Arc’teryx Alpha Pullover (2020)

Type: Shell / Use: Active / Face: Nylon / Insulation: n/a

Technologies: GORE-TEX 3L

Price: $499.00

Here’s the lede: the Arc’teryx Alpha Pullover is an outerwear grail.

Mechanically disadvantaged but charming for it, anoraks are the Porsche 911 of performance jackets. Compared to their mid-engined brethren (i.e., the full-zip Alpha SV), there are some serious drawbacks to have all the big bits up to one side. But the shape. The nostalgia. It just makes you want one that much more.

Before long, the crimes against optimization wash away in pure aesthetic experience. Until the occasional bad day violently reminds you of them. But in the time between those bad days, there is bliss - the kind that perfect solutions just don’t provide.