Guide to Urban Techwear

We wear clothes to be comfortable, to cover up our shame, and more importantly for our protection. Technical clothing, focuses on incorporating functionality using textiles and construction techniques to protect the user from their environment, to allow flexibility, and add comfort. Built to be presentable, and last through the treatment of ones daily commute whatever it may be we believe that technical clothing should be part in everyone's wardrobe. With this guide, we hope to be an introduction to the basics of Urban Techwear, how to be apart of it, and to be assimilated to its cult following.

A textile is a material composed of natural or artificial fibers used in making our clothes. This is absolute base of every article of clothing, it can molded, reshaped to anyone's will and this is where the technicality of Urban Techwear comes to play with use of new materials and better understanding of our environment and the human body to get the most of what we wear. As this might sound like a recent breakthrough in the fashion industry, the practice of incorporating functional clothing has been around for ages, seen in many military clothing, hiking and hunting gear, and so as athletic clothing. It's only till recently more and more people are taking interest into technical clothing, more new brand names come to the market to cater our desires, and existing brands make a shift adding functional clothing options to their catalogs.

Broken down by Style

Techwear can be broken down and reshaped into any form you see fit, in this part of the guide we’ll introduce you to the major styles of Techwear, what separates them and an understanding that on how any aesthetic (streetwear, traditionalist, etc) can incorporate a little functionality into their wardrobe.

Outdoors

Starting simple and familiar than working our way up, we’ll start with Outdoor gear. Heavily centered on protecting you from your environment wherever you may be: hiking, camping, snow sports, etc. Outdoors are made reliable, functional, inexpensive because of its abundance, and made stylish for us wear while in our less extreme urban environments. Look towards brand names like Arc’teryx, REI, Patagonia, The North Face, and Columbia for getting outdoor gear.

Athletic

Primarily made for sporting gear, athletic clothing is a easy way to obtain base layers, shells, footwear, made with simple functionality when shopping for the basic brands such as Adidas and Nike. Although kind of iffy in the community whether wearing all athletic gear should even be considered Techwear look at more designer gear like Adidas and Yohji Yamamoto's Y-3, and divisions of Nike that produce more technical clothing like Nike Gyakusou and ACG.

Causal

Produced for day to day use, causal Techwear blends with the normalcy of our current fashion standards while incorporating features that helps the ease of commute and work in a professional environment. Styled very basic, and often business casual, casual Techwear is great for the grey man that keeps to him/herself, below the radar with great looking and highly functional clothing. Casual Techwear should be sought after anyone who’s interested in dressing themselves right.

Tech-Focused

For the enthusiasts, and those with deep pockets who might want to chase after brands that focus on technicality over design. Tech-Focused brands as the name implies, center on fitting as many functions and features into their pieces in a very minimalistic style, such as Stone Island, Arc’teryx Veilance, and Descente Allterrain. Constantly gaining the one up in the by community introducing garments with the latest and greatest in what technology offers.

Utilitarian

One of the more experimental kinds of tech, the famous "Techwear aesthetic" is formed here with. Utilitarian or some brands in this catagory might fall into the communities favorite term "Techninja" which is centered around the futuristic dystopian military outlook. Utilitarian as a whole center themselves around this push for an ever-greater liberation in movements, incorporating various storage options, increasing ease of use, the addition of extra bells and whistles like Acronym’s gravity pocket, and often using the latest materials to come out of the woodworks.

Introduction to Technical Functions

Water The protection of water and other fluids that the wearer might encounter is called being waterproof or taking one step down, water resistance. To be waterproof means to be impervious to water, however with enough downpour water can begin to permeate. Water resistance being one step down can repel water, however for a shorter amount of time.

Wind To be windproof is similar to being waterproof, to be impervious to the element and being wind resistant is follows the same as being water resistant obviously in the context air. Although most windproof shells are thin being windproof allows the wearer to kept warm by keeping the air inside trapped within the layers and keep the rushing cool air out.

Heat When dealing with heat it can go both ways, but here this will deal with heat retention which is the act of keeping heat housed within the layers by keeping wind from entering the outer layer and insulating the air inside.

Breathable For clothing to be breathable is the act of allowing water to move in and out of your layers. When talking about breathable fabrics it can go into two categories: hydrophilic and microporous. Hydrophilic is the love for water, it allows incoming water to permeate the surface and the water below the membrane to be push outwards. Microporous lets water escape from your body, however its surface is impermeable leaving the user dry. However it's still susceptible to water vapor.

                           (Under Construction)                                          
            The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I've found it!), but 'That's funny...
                                                                                                                  - Issac Asimov

Examining The Arsenal

In this section, we'll go through the pieces of common Techwear clothes you'll come across. Their purpose, what to expect from each garment, and at the core the many parts that make up a technical fit.

Shells

A shell is commonly referred to as simply as just a jacket, and people that call it this wouldn’t be wrong. At the end of this we hope you’ll appreciate the term shell over calling it a jacket. The term shell is used by companies that specialize in technical clothing as it implies a greater layer of protection from the outside. Such features a shell would come with is water resistant, wind proof, heat retention and more. Shells go into two categories, the hardshell and the softshell

The hard-shell is the primary layer, often the most expensive piece to the arsenal. The hardshell provides the most function and durability out of an entire fit, allowing other layers mainly for added insulation to go beneath it. When looking to purchase a hardshell, look for an explicit description of the production functionality, although a hard-shell always home waterproof and breathable functionality this is a general rule that goes into all functional pieces you plan on buying. Brands whom solely provide functional clothing might not explicitly advertise their functions in every piece they produce, companies like Acronym will provide the technology underlying their shells, commonly using “3L”, which in short stands for 3-Layer Gore-Tex®. When this is the case, it's good have knowledge about what the membrane is and how that specific membrane functions.

There's two types of membranes that a shopper needs to understand: Hydrophobic and hydrophilic membranes. Hydrophobic, meaning the fear of water. The membrane will let water sit at the surface, opposing to hydrophilic, the love of water allows your garments to breath, pulling the moisture in and out of the membrane.

The softshell, given by its name isn’t as durable as the hard shell, however it does share many qualities. The common tradeoff between the softshell and a hard-shell is ease of use and mobility. The common softshell you might find is usually found athletic brands, such as Nike and Adidas which sport softer fabrics to strengthen breathability, mobility, and often quick to dry with the cost of water and air resistance. Other softshells could be found stand closer to hardshells having similar functions such as: water resistance and wind protection, but in a light weight build.

Mid-Layer

Not essential to one’s wardrobe but a great addition to provide the wearer a layer of insulation beneath their shell and even add means of utility with straps and compartments to carry items when temperatures are too hot to dawn cargo pants and a hard-shell. Fleece is a popular choice for this layer as it serves to be a great material for body regulation, providing the much needed breathability and moisture wicking needed in order to stay comfortable when layering this under ones hardshell. An alternative to fleece is down, which a fine layer of feathers with its natural ability to trap air makes them affordable insulators, and padding that some might come to love. When shopping in for this layer look for hoodies, vests, sweaters, and jackets.

Base

Given by its name, the base layer is the absolute bottom layer in any fit. This would include the average: socks, underwear, undershirts, and shirts. In the functional clothing industry, they often carry attributes that levitate around making the wearer more comfortable, such things like this include: breathability, anti-bacterial, deodorizing, heat retention, stretchable etc.

Merino is the common material in this field, merino wool is wicking and a natural temperature regulator, very durable and long lasting, however buying clothes made of merino could be very expensive. Other brands, such as UNIQLO might use a blend of materials to produce layers that aid in function. Companies that practice such things tend to be much cheaper and don't provide the many functions gained by wearing a layer of merino.

Pants

Pants are a small part of the techwear market, but slowly gaining more momentum. Because of the slow pace of production, options are limited and prices kept very high. Pants have the capacity to serve the same functionality as hard-shells with increase carrying capacity, resistance and proof against wind and water, stretchable and breathable.

When looking to purchase pants on a budget look towards more sporty brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Uniqlo as they provide joggers and some even higher tier pants that house the basics of function.

Footwear

A wide variety of footwear should be available no matter what style one peruses, in techwear footwear could focus on being sporty. Adding spring and height to each step commonly knitted to add room for stretch and breathability. It could also take a more outdoors route with emphasis on protection against the elements such as water resistance and heat retention, made for a more rugged environment and look.

                         (Under Construction)                                          
            "It's not thinking about zippers is not thinking about seem tapes, not thinking about ... all these little elements. Those are all part of the end goal"
                                                                                                                  - Conroy Nachtigall

Brands

For a more updated, and ever expanding list of brands check out this Google Doc spreadsheet with country of origin, links to he store, and quick notes to each brand

Brand	Catagories	Tier	Description
0608	Utilitarian	Entry	Commonly known among us as an affordable brand for a "techninja" aesthetic now ships outside of South Korea. Following the aesthetic of many brands like it this is a great place to start building a part of a small wardrobe, as their quality is known for being poor in some pieces.
4dimension	Utilitarian	Middle	Small Taiwanese label producing inexpensive Techwear outerwear, tops and pants. Not comparable to large manufacturers such as Nike or Acronym but they are specifically targeted at the "techninja" aesthetic and this is a much cheaper alternative than Veilance and Acronym for brand new items. Fit is on the small side.
Acronym	Utilitarian	High	Mastering the style of "Acronymjutsu" a Military aesthetic which focuses on, fashion forward cuts and functions, featuring the latest technical garments on for a steep price. Having a footwear collaboration with Nike, this brand is well known and sought after by most people outside the Techwear community making it hard to obtain and resale very high.
Adidas	Athletic	Entry	Sportswear brand with footwear lines that can work with the aesthetic such as the Tubular and Flux range. Certain apparel from Adidas Performance and Originals line can be found with technical fabrics and futuristic aesthetics. Outlets and eBay can be used to find good deals. Quality is quite high for the price.
Arc'teryx LEAF	Utilitarian	High	The Law-Enforcement and Armed Forces line of the outdoors brand Arcterx. High priced but good build quality and materials. Can be found on the second hand market on eBay sold by retired soldiers relatively cheap. Mix with casual elements like sneakers to reduce the military/tactical look of these pieces.
Arc'teryx Veilance	Tech-Focused	High	Arcteryx’s minimalist urban line. Very high priced, high resale. Hard to find a good deal on this even second hand. Good construction quality and use of materials. Arguably the best quality for urban technical apparel alongside Prada Sport. Simple, mostly black designs are versatile and work in a range of styles.
Descente Allterrain	Tech-Focused	High	Techwear diffusion line by a Japanese outdoors brand. Focusing on simplistic design similar to Arc'teryx Veilance, with a philosophy also similar of "Form follows Function"
Final Home	Ulititarian	High	This futuristic styled brand is centered on minimal design housing and high amounts of capacity. Pushing to be a tool of survival in and out of the urban lifestyle.
Guerilla Group	Utilitarian	Middle	Military and ninja inspired futuristic streetwear that is affordably priced for brand new items. Limited use of technical fabrics and quality control is not as high as large manufacturers.
Ministry of Supply	Casual	Entry	Based in Boston, Massachusetts this company built around only the essentials in fashion, using the same temperature regulating materials used in NASA.
Mission Workshop	Casual	Middle	Cycling oriented designs, high quality construction, use of technical fabrics ranging from neoshell to schoeller textiles. Designs are clean, prices are moderately high. Also a source backpacks and messengers with very high build quality.
Nike (NikeLab, ACG, Sphere, NSW)	Athletic	Entry	One of the best sources for inexpensive techwear garments. Numerous shoe models work with the aesthetic and have some of the best footwear technology in the world. Waterproof clothing and farbics such as Gore-Tex can be found across many product lines. Nike Sphere is often discounted and marketed towards runners and is a good source of inexpensive waterproof shells. ACG is expensive new but resale is poor and eBay is a good source for cheap second hand jackets and pants.
Outlier	Casual	Middle	Casualwear looking tech line with amazing shorts and pants, but also some other good offerings. Focusing on function over design, creating very basic pieces.
Patagonia	Outdoor	Entry	Outdoor line with a focus on ethical/eco friendly manufacturing processes. more focused on performance than tech aesthetic, but their serious tech pieces are done in modern and fashionable cuts for the most part. similar to TNF except their garments are taken seriously within the innawoods community. Comparable to Arcteryx.
Stone Island	Tech Focused	High	With the goal of enchaining fibers and fabrics this long standing Italian sportswear brand produces military-esque styled clothing that's been on the top of the technical clothing industry
Stone Island Shadow Project	Utilitarian	High	Diffusion line of an Italian sportswear/casual clothing company focusing on a higher aesthetic side all still housing the functionality of the Stone Island name. High priced with good resale.
The North Face	Outdoor	Entry	Outdoors brand that can be found anywhere new and used. Can be very expensive and resale is decent because of strong demand from the general public and outdoors enthusiasts. Outwear shells and backpacks can work with the aesthetic.
Uniqlo	Casual	Entry	Japanese essential brand, since their innovation project have been incorporated functional clothing into most of their clothing. Look for items such as HEATTECH, AIRISM, and BLOCKTECH, the cheapest in its category that come with mid-tier Uniqlo build.
Y-3	Athletic	Middle	Sportswear collaboration between Yohji Yamamoto and Adidas. Construction is not robust, more suited for a fashion oriented look than real performance outdoors or for exercise.