Best New Gear: November 2020
From sustainably made urban carry, to snow-ready ski packs, we’ve got November’s best new gear releases, all in one spot, for your perusing pleasure…
EDC
Bellroy Pouches
Little things are important. But also easily lost. But not with Bellroy’s nifty new range of pouches including the Desk Pouch, Standing Pouch, and Standing Pouch Plus. Each pouch features a self-standing design when full, along with wide openings and intuitive interior pocketing. All of which contribute to easily accessing your everyday and work tools. Plus they fold flat, making them easy to store in luggage for travel use too.
WESN Henry
Keen for a modern take on a classic? Meet the Henry, WESN’s take on a traditional slip-joint design from late 1800s Sweden. The knife features a 3-inch handle with a 2.35-inch blade made from Sandvik 14C28N steel. Lightweight at 1.6 oz, it’s compact enough to carry every day. It also comes in two handle options including grade 5 titanium scales with Cherry Wood inlays, as well as full titanium.
North St. Wallets
North St. Bags are known for their burly USA-made bags but now they’re introducing tough pocket companions to their lineup. Meet their new wallets, available in three designs and made by hand in Portland, Oregon, using scrap material left over from bag production. They come in a massive range of colors and three material choices including 1000D Cordura nylon, 100% recycled EcoPak, and canvas and denim printed fabric.
Vaer Watches D5 and D7 Diver
Founded by two California friends in 2016, Vaer is turning out some really interesting watches at affordable price points. Adding to their quiver of Field Watches, available with quartz and automatic movements, the duo just introduced the D5 and D7 Dive Watch lines.
The D5 Dive Series comes in five variations, named after prominent bodies of water such as Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Tropic. Like all Vaer watches, each D5 timepiece comes with two interchangeable 20mm watch straps, with steel bracelet and Horween Leather among the choices available. The watches are assembled and tested in America and use a Miyota 9015 Automatic Movement. They are rated to 200 meters (or 660 ft) and Super-LumiNova indices make the dial legible at night or when diving.
The D7 Swiss Diver is available at a higher price point. It comes in three variations but features a Swiss ETA 2824 movement and assembly in Switzerland.
Haerfest Mask Strap
One of our favorite brands, Haerfest out of New York, introduced a convenient, hands-free solution to carrying your mask. Like the rest of their collection, the team is working with their favorite material, leather, to bring some truly classy straps to your mask game. Available in ten colorways, the mask strap has two small clips that you attach to your mask. When you take off your mask in the car or when eating, instead of stuffing it in your pocket, or leaving it bunched up on a dirty table surface, you can let it hang around your neck. Once you get up to go, the mask is conveniently close to your face and ready to wear. One unexpected benefit is the weight of the clips pulls slightly down and back on the mask straps, relieving tension around the top of the ears.
Travel
Western Rise Versa Hat
Western Rise makes some of the best travel clothing in the industry. Now they’re turning all that expertise towards the humble hat. But a run-of-the-mill hat the Versa is not. Packable, understated to suit multiple environments, waterproof, stretchy for comfort, and with a moisture-wicking lining? What’s not to love?
Matador Beast Ultralight Series
Matador delivers an impressive blend of travel-friendly packability and outdoor-ready functionality in their Beast series of ultralight packs. The series features the Beast18 and Beast28, built to tackle demanding use with weatherproof and durable Robic® nylon. A flexible frame suspension system enables all-day active comfort, support and torsion while moving, yet also allows the bag to pack down small for compact storage in the included compression sack.
Urban
Olivers City Oxford Long Sleeve
This dapper offering from Olivers features Oxford Stretch Weave that wicks moisture and provides a comfortable fit for all-day wear. And with its stylish and versatile design, it’s a piece that can be worn to work or for a night out on the town.
Heylow Out of Office Button Down
Designer Patrick Healy (formerly of Modern Industry, Tortuga and Extended Forms) launched a new clothing and lifestyle brand inspired by surf and skate culture, and with the admirable goal of making America a happier place! Their launch product is the Out of Office Button Down. A tailored shirt built from post-consumer recycled materials and designed for comfort and style. It features a useful reversible design in a lightweight fabric that is highly breathable. It’s also UPF 50+ rated for sun protection and moisture-wicking for your active pursuits.
Reigning Champ x Polartec Advanced Athletic Wear Collection
Reigning Champ, the Canadian streetwear brand founded by Craig Atkinson, who also founded wings+horns makes some of our favorite and most comfortable hoodies. They’ve had a long partnership with Polartec and the two recently collaborated on a new athletic wear collection. It features five of Polartec’s best-performing materials: Power Air, Power Wool, Power Dry, Thermal Pro, and Power Stretch Pro across a variety of t-shirts, hoodies, pullovers, and pants; all designed to stay dry, breathable, and warm without feeling heavy.
Boundary Supply Rennen Collection
Boundary Supply brings sustainability, classic style and urban functionality together in their new Rennen Collection. The series features a daypack, sling bag and pouch, giving you options for larger and smaller loads and modular organization. Speaking of organization, the series also makes use of Boundary’s magnetic docking system to attach Boundary accessories for personalized organization. The series utilizes recycled materials featuring upcycled plastic bottles, as well as X-Pac options too.
Outdoors
EVERGOODS Signal Blue Collection
We dig the ruggedly built, functional, and cleanly stylish gear that EVERGOODS likes to call crossover carry. Why? They’re great multifunctional pieces that blend outdoor durability and comfort with urban-friendly aesthetics and practicality. And while we love all things black when it comes to carry, sometimes you want something a little different. Dare we say, a little bolder. And that’s what EVERGOODS’ limited edition Signal Blue collection delivers. Five practical pieces, all delivering a solid punch of blue that will make your carry really pop in all the right ways.
Osprey Soelden and Sopris Ski/Snowboard Packs
Osprey is well known for its comfortable, practical packs designed to help you explore outdoors. Now they’re helping you take the adventure to the slopes with their men’s Soelden and women’s Sopris ski/snowboard packs. The packs come in standard and pro versions, with the pro option featuring a flight-friendly Alpride E1 electronic avalanche airbag.
Osprey Talon 22 & Tempest 20 – New Sustainable Multi-Sport Packs
If you spend enough time around Osprey you’ll recognize their Talon/Tempest line. For 2021, Osprey is continuing the tradition of making great multi-sport packs but completely reinventing the bags. These new packs utilize Osprey’s new and most advanced back panel and are the first use of Bluesign approved fabric made from Robic recycled nylon. The back panel is the result of a long-term innovation project coming out of the brand’s innovation lab, led by none other than Osprey co-founder Mike Pfotenhauer. The new injection-molded, die-cut foam AirScape back panel is engineered with horizontal channels to allow flex in the vertical plane while staying flat horizontally. The process also reduces plastic waste to near zero.
The Talon 22 / Tempest 20 are just the first sizes released, with the full collection coming out in 2021. This is really something to keep an eye on.
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