Arc’teryx Veilance, sometimes described as the luxury line of the outdoor brand, could just as well have been described as quiet outdoors – except that this idea was not a thing yet when Veilance was released.

Arc’teryx has always described this clothing line as performance menswear (or now, just performance, given that it has finally expanded into women’s wear?); it has also often been seen as an entrant into the so-called techwear space.

The proliferation of labels may be telling for the problem we have with a lot of fashion and clothing: We want to describe and categorize it quickly, and particularly so when there is a new trend.

The Non-Fashion Trend of This Clothing

I’d argue that Veilance actually fits better with a trend outside of fashion, the fascination with EDC – everyday carry.

EDC enthusiasts look for gear that fits their sense of aesthetics and their needs: wallets, flashlights, keychain tools, multitools, knives, and whatever else they either need in their daily lives or want to have with them in order to be (or at least, feel) prepared for whatever may come.

When Arc’teryx first released Veilance, it was easy enough to say that this was a luxury line from an outdoors clothing brand; people complained a lot about jackets with a quiet aesthetic that cost around 1k… but even that was a silly view.

Sure, it was somewhat new to use classic menswear silhouettes with high-tech materials otherwise used only in outdoors gear, but luxury clothing still cost a fair bit more.

Sometimes, that was because of materials and craftsmanship, but often enough, it was just because of the label behind it.

Clean and Performing – Usually

For me, the interest has always been in the clean, minimalistic aesthetic referencing classic pieces of a menswear wardrobe, but made with materials and construction meant for performance.

The most stylish (and expensive) wardrobe isn’t worth much, after all, if you end up looking like a drowning penguin if you get into rain in your suit – but a ready-for-anything wardrobe that screams outdoors or “gear queer” – per William Gibson, as wanting to look like someone in some special forces – doesn’t work if you want to fit into normality with a sharp style.

Veilance doesn’t always work.

There have been experimental pieces that ended up a bit too peculiar.

There are materials that don’t fulfil their purpose as well as they should (e.g. when it comes to water-repellency) or rather too well (e.g. all the insulated jackets that are fit for Siberian cold but nothing slightly warmer).

There are color choices that are not the usual subtle shades of, uhm, black, with shades of olive or other dark green as outright splashes of color.

One still has to pay some attention to what works in what conditions, just as one has to decide if this style of dressing (and color choice) is right for oneself or not.

Still, it is this combination of minimalist lines and a generally less fashion-oriented aesthetic with materials and constructions meant for performance in certain (often, wider-ranging) conditions that makes this line work, and work akin to EDC.

I love to be in suit-like clothing, and the Spere LT and Haedn LT have been working beautifully for hot conditions, Spere Blazer and Pants or Indisce have (with some caveats for the latter) been great even into wintry situations.

Unless you are someone who’s into fashion or who has developed a certain style, you probably don’t think much about the clothes you wear.

I’d love to say that we dress in order to be clothed, to be protected, but fashion often plays the bigger role. People go out however they think they should, because the groups they use as their reference do so or because their peers dress like that.

“Everyone wears that!” “I saw it in the magazines; it’s so cool!”

Clothes as EDC

Clothes are the ultimate everyday carry, however.

I don’t mean that in the sense of the techwear aesthetic with its penchant for pockets and other means of carrying stuff everywhere.

Clothes simply are what you really carry on yourself, every day, in order to be ready for what comes in the day, in terms of the weather as well as the social circumstances you will find yourself in – and the way you want to show yourself and be seen.

People with an interest in EDC gear follow certain fashions in that world, of course. Usually, these trend towards minimalist aesthetics, high-tech materials, a look towards the performance of the tools carried – and I see the same interest in clothing such as Veilance’s.

If you are an adult man, you pretty much can’t go wrong in a blazer or a field jacket. And if that’s one that will give enough protection if temperatures fall or there’s some rain while letting you look sharp, of course, it’s so much the better.

You can develop a style like that if you want to.

I certainly ended up like that, and I’m happy for it because I have to think less about what to wear every day, but still stay in the style and find the performance I have decided on.