Obsessive
Design
hadron™
Real Tough, Real Light. Mountain Ready
dynamic seam placement
Move Without Limits
high stitch count
Strength, Meet Mobility
custom lug design
Trail-Inspired Traction
Articulated fit
Creating natural movement
micro seams
Smaller seams, better performance
watertight™ zippers
Inventing a streamlined seal
stormhood™
Protection With a Clear View
Film series
Ep. 5: Empowering Movement
Find out what happens when we team up with Skip, a company of robotics experts, to help more people go farther in the mountains.
Ep. 4: The Making of Mountain Footwear
How we design shoes for mountain athletes chasing the (previously) impossible.
Ep. 3: The (Brief) Story of Our First Jacket
Go behind the seams of the jacket that started it all.
Ep. 2: How We Make a Harness
Find out what goes into every harness we create.
Ep. 1: Chasing the Perfect Fit
Beauty and function come together for Women's Run.
Custom Lug Design
REVOLUTIONARY TRACTION INFORMED BY MOUNTAIN ATHLETES.
Our custom lug design has bite. Mud, gravel, wet rock — doesn’t matter. We’ve fine-tuned them to grip whatever’s underfoot.
Shop innovation
WE’RE CHANGING HOW
SHOES KEEP YOU MOVING
FINE-TUNED TO KEEP YOU IN-TUNE WITH
EVERYTHING NATURE THROWS AT YOU.
Using our athlete’s personal customizations for inspiration, we’ve curated our lug design to help you cross just about anything you might encounter.
Whether you’re setting a personal best, training or just heading out to the park, there’s a whole lot of terrain you’ve got to cover. Our athlete-informed lug design delivers the versatility you need to keep you surefooted all the way.
Next objective please.
designed and tested
by athletes
From 2015 to the present, we’ve been collaborating with our athletes to create exactly what they need to perform their best.
VERTEX SHOE MEETS THE TANTALUS TRAVERSE
Terrain, terrain, terrain.
“Running flat sections, power hiking uphill, scrambling and climbing in the alpine, some snow, and finally back down to the valley bottom” — it’s all in a day’s run, says Arc’teryx athlete Eric Carter.
Partnering with designer Joël Salamin, they dialed in the lug design to handle these different demands.
“A big component of the Vertex is making it a really good climbing shoe while still maintaining its runnability,” says Carter.
Back and forth — again and again, these two perfected the outsole, eventually crafting a design that “smears on rock, edges precisely and runs flats and downhills.”
Or as Carter says, these shoes are “dialed in.”
Translation: An overall smoother outsole, a solid edge, and shallower, wider lugs outside that give way to deeper lugs on the inside.
STICK IT TO NATURE
Whether it’s varying terrain or inclement weather, you need shoes that take you from start to finish without pause. No slipping, no clogging up with mud, no breaking down in the middle of nowhere.
We always start with the athlete in mind. “That’s the key to great designs,” says Arc’teryx designer Joël Salamin.
From mapping out exactly what type of terrain they encounter to using post-mission feedback, “we work hard to incorporate everything they need.”
Because in the end, “our athletes depend on it.”
