In the colder months, you can’t throw a cortado in certain New York neighborhoods without hitting a North Face puffer. Trends come and go, of course—remember extendo tees? But the North Face classic, along with gear from other, equally popular outdoor brands, whether practical (Arc’teryx) or hypebeast-beloved (Stone Island) has been the thing for the fashion-conscious and the average pedestrian - collectively - to wear for a few years now.

The wave isn’t just a few seasons old, either. Supreme has collaborated with the North Face every season since 2007; the digital reselling giant Grailed has launched an ongoing, curated techwear shopping guide with the archival instagram Organiclab.zip, which highlights vintage Nike ACG gear alongside Merrell mocs. Just last month, Virgil Abloh took his end-of-show bow at the Louis Vuitton men’s SS20 presentation in an unexpected electric blue Arc’teryx Rush Jacket. Clearly, boundary-blurring between streetwear and technical gear has been (and continues to be) well underway. But what, exactly, is at the core of this trend’s staying power?

Virgil Abloh: prepared for fashion week or an avalanche, whichever comes first. Victor VIRGILE

Nothing exists in a vacuum: technical gear and the fashion world began their slow march to marriage in New York in the early 90s. Though originally designed for mountaineers scaling cliffs in subzero temperatures, the North Face’s Nuptse 700 puffer and GoreTex Mountain Light became fundamental winter wear among hip-hop heads and wealthy prep school kids alike. TNF jackets were hugely popular among rappers—LL Cool J notably donned a cherry red Mountain Light in his ‘93 video for “How I’m Comin’”—and, perhaps more notably, graffiti writers. Not only did the closed-face hoods provide coverage that served as urban camouflage, there was financial gain in the jackets too. Graf writers would “boost”—shoplift—North Face gear from high-end skiing stores around the city, and resell the pieces for marked down prices in New York’s working-class boroughs.

Joey Ones, founder of the “Gore-Tex Hoarders” and probably the country’s leading North Face collector, explains that the brand’s significance was in what it meant, and how it was worn. “New York is known for fashion. The thing is, we started adapting fashion that wasn't meant for us. Polo wasn't meant for street kids, North Face wasn't meant for street kids. When you wore it, it was like a badge of honor because we were poor,” he says. “We don't have the fancy BMWs and we don't have the Rolexes, so the only way to show that we have some type of class or money, even though we don't have money in our pocket, is through our gear.”