re: OT Ballers: Name outwear brand that is more baller than North Face

Barbour certainly is more upper crust than anything else in this thread.

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Mountain Hardware has always been the outerwear of the elite and rarefied.

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Until it was bought by Columbia, you mean

Not caring about any status, I have found a couple of North Face items to be the very best in quality and comfort I have owned; a North Face Denali fleece jacket because this thing is way warmer than it should be and a Triclimate jacket. I would say their jackets are the best made. I used to own a North Face pack but I have sheleved that for an Osprey. It's got the best warranty of any item, ever made on the planet and it's obscenely high quality for the price.

Barbour, Filson, etc. is just a totally different category for most people. I have two Barbour jackets that I like a lot and a bunch of Filson stuff (mostly bags), but I'm not lugging that shite to do any real outdoor activities.

I wear Barbour to work and holiday gatherings when I want to look like I'm in a Lexus commercial, and I carry my Filson bags on overnight trips to fly fishing lodges and such.

I know some people swear by Filson for actual outdoor activities, but it's just not that practical for most outdoor/work pursuits when there are equally tough synthetic options (probably for cheaper).

I still wear North Face even though poors wear it now. It's just too practical for me not to. Plus they last forever. I have jackets that are 15 years old and like new.

Patagonia has some good stuff, but the price to quality ratio is terrible.

Arcteryx I think it's stupid to pay such a premium for performance related features if you're just wearing the damn thing to the grocery store.

I wore a Filson Mackinaw Cruiser when it was cold working in the woods. Worked really well, and I could go from work directly to a button-down environment and fit right in

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Patagonia has some good stuff, but the price to quality ratio is terrible.

Arcteryx I think it's stupid to pay such a premium for performance related features if you're just wearing the damn thing to the grocery store.

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Disagree on Patagonia. If the point is you can get nearly as high quality stuff for less, it's true. But they're a good company that is used both by soccer moms and mountaineers, and they've put together a really solid stable of pieces that are either fads, or prized by the outdoors community, or both.

Arcteryx is expensive, but it really is the shite. The fits are so much better even than good competitors (Patagonia) and it's outright bombproof. I've had a fair number of shells in my life, and my 3-4 year old Beta AR quite truly looks unused after plenty of hiking/camping and general rain jacket usage.

Honestly I wish they'd start making more grocery store styled products, I'd buy them for the better fit alone.

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Barbour, Filson, etc. is just a totally different category for most people. I have two Barbour jackets that I like a lot and a bunch of Filson stuff (mostly bags), but I'm not lugging that shite to do any real outdoor activities. I wear Barbour to work and holiday gatherings when I want to look like I'm in a Lexus commercial, and I carry my Filson bags on overnight trips to fly fishing lodges and such. I know some people swear by Filson for actual outdoor activities, but it's just not that practical for most outdoor/work pursuits when there are equally tough synthetic options (probably for cheaper).

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Agree with all this.

When I started building my house, I didn't use my Filson or Barbour.

Hard to beat Carhartt for dirty work.

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when I want to look like I'm in a Lexus commercial

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Just caught that...