Men’s outerwear FW15/16 trend report

As soon as you start looking at the 2015/16 outerwear lines you’ll wonder how they’ve managed to make the stuff look so modern – and how the 14/15 gear that’s only a few months old is slowly fading into obsolescence. But the brightly-lit showrooms belie a darker secret; technical outerwear is a tough sell, and a significant proportion of the samples you’re looking at will never make it to a shop floor anywhere.

Being just another generic outerwear brand won’t cut it anymore. 2015/16 is all about the story; something needs to bite, to stand out. The marketing needs to be reduced to a clear message to be heard above the other things clamouring for our attention nowadays. Whether it’s a focus on one market need, an overhaul of price points or the comprehensive adoption of a current trend, it feels like a new approach is being taken to the making and marketing of on-mountain wear.

Read on for a redux of the most important, most influential and most ridiculous trends in our 2015/16 men’s outerwear preview. Report by Tom Wilson-North.

INSPIRATIONS

The successful running, sportswear and athletics industries have affected general snowboard gear heavily, particularly the collections from Picture Organic and Nitro. Streetwear and workwear continue to trend hard, as they have since day one in snowboarding, and we noted several military details from CLWR and Ride. We also spotted some throwback Americana references from Protest and Neff. Brand heritage plays a big part in inspiration too; Billabong’s line is a reinterpretation of their boardshorts collection, and Brunotti are inspired by founder Claudio Brunotti’s love for freeride paradise Cervinia. Meanwhile, Dakine gaze out of their windows, taking design cues from the Pacific Northwest range in their new Peter Line-developed collection. Patagonia and Noronna base a large part of their new collections on skitouring and splitboarding, with a focus on breathability and lightweight. The 90s show a resurgence at Airblaster, and the vintage mountaineering trend is still knocking around, seeing traction from outerwear designers at DC, Neff and CLWR.

The uber-technical trend of contrasted zips and surgical tailoring is trending less next year despite its current popularity at retail, and some commentators announced the complete death of the colourblock. Again.

KEY NEW PIECES

Let’s take a look at the most important new products to get an idea of how the market is developing. Burton’s Dune Jacket is the culmination of two years working to create a unique pigment-washed GORE-TEX® fabric. “We are using this fabric in a design that is totally fresh. It is a denim style jacket, with a longer split tail and removable hood. Beyond it’s amazing aesthetics, the jacket also features our new Living Lining technology, so you are still getting all of the technical benefits needed for total comfort”, explains Burton’s Andrew Burke. Urban Beach’s vintage Biker Jacket will be high on our Christmas list; it’s available in corduroy or denim finishes. And Horsefeathers’ Patrol jacket is a modern classic, with banging colourblocking, recycled polyester story and a 20k/20k membrane package. We also absolutely loved Light Boardcorp’s Gringo Jacket, which has a mélange fabric, 18k waterproofing, taped seams and lands at a ridiculously aggressive MSRP of €169. It’s about time that good quality gear didn’t need a second mortgage to buy – thanks, Light.

Burton

There’s a ton of buzz around Lib Tech’s brand new Storm Factory outerwear, which has finally started to match the quality of their board line. The line starts at 20k, every piece has a recycled story and the top end goes up to a mind-boggling 45k. It’s outerwear with function put first, with a focus on features, durability and their techy Sympatex membrane. Established Mervin artists handle the aesthetics, colours and prints.

Of course no preview would be complete without a sneak peak at market leader Picture Organic’s big new innovation. Their Eno jacket is a minimal seam, multidensity piece dreamt up to have minimal stitching for best-in-class breathability. They’ve developed a way of changing the fabric densities in the same swathe, putting higher densities in high-wear areas. The piece is made using the Dupont Active Membrane and 50% recycled polyester, so remains true to their eco-ethos.

Billabong’s Bode jacket will be a crowd pleaser; Bode Merrill’s signature piece is a 20K/20K 3L with vintage mountaineering inspiration. We are also liking Dakine’s Intruder jacket, a durable streetwear-style top designed with Louif Paradis with extra insulation for cold, late-night rail sessions. Also in pro-models, 32 celebrate 20 years in the business with a banging boot line and 90s-styled Scott Stevens Blythe jacket. On the same theme, 686’s Forest Baily Fun Pant is old school meets new with colourblocked knees and seats.

The top end of the market remains buoyant. Sweet Protecton will show a redesigned Supernaut Gore-Tex jacket, which is more backpack-compatible and lightweight than before. Patagonia’s Reconnaissance jacket and pant combo is part of their touring line and are fully taped, fully stretch and have additional wear pads on high-use zones. Meanwhile, Noronna’s røldal pants see a fine-tune; after seeing one of their snowboard ambassadors cutting out the Primaloft insulation for a springtime booter session, they turned it into a 3L insulation-free model with the same cut as the classic.

NON-OUTERWEAR OUTERWEAR

“There are so many kids who just don’t like to wear jackets anymore”, asserts Technine’s Cole Taylor. It’s true; if you sell to a freestyle clientele then you know this already. Every pro rail rider is wearing mixed-material fleece, outershirts or a hoody in their Vimeo part this year. Don’t miss this trend – a good place to start could be the made-in-the-UK outershirts from Mountain White, which are more tailored than usual and have Harris Tweed weather protection. McNair Shirts have made a big impression on the market, offering a merino shirt to snowboard in (3 inches longer at cuff and waist to prevent snow entry), and at the higher end of the price spectrum, have become a must-have garment for those with a bit of coin.

MIDLAYERS

Colour Wear

It’s only since they started wearing high-tech shell jackets that snowboarders realized they were actually pretty cold, so went looking for a mid-layer. In doing so we stumbled onto a market dominated by ski and mountaineering brands, all of whom were shifting lots of very crossover-friendly product.

Fortunately snowboard brands are on midlayers now, developing them into their lines and pushing things forward. “Traditional insulation, whether down or low denier synthetic, is not very breathable due to the fibre-proof materials required to keep the insulation from coming out”, says Ride’s Diane Egnatz. “We’ve engineered a face fabric that has four way stretch and works in conjunction with CloMax Move-Free stretch insulation. Combining that with our 37.5 Cocona lining, our layering jacket is one of the most breathable, stretchy, and comfortable jackets on the market – perfect for backcountry, resort or round town”.

Nitro are using a 37.5 Cocona-blended polyester yarn in their midlayers too, and Neff have added a line of inexpensive insulators designed to work with their new first layer short, modelled after a performance basketball short. Another welcome bit of news is Burton, who re-vamp all their [ak] fleeces and mids with Polartec, and Rip Curl who are shipping a removable bomber midlayer with their Nils jacket.

Our advice? Make some room on the shop floor for this exciting new category, which offers easy complementary sales as well as year-round income potential.

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT

There is some promising new tech in outerwear. The North Face’s Steep Series jacket is engineered with award-winning FuseForm™ construction, which allows the fabric to transition seamlessly from Codura® to 2-way stretch where required. Dakine have a brand new one-handed hood drawcord system that makes it fast and easy to adjust everything while wearing gloves.

Bench are using Polygiene – an antimicrobial, antibacterial treatment which will leave you stink-free and ought to up your chances at après ski – in their linings and midlayers, and O’Neill use Schoeller® c_changeTM fabric in their Jeremy Jones line. Protest make the laudable switch to 3M™ Thinsulate™ Featherless Insulation . “We are happy to announce that we will stop the use of natural down and switch 100% to the new fill. It’s designed to closely mimic the look and performance of natural down – it’s just as lightweight, highly breathable and provides intense warmth. But it has twice the loft when wet and of course, no allergens”, says Protest’s Joffrey Delfgaauw. It’s great news for your pet duck and waterfowl worldwide, and we hope to see industry-wide adoption of this stuff for 2016/17.

Burton have upgrades to their linings too. Living Lining is a thermo regulating system that provides comfort across any activity level; the lining material, insulation, and shell membrane all work together to keep you comfortable. Finally, there’s a new fabric that Quiksilver have developed with Gore-Tex called C-Knit, and a new laminated membrane by Picture Organic called R-PET.

PRICEPOINTS & AFFORDABILITY

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Whilst price points have by and large remained static or dropped very slightly at the bottom end, we’ve identified a focus on affordability. Eroded market share by vertically-integrated high street companies is definitely starting to bite at bottom lines. We already looked at the outrageous value Light offer, and we’ve also seen a price drop from Bonfire’s premium, lifetime-warranty Platinum collection. Volcom’s prices are softening a little too. Burton are offering a €300 Gore-Tex called the Radial, and there’s an affordable Gore from Quiksilver which looks fantastic. And 686’s Smarty Network jacket comes with a bonus 250g polyfill insulated liner jacket included in the price. Remember through, that price hikes aren’t always the brand’s fault. “Internationally, currency fluctuations are actually the biggest factor affecting price changes. We try to soften the blow when prices are naturally increasing because of this, but the scenario is mostly out of our hands”, laments Airblaster’s Jesse Grandkoski.

GOD DAMN HIPSTERS

The look of beard, work boots and flannel shirt is one you’ll encounter not just in forests and construction sites but coffee shops, snowboard shops and trendy nightclubs worldwide. Bonfire have a brilliant term for these guys – lumbersexuals – and are set up to appeal strongly them, given their deep roots in flannel-heavy PNW outdoor culture. Love it or hate it, hipster fashion is undeniably compatible with snowboard culture, although we’re not all driving refurbished Mark 1 Golfs to the mountain just yet, thankfully. But hipster fashion rubs off, be it in flannel shirts or more indirect influence such as that seen on Brunotti’s “snow hipster” Milwau jacket with mélange dark green jungle print.

COLOURS

Earth tones still prevail next year, but it’s a more tone-on-tone than before. Raglan inspired dark tonal colourblocking is hot – we saw loads of new combinations like burgundy with heather blue, or sand with charcoal. “We’re seeing an increased shift to more natural & classic colours”, agree Ride. “Layering different shades of the same colour looks fresh and will be a key trend going forward”.

Horizontal panelling is pretty popular, with fewer diagonals than last year which will mean snowboarders ought to stop looking like misprinted Marlboro packets. Heather and mélange tones are popular too, not just on first layers but on technical fleeces, jackets and pants – these type of tones notably increase a garment’s off-mountain wearability.

Dakine

As a counterpoint, Chiemsee are going brighter and more modern; they have a focus on different shades of blue (light, turquoise, denim and dress) combined with an intense red colour hit. Holden also add to their brights palette; soft yellow, electric indigo and emerald are a pleasing uplift to a classically muted collection, especially when combined with the neon colour pops in the detailing.

White is an eyebrow-raising trend that a few different people mentioned; CLWR have a great pure white jacket, and even Noronna, generally known for their bright acid tones are going white on their røldal line.

PRINTS CHARMING

It seems like prints are set for something of a comeback; after dying a death three seasons ago, the momentum behind camo gave brands justification to experiment with more modern prints again. CLWR keep things classy with a navy and fine dot print that they found in Scandinavian fashion, and Bench use fabric texture and geometric line prints. Nitro’s black on black reflective geometric print will be excellent for night riding, and there is a black camo and smoke olive print coming from Oakley.

If your clients are still into camo, you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s going nowhere. Picture have a unique animal camo and Airblaster are very pleased with their Dinoflage camo which is exactly what it sounds like. Ride use camo on a textured ripstop fabric and Holden have a distressed English Denison camo which is minimal and classy.

Wild prints are coming back too, with Neff leading the charge with polygonal camo, a neon palm frond print and even a pancakes print. Quiksilver have created a print in partnership with music video maestro Alex Courtes, whilst labelmates DC have two great looking prints – a geometric-heavy one on their Torstein Horgmo signature collection and a fly fishing print developed with Biznut. 

COVER UP

It’s nice to see one-piece suits coming back after becoming something of a rarity last year. Holden have a pair of these, developed in partnership with boardshaper du jour Corey Smith and his brand Spring Break. They’re timeless designs made to fit and move, and ought to be popular at retail. Also worth mentioning is the now-ubiquitous bib pant; Billabong’s is a 20K 3L, Ride’s is made of 37.5 by Cocona and DaKine’s has a 420 pocket on the chest bib. There’s even a model with removable speakers from, you guessed it, Technine.

CONCLUSION

Well, there it is. Some cool new stuff going on but definitely a year which is more about refinement and consolidation than innovation. It’s good to see the prices dropping and the focus shifting to function. The colours look good and the prints…well, they speak for themselves. Messages are becoming clearer and brand identities are getting stronger, which might make the outerwear game an easier one to make a buck from next year.

HIGHLIGHTS

Running, sportswear and athletics

Tone-on-tone colourblocking

37.5 by Coconna

White jackets

Non-jacket jackets

Midlayers

Featherless Down insulation