junkie_dolphin

I'm looking to offload a pile of Veilance pieces, all brand new with tags: - Field LT, Black, Medium - Mionn IS, Black, Medium (Made in Canada version from a few seasons ago) - Field Pants, Black, 30 - Field Overshirt, Black, Medium Probably more on the way as well. PM if you're interested—I'd rather sell here than on Grailed.

Haha, you went there! I wasn't going to...

Saying a person or country is "known for" something is really, dangerously vague. It's the sort of language people use when they're trying to make strong accusations without wanting to go into detail. "______ is known for making rude comments at parties!" Which parties? Which comments? When? What are your sources? Or are you only repeated what others have told you? The insidious thing is that, by saying "known for," you always have the option of retreating into "I was only saying that people talk that way! I'm not saying I think that way!" The reality is that China is no longer the site of cheap labour that it once was. I've said this before—companies like Arc'teryx are moving much of their manufacturing out of China and into places that are less expensive. Fast fashion brands are way further along that process. No one does manufacturing better than China at this point, and I don't blame Errolson for moving some things there. One could, in theory, allow Errolson's "virtue signalling" to inform one's interpretation of the move to china, rather than to contradict it. In other words, we could take Errolson's tweets about fashion ethics at face value and trust that he's applying those same ethical standards in China.

I believe climate change is a serious problem, and I'm happy it's more prominent now as a point of political discussion. That said, he's often retweeting really misleading stuff—headlines that speak of "tipping points" (a term regular people are likely to read as "point of no return"), "apocalypse," "the end of ____ as we know it..." The climate scientists I've read/listened to are very often critical of this sort of scare-mongering, because it tends to make people feel that there's no hope and nothing to be done. I think something about current Twitter amplifies latent dramatic emotional elements in people. Have a look at William Gibson's twitter page for example; I've had to mute the poor guy's retweets. Last I checked he's perpetually retweeting anti-Trump spam—the guy uses the "retweet" function the way most people use the "like" function.

This is the big one honestly. I'm willing to "fill in the blanks" and assume Errolson has found a good factory, that pays its employees well and so on (certainly other companies claim to have done that). But harping on about the wastefulness of fashion, and posting these (sometimes incredibly scary and sensationalist) articles about climate change and the dying off of insects and the pollution of the oceans... all while selling garments made of precariously laminated plastics... that I find a little hard to swallow.

China is no longer particularly cheap for manufacturing, especially compared to poorer countries like the Philippines. The bigger issue is finding people who can actually do what you need them to do (at least here in Canada). Given last year’s prices, it doesn’t surprise me that they’d go looking for another place to manufacture—and the J1A specifically presents the best oportunity, because it’s a relatively static product—we know it’s coming back, like the 3a-1, and unlike some of the more experimental pieces. Was this buried in the insta replies or something? Haven’t heard anything myself.

We may disagree as to the degree to which this specific rebrand "speaks of" vs. "leads" a change in Veilance as a set of products—but otherwise, I think we're basically saying the same thing. Arc is, ostensibly, a "design-lead" company; product comes first (as opposed to a lifestyle brand). Obviously this is simplifying it somewhat, but when I say "it's just a rebrand, and at most a symptom of something deeper that's going on" the emphasis here is on "symptom." Quality of the rebrand aside (and for the record, I'm not crazy about it—but I was never crazy about their website), that it somehow reflects current trends in anything is hardly a hanging offence. See my previous post. It is an all-caps, bolded, sans serif typeface. My god guys.

1. It's interesting to me that it's taken a "rebrand" (and a very mild one at that) to make apparent to people that Veilance has been cutting back on the weirdness and getting more into simple, clean, blank forms. Compare the current version of the Node Down to the Anneal: the Node is loaded up with pockets, it's highly structured, and it's surprisingly full of detail; the Anneal, by comparison, is a very simple, soft, unstructured jacket with a blank face. I could point to other examples, like the old vs. new Graph Cardigan... there's a trend towards blankness and simplicity—true "minimalism" rather than geometry. I've seen what's coming, and it's largely more of that (eg. the Euler IS Jacket and Coat). 2. I'm not sure in what sense Veilance could be considered a trailblazer currently... but it's a bit hard to say when the last time was that you could have described the brand that way. Maybe very early on... But from a technical perspective, Arc reserves its most "cutting edge" stuff for mainline (especially, for some reason, Ascent and Whiteline); much of Veilance still uses old three-layer Gore-Tex ("trico" backer) for its shells—one does wonder why an additional thousand dollars doesn't buy you a Gore Pro shell. The really extreme weirdness probably peaked under Conroy—remember the Scend Jacket? Some of those experiments were terrible flops, however much one might admire the willingness to go there. 3. However tempting it may be to read into a sans serif typeface, it's ultimately just a rebrand, and at most a symptom of something deeper that's going on. It's hardly an indication that Veilance is more fashion-pwned than before—how do you even conclude that, from a logo change? Furthermore, I can point to plenty of times when Veilance drew from contemporary fashion trends—the rapid adoption and abandonment of various shawl collars when those were at their peak half a decade ago comes to mind. 4. Finally, I thought one of the major selling points for Veilance was the lack of branding. I really don't care what the brand's logo is (and, by the way, this season's products still use the old logo, typeface, etc.). I appreciate that most people won't know what I'm wearing. If it were up to me, the website would look like the Ulm School magazine.

It's hilarious to me that people are freaking out over a website logo change. The old logo (which included "Arc'teryx") does look old, bordering on "dad" aesthetics. They need to further differentiate from mainline, especially 24. Yes, of course I miss the days of Conroy et al and "experimental" Veilance, but in case you haven't seen FW19, let me tell you: those days are over. Oh my god dude, either buy it or don't. This is some Princess and the Pea shit. The idea that you're going to try to sell the liner of the Patrol is hilarious, especially considering there is a jacket coming this fall that is basically a standalone Patrol liner (the Conduit AR).

Note also (although it's not visible in the image above) that the new wallets have finished edges, and are less likely to separate the way the first run did.

Managed to pick up SS19's new Rhomb jacket. It's a shakedry running shell, similar to the Norvan SL from Arc'teryx's mainline. Here are some thoughts: - Whoa, this thing is light. Handling the Norvan SL should have prepared me for how light it is, but somehow this is more mindblowing, probably because this thing has actual pockets—it definitely feels more like a "proper" jacket. - Reflective panels at the peak of the hood, the triangle at the yoke, and the hem; surprisingly neutral when no direct light is shining on them, but any sort of bright light (camera flash, headlights) makes the paneling very noticeable. You can tell they really put some time into finding the best balance for a Veilance piece specifically. - There's a really neat hidden pocket in the right hand pocket—it's closed with one of those ultra-thin snaps used on the Incendo hoody. Large enough for even a larger smartphone (though it tends to weigh the whole jacket down in that one spot). - Comes with a washbag to protect the jacket during laundering. The washbag feels heavier than the jacket. - Insanely packable. It takes up about half the space in the larger external pocket of my 3A-1. - Not bad for layering, actually. I was able to fit a Conduit LT underneath (Node FL anyone?)—the only issue is that the front of the Rhomb is a little shorter than most of the Veilance midlayers. As such, I'll likely end up wearing it as an emergency shell/windbreaker in the summer, and not at all in the fall or winter. - Already has one scuff—I think it may have arrived that way. A very small skid of white showing through near the zipper. I'm going to beat the crap out of this thing, and see how much it can handle. Should be fun.

This. You have to remember, that logo goes waaaay back—like, early 2000s, at the latest. Could be older. Back in those days, non-sensical futuristic computer-generated graphics were very common. This sort of thing:

wtf is this thing Errolson's wearing?

WTS: Field LT Jacket, Black, Medium - 700 Field OS, Black, Medium - 350 Indisce 3/4 Coat, Black, Medium - 550 USD Sinter IS Jacket, Black, Medium - 900 USD Field Pant, Black, 30 - 400 USD Each has been worn or tried on once or twice, but is essentially brand new with tags and garment bag (if applicable). Prices are negotiable—feel free to shoot me a message.