GORPCORE is derived from the acronym for mixed fruit, the full version of which is “good
ol’ raisins and
peanuts” (delicious raisins and peanuts). This is a style that combines outdoor sports style with everyday men’s style. You might as well try it out by imagining the following picture: You are wearing a high-tech jacket and carrying a backpack, and you are on your way to climb a mountain. He relied on nuts and dried fruits to satisfy his hunger, and then he changed his style and found himself on the city streets in the same dress, perhaps wearing a pair of ordinary sneakers.
New York Magazine (New
York Magazine)’s fashion website The
Cut first proposed the term “Gorpcore” in 2017, and it took the entire menswear industry by storm in the following years. It is equivalent to the outdoor version of the hot word “normcore” in the 2010s, trying to re-transform low-key, simple and practical clothing into enviable fashion. The person who best represents this style may be the sultry singer Frank
Photos taken when Ocean attended Paris Fashion Week in 2019. In the photo, he is wearing an orange slim-fitting jacket (from the 159-year-old Swiss mountaineering brand Mammut) and a green woolen hat from Arc’teryx, a 32-year-old outdoor brand from northern Vancouver. It’s blue jeans and hiking boots. He looks like he just walked off the Pacific Crest Trail
Crest Trail down the mountain, and then walked directly into the Tuileries.
It’s telling that Ocean wore Arc’teryx and Mammut at fashion week instead of Prada. Gorpcore is not an outdoor style for big designers to admire in isolation – such as those hiking boots that look suitable for sports, but will stumble and break easily once you hit the road. Rather, Gorpcore is a high regard for true all-weather outdoor brands, representing the brand’s JapaneseAnd
Wander, Patagonia in California, etc.
These two brands represent two completely different styles of Gorpcore. Tokyo-based And
Founded in 2011, Wander is a relatively young new brand. Their products are built to withstand winter’s biting winds, but also have a premium feel, like fleeces with reflective strips and rugged, multi-pocketed nylon pants. Similar brands include Snow from Japan.
Peak and F/CE, Swedish brand Houdini for severe cold weather, and Nike’s Gyakusou series focusing on running.
The other type of Gorpcore brands – such as REI, Marmot and Patagonia – are traditional old brands that value functionality more than design. Global professional brands that have recently become popular among young Gorpcores include Norway’s Helly
Hansen, Japan’s Goldwin, and more personalized off-road sports brands such as Gramicci, Manastash and La Sportiva.
The COVID-19 epidemic in the past year has made Gorpcore even more popular. As 22-year-old Gorpcore enthusiast Tristin
Dorsey said that when gyms were closed due to the epidemic, more people began to exercise outdoors and gradually accepted this lifestyle. Dorsey is a Fort Collins, Colorado (Fort
A student of Collins, he said: “I find myself spending most of my time outdoors, hiking, rock climbing, or doing other outdoor sports.” He wears Helly when hiking and in daily life.
Hansen’s all-around waterproof nylon pants and Italian brand Roa’s hiking boots – although they have thick soles, they look cool.
Gorpcore enthusiasts value practicality, but they also value high-end design elements that complement outdoor gear. La
Sportiva not only offers grippy black sneakers, but also eye-catching yellow and olive models. MM from Snow Peak
In addition to being waterproof and windproof, the FR Rider Down Jacket also has an interesting asymmetrical zipper design. People will never mistakenly think that Patagonia is a Parisian fashion brand, but they are flocking to the popular fleece products produced by this company. The price of its retro collection is approaching US$1,000.
Such an eye-catching item has also created a strong Gorpcore trend on social media. Instagram accounts like unownedspaces, 114.Index and Organiclab.zip, which have more than 200,000 followers in total, are like visual encyclopedias of Gorpcore, always posting pictures of people climbing cliffs in cool outdoor outfits, or taking in breathtaking scenery. Fans who love Salomon hiking shoes, Kapital beige fleece jackets and Gerry retro down jackets also liked the photos of tent camping. But what we don’t know is how many of these fans have actually climbed a cliff or pitched a tent?
Arc’teryx President Jon Hoerauf said that the company’s design department will use the word “ping” internally to describe fashionable technology equipment. “If a piece of clothing has a sense of ping, it means that it is not only functional, but its shape is also beautiful and desirable. This has always been our priority.”
Last month , I also went to experience fashionable outdoor equipment. Just a few days before the first cold snap hit New York, I was at Hatchet in Brooklyn.
Supply spent a lot of money to buy a $299 Arc’teryx AR
Atom synthetic fabric guarantee�Coat. (While New York isn’t exactly in the jungle, it has been one of Arc’teryx’s top markets for more than 20 years.) The coat’s lines are particularly sleek—my fiancée even used the word “slim” because it’s so slim. I have indeed looked less bloated since last winter when I wore a Uniqlo down jacket.
Some outdoor brands have begun to cooperate with gorgeous fashion brands, and the response is not only surprisingly good, but also an instant hit. For example, The
North Face and Los Angeles brand Brain
Dead jointly launched a dazzling fleece jacket made of five colors. Salomon, a hiking shoe brand with a history of nearly 75 years, joined hands with Comme des
Garçons launches thick-soled sneakers.
This kind of cooperation can be said to be endless. At the end of 2020, Gucci teamed up with The North Face to launch a new series inspired by camping. The main products include down jackets with prismatic prints. This year, Arc’teryx will cooperate with high-end minimalist fashion brand Jil Sander to further enhance the fashion sense of its products.
Gorpcore enthusiasts will still pay attention to the technological advantages of outdoor clothing and pants. 24 year old Ted
Berkson, an account manager at a tech company in San Jose, Calif., is a fan of Acronym, a German-based “tech apparel” brand. He talks enthusiastically about the brand’s “P10-DS” tapered pants—which leave more room at the knee so they never bunch. At the same time, he also praised the brand’s use of Schoeller
The Drykin fabric is very waterproof, so even if you walk in the pouring rain, you won’t get wet at all. He’s a self-described “lazy outdoorsman” who prefers short rambles of about two miles.
So, for Gorpcore enthusiasts like Berkson who are not 100% hardcore, what is the meaning of those seemingly superb high-tech elements? In short, these are the people who love reading about, talking about, and owning outdoor gear. Sam, senior vice president of Nordstrom department store in New York
Lobban admits that he loves checking out information about new breakthroughs in technology and “becomes very nerdy.” Recently, he has paid close attention to the news that designers are collaborating with Gore-Tex to develop lighter and more breathable fabrics. Lobban believes that highly advanced outdoor equipment is like the sports car of the fashion world. For example, if you have a German sports car, you may never get it to reach a top speed of 188 mph (about 302 kilometers per hour), but you know that there is that much horsepower under the hood. A little is reassuring enough. In the same way, you won’t shiver when you run out to do errands when it’s 22 degrees outside, because the clothes have passed laboratory tests and can withstand the low temperature test of minus 22 degrees. While some people collect Porsches, Lobban and his ilk collect Arc’teryx jackets.
While Gorpcore gear is used to stay alive in extreme environments, many modern hoarders value another thing: the clothing makes daily life easier. Arkady, 26
Abbott is a newly graduated legal clerk in Adelaide, Australia, and runs an Instagram account called unownedspaces in his spare time. He appreciates And
Wander jacket, because the zipper never gets stuck and can be easily opened with one hand. He used to like Helmut Lang, Rick
Owens and other brands that look more avant-garde and are fashionable for the sake of fashion. However, the clothes were so dressy and occasion-specific that he felt exhausted. Those fashions looked outstanding, but they made his life extremely complicated. “I wanted something that would work for an interview but also be able to go out for a walk or a run,” Abbott says. Ever since I fell in love with And
After Wander, if he feels interested after get off work, he can go hiking immediately without changing clothes.
For some Gorpcore enthusiasts, the more outdoor-looking clothes they buy, the more motivated they are to go out and exercise. When Lobban bought a pair of hiking shoes co-branded by Hoka One One and New York brand Engineered Garments, he “immediately wanted to rush out and climb rocks.” Then, he really embarked on the journey.
