The Outdoor Clothing Trend: How Hiking Gear Went Fashion

As far as garment design goes, it’s difficult to imagine two schools of thought more fundamentally opposed than hiking and high fashion. The former is all about functionality, performance, durability, utility and practicality. The latter is pretty much the exact opposite.

Yet, in spite of their glaring differences, luxury menswear and outdoor clothing have fostered an unlikely kinship. For several years, pieces like leather hiking boots and Arctic parkas have been making their way off the ridges and onto the runway, and now it seems the hiking trend is here to stay.

Authentic performance brands like Patagonia and The North Face have been as trendy as classic fashion houses in recent years and there have been plenty of collabs, too. As a result of all this, you’re now just as likely to meet someone wearing Gore-Tex hardshell on the Fashion Week front row as you are high in the snow-capped peaks of the Swiss Alps.

The great outdoors is very much in and it spells good news for your wardrobe. Curious? Here’s everything you need to know.

Zara

What Is The Outdoor Trend?

Outdoor clothing’s infiltration of the menswear scene isn’t exactly brand new information. Mountain mainstays like down jackets, thick-pile fleece and old-school hiking boots have long been common fixtures in the AW collections of premium fashion brands.

The latest wave of hikermania, however, has seen a shift away from heritage pieces and towards more technical garments. Think streamlined hard-shell jackets rather than puffy parkas, cross-body bags in place of canvas haversacks, Gore-Tex Salomons instead of clumpy leather boots.

Mr Porter

It’s still nerdy, still carries more than a whiff of the geography teacher, but this is mountain-friendly menswear that looks to the future for its inspiration rather than living in the past. Unlike most fashion trends, this one is both practically advantageous and stylish. Well, provided you equip yourself with the right pieces.