.
We’re not really here to help you to be your best.
We’re far more drawn to your worst. When you’re on your knees, when the wind is blowing sideways, when you’re dangling at the end of the rope, or hood up against a snowstorm.
At the worst—that’s when evolution is really going down. And that’s when we’re perking up.
Those are the moments we want to make better.
We confess this, because you probably should know what you’re getting into, if you’re getting in with us. It’s only fair that you know what we believe.
We believe that we encounter something at those edge-places, those zones where everything, including our comfort, has been pulled thinner, stretched close to a snapping point – something that makes us feel properly alive.
Sweat and stretch are the portal to that place.
Unpick almost every product we’ve ever created, and the same story brought the pieces together: someone who was out pushing themselves into a space of challenge, asked, how could this feel better? People who hated moisture the way other people hate creepy-crawlies came into the design centre after a weekend feeling damp and irritated, with an itch to scratch. An ice-climber who hated the feeling of constriction across their back as they tooled, arms extended, up a frozen waterfall, suddenly had a Monday morning problem to solve. A mandate. Stretching, always, to solve for discomfort, to find the better way.
That is our origin story. This is our ongoing story.
Operating beyond the comfort zone is a telling place. We see who we are, and glimpse who we could be.
If you’re hypothermic, or soggy and crumpled as a wet tissue, that possibility cannot arise. You just have to endure. You cannot transcend.
But, when outfitted in gear that was forged in those challenging environments, designed specifically to protect you and to give shape to possibilities, you can.
We set you up to be in your element, in all elements, in the best conditions, and more importantly, the worst.
Arc’teryx is a Canadian company based in the Coast Mountains. Our design process is connected to the real world, focused on delivering durable, unrivaled performance. Our products are distributed through more than 3,000 retail locations worldwide, including over 80 branded stores. We are problem solvers, always evolving and searching for a better way to deliver resolved, minimalist designs. Good design that matters makes lives better.