Arc'teryx is founded on the idea that there is always a better way.
Connecting with the mountains is our reason for being, and our inspiration.
The only way to build the right gear for this environment was to build the company in this environment. We can't separate manufacturing from idea, or from location.
OUR BACKYARD
The Coast Mountains provide both the inspiration and rugged testing ground for Arc’teryx.
In the span of the Coast Mountains, you’ll experience dramatic vistas, diverse climates and challenging conditions. The products we design are a direct response to the needs of mountain athletes who go out in nature here.
WE LIVE IN THE WORLD'S LARGEST TEMPERATE RAINFOREST.
The Coast Mountains are our greatest inspiration — for the products we make and the adventures we take.
From our headquarters in North Vancouver, you can be in the backcountry within 60 minutes.
The Coast Mountains inspire us to connect with our surroundings, to challenge ourselves, and to create products for mountain athletes.
Our Design Centre is where that inspiration transforms from idea to reality.
OUR DESIGN CENTRE IS LIKE AN ENGINEERING LAB.
We have a full industrial shop, manufacturing tools, a down room, colour tests, washing machines; all the tools to make and break products until we arrive at a smooth, efficient process with a beautiful result. This may take three years, it may take longer.
Our Design Centre is a workshop, an engineering lab, a hands-on think tank where experts with diverse skills and outdoor experience collaborate on the world’s best product.
It’s not a pristine design lab. Which is just the way we like it.
From idea to manufacturing to final product, we pride ourselves on doing things differently.
Having Arc’ONE, our local manufacturing factory, close to our headquarters (and the Coast Mountains where we love to play) allows us to design, prototype, test, and refine — all in our backyard.
ARC’One is a short drive from the Design Centre.
This critical link between design and production allows us to create innovative manufacturing techniques.
Our ARC’One factory is where we learn, where we hone our skills and craftsmanship, but we can’t do it all alone.
ARC'One is only one of our many facilities and suppliers around the world that we depend on.
Before manufacturing begins, overseas facilities receive an approved production sample and technical pack from the design team.
The development tech pack is built by teams at the Design Centre. It includes everything needed for a finished good facility to make a sample.
At Arc’teryx, we believe in design by doing.
There’s this idea that products are made by machines and, for us, it’s not true. Our designers are mountain athletes solving problems for other mountain athletes.
Of all our suppliers there is one partner who was essential to the birth of our groundbreaking outerwear.
Our relationship with W.L. Gore is one of the reasons we are able to craft the world’s best outerwear.
ACCELERATE EVOLUTION
The relationship between W.L. Gore and Arc'teryx began in 1998 when we designed our first apparel product.
Materials are important, but it takes more than that to craft a light and durable outdoor product like the Alpha SV Jacket.
The Gore environmental testing chamber can simulate the conditions of any mountain peak in the world.
At the Gore facility, they are able to test materials and prototype jackets using various mechanized tests. Arc'teryx then takes the prototypes into the local mountains for further testing in real world conditions.
The Alpha SV Jacket is a storm fortress benefiting from continual refinement and evolution.
When released in 1998, the Alpha SV introduced a new quality of alpine jacket: windproof, waterproof and durable in an incredibly lightweight package. Since then, Arc'teryx designers have obsessively refined and innovated each feature, season after season. These incremental improvements have kept the Alpha SV at the forefront of the industry.
WHAT IS NEXT FOR US?
How do we continue to build gear while simultaneously protecting our backyard? Extreme durability and responsible resourcing can dramatically reduce our environmental impact.
Our philosophy is guided by the belief that durability is the strongest path to sustainability.
We start with a meticulous and mindful design process. Over decades of innovation, we have developed a toolkit to deliver durability and improve our environmental impacts.
Manufacturing high performance outdoor gear is still a challenge for the environment. Why?
Because manufacturing today is based on a linear economy model with impacts across all stages of the product life cycle. Each stage has multiple challenges that impact our environment:
Vision for the future
Design for a circular economy
Ultimately, we want to move from a linear production model to a circular economy. All materials and products are resources to be used in a repeated loop, rather than disposed.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology that rigorously and objectively measures the impacts associated with designing, producing and using goods and services.
The Alpha SV Life Cycle Assessment evaluated 18 environmental impacts across all 8 lifecycle steps.
Analyzing each category in a LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) helps us understand exactly how our supply chain impacts the environment. The climate change category measures a carbon emissions footprint.
