A Story of Mountains and Moodboards – The Rise of Gorpcore
Gorpcore. A word that has become so synonymous with both fashion and lifestyle that we are seeing jackets that had been thrown out and forgotten about now have a resurgence like never before. This immensely popular movement in recent years has transcended from mere fit pics on Instagram in a GORE-TEX shell jacket to become one of, if not the most, influential vogues of recent times.
But how has a trend that orients itself towards going outside and basking in nature captivated such a modern, technology-dependent society? All signs unambiguously point towards the UK, and ironically its use of social media.
For those who don’t know by now, gorpcore refers to a style which inhabits the lifestyle of the outdoors; garments that harmonise with nature, with their main purpose to work in a way which allows for greater, faster, and longer exploration. Jackets, pants, accessories, and shoes are all equipped with ingredients such as eVent membranes, Vibram soles, and Cordura fabrics to battle the weather. Like techwears more casual cousin, gorpcore adopts the same importance towards functionality to allow for ease of use in real-life scenarios but does so with more of a focus in nature rather than cityscaping.
Although the movement certainly originated from multiple corners of the world, it’s only natural that the place where gorpcore really came into its own is a place is a palce where it’s raining and windy almost 90% of the time: the UK. Often overlooked as a powerhouse in fashion, the gloomy but charming home of the Roast Dinner has been breeding some of the finest talents in functional, outdoor-oriented clothing and continues to be a creative melting pot for the younger generation.
Although others in the scene such as Canada’s organic.lab and designers like Colin Meredith [who we also interviewed twice - view the first here - second here] - and Nicole McLaughlin were some of the pioneers who reinvented this new-age of functional outdoor fashion, they walked so others could run [or better yet, hike]. It seems that even though the rest of the world was certainly embracing this new wave, with pages such as hikingpatrol and advanced.research who we can’t forget when talking about the progression of gorpcore, it was the UK who really ran with it and made it their own from a fashionable perspective.
A bubbling soup consisting of all kinds of subcultures for a while now, the spotlight on functional clothing has unravelled the power of the many creative and influential minds in the UK. We see people like Daniel Pacitti, who, as a Co-owner of vintage store 194local, brought vintage military styles to the table and put it on some of the biggest stars on the planet. We see stylists like Tin Ed, also known as One Norff, having implemented the Northern style into music videos, editorials, and more. We see designers such as Jean-Luc Ambridge and Rob Boyd, some of the most sought-after minds for functional brands with the likes of Nike, Goldwin and Adidas, and influencers like Megan Trong, who have been reposted a million times, wearing brands from Nike ACG, andWander, and Oakleys.
The UK is the destination for outdoor clothing right now, and those who have been following the styles in the UK know this doesn’t come as a surprise. The North has always been cloaked in tracksuits, rain jackets, and techy clothing, and subcultures like scally, roadman, and hooliganism all bring their individual functional garments to the table. While the outdoor scene has always been out there, it has been disguised as something else.
This all changed during the pandemic when people were locked in and began to rediscover the great outdoors and learned to value outdoor activities. With that came a greater admiration for outdoor clothing and an overall aesthetic that has found its way from the highlands onto all our smartphone screens. People found a greater love for going outside, and through that started investing in equipment such as their clothing which further enhanced this activity.
This is where gorpcore truly came into its own in the UK. Being a vessel for easy access to destinations for hikes, running trails, and climbing, the UK would show this through what we now know of as Instagram mood boards. Accounts like gorpgirls, advanced.rock, and 114.index helped spread the knowledge and create communities of outdoor enthusiasts from around the globe by being able to show authentic content around this growing fashion trend.
When we refer to Instagram mood boards, we are talking about pages which compile the entire universe of something and trickle this into a feed which easily and accessibly showcases a ‘mood’. Gorpcore is the picture-perfect example of how trends nowadays are heavily influenced by this kind of social media. It’s, of course, no big secret that influencers have taken over, but gorpcore adopted a unique take on the now prevalent social influence power. Instead of posting a singular product that would sell out overnight, the movement created a whole aesthetic around a fit or style. Mood boards such as the ones mentioned would promote an entire lifestyle, in which the fashion became an introduction into this lifestyle and vice versa.
While some might say this is simply a micro trend, it’s hard to deny that mood boards have become an amplifier for fashion trends. Pages, mostly on Instagram, that curate their content in a way that their followers immediately get an idea of what it’s about in just the blink of an eye. It’s much more than just presenting a product. It’s contextualising the product. Hence it is to no ones surprise that mood board pages have been seen gaining interest from big companies that try to sell their items to a certain target audience. Nowadays, you’re not buying a pair of shoes, a coat, or a bag - you’re buying a certain lifestyle.
With Gorpcore and the outdoors, this is easy to explain. While one of the driving forces behind the trend has been the easy-to-style and unisex cuts, another main reason is that you can experience “something exciting, adventurous” in these garments. For people that have been drawn to the outdoors for a long time before it became instagrammable this may sound ridiculous, but a wide range of people just recently [re]discovered the beauty of mother nature. Yet, exactly those outdoor heads have become the trailblazer behind a movement of Instagram accounts that not only curate beautiful slideshows but go way further and inform their community about their activities like hiking, mountaineering, or climbing and even organize events as communal hikes.
Although made massive within the the UK market in recent years, gorpcore’s origin in fact dates to back to 2017, when Jason Chen from the New York-based magazine ‘The Cut’ introduced the term “Gorpcore”, which derives from hikers’ snacks “, good ol’ raisins and peanuts.” The trend based on dressing in outdoor and mountaineering clothing succeeds the so-called “Normcore,” which saw a lot of casual-contemporary clothing like COS and Acne products in sober colourways. But when brands like Prada or Off-White began to introduce more functional fabrics and accessories with snap hooks, the outdoors made it to the runways of the big cities. In his article, he humoristically describes the beginnings of the trend, where the people in NYC wearing fleeces and rain jackets, “most of whom would sooner die than drink from a Nalgene.”
But, now five years later, in 2022, Arcteryx jackets flood the market, big fashion houses are trying to get a piece of the pie with their own renditions of gorpcore classics, and even the likes of Drake can be seen fishing in a Klattermusen vest in one of his latest music videos. Besides all the memes and jokes, it’s safe to say that GORE-TEX jackets, cargo pants, and shoes made for the mountains have found their spot in the modern fashion industry.
This trend has been here for a minute now, and from what we can see, it’s here to stay - at least some parts of it, and it is easy to see why. It is only natural for movements like this to become so integral to our everyday wardrobes. Once you feel the power of the functionality behind some of these garments, it’s hard to ever go back. And with brands that don’t even orbit the terrains of the outdoors also utilising some of the ingredients used in gorpcore, we can’t ever see it fading away completely.
To truly learn why the UK is at the forefront of this trend right now, what makes the UK so unique for outdoor enthusiasts, and the importance of authentic social media pages for shaping opinions and building communities, we managed to sit down with Hannah Da Silva from gorpgirls [GG], Liam Furneaux from advanced.rock [AR] and Lewis Wilson from 114.index [114] to get first-hand knowledge from the epicentre of gorpcore. Join us as we dive into exclusive insight into some of the best to do it, both on the trails and on social media.
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Firstly, what came first for you? Fashion, or the outdoors? And at what point did you find these two merging together?
AR: I’d say fashion definitely came first, I grew up skateboarding so a lot of my fashion influence came from that. I started rock climbing in 2017 so at that point, I was already mixing skateboarding fashion with more outdoor clothing. As I got more into climbing, spending most of my time hiking or out climbing, that’s when I started to wear more technical clothing that was suited for these activities.
GG: I grew up in Canada, very lucky to have nature super accessible to me, so as a kid I was pushed to constantly explore my environment. I’d say the outdoors definitely came first. My foundation in outdoor exploration began with portaging trips on the lakes, which meant canoeing and backpacking in between lakes and campsites. These trips as a kid were the first stepping stones towards my relationship with the outdoors. I used to go on multi-day trips in Nike running shoes and sweatpants, whatever felt comfortable. Then came Instagram, and pages such as @advanced.rock @114.index and @l.holl that got me really into understanding the gear and fashion side.
114: This is a weird one for me because technically I was introduced to the outdoors when I was in Scouts when I was younger. But it's not something I really appreciated until I grew up more and by that time I was already very into fashion and what I was wearing. It was probably around 4 years ago that these began to merge for me and it really became a case of me enjoying the outdoorwear for what it is and really understanding its purpose.
As people who test the products hands-on: What really makes a garment functional?
AR: I personally think something that fits and moves well with what you do. So if a pair of trousers, baselayer or a jacket moves to the shape of your body as you’re climbing or walking, I find it makes the experience so much more enjoyable because you’re comfortable and not restricted in your movements.
GG: For me this means being functional for the condition and sport. Whether that means being insulated for the cold, or waterproof for rain. Also paying attention to details such as zips and pockets, making the sport more convenient for the wearer.
114: Ventilation. There are far too many pieces out there designed as so-called activewear but the minute you begin to move it becomes a sweatbox. I think also feeling like a garment actually has a sole purpose too helps in its functionality. There’s no use trying to design a generally “all round” jacket because it will end up not living up to the name. An example I use when asked this question is the Klattermusen Ansur jacket and how it seems expensive for something that feels like paper but in reality the engineering that the brand has put into that fabric make it one of the most functional windbreakers I’ve ever owned. It doesn’t attempt to be anything else or anything more, the jacket sticks to its role and excels - an essence of functionality in my opinion.
Outdoor clothing and footwear is probably one of the biggest fashion genres of today, especially for the young crowd in the UK. Why do you think it’s so loved there specifically, and by the next generation?
AR: I think social media platforms have a big part to play in this. It's so easily accessible to see what people are wearing these days and find out what the new trends are. But I also think people are wearing more outdoor clothing because the silhouettes and designs are fashionable or “trendy” but functional at the same time. The younger generation is realizing they can still look fashionable whilst getting caught out in the rain haha.
GG: I think the outdoor clothing phenomenon or ‘GorpCore’ is a direct link to UK streetwear. We have seen UK streetwear take influence from many different subcultures, and during the pandemic with more people starting to explore the outdoors, this very easily trickled down to the fashion city kids. After the pandemic, kids were looking for freedom but also security. Outdoorgear links to both of these things, offering functionality and being long-lasting, suitable for more situations, making it also more of a sustainable clothing choice.
114: I think in the UK if you look back throughout the last 5 or 6 decades you’ll see that the youth in the country have always been fashion-forward and tend to be on the precipice of trend-setting. I feel that this is no different with the outdoor clothing trend that exploded from micro trend in 2019 to the biggest in the world by the latter half of 2021. I think it’s so loved here because of a few things. Mainly the weather, which if it wasn’t already bad enough, has been accentuated by global warming and has opened many people's eyes to the new world and that it is now a necessity to have clothing to hand which can keep you protected but also comfortable. Another reason I think it has taken off so much is because there was a real need to escape after the lockdowns. Escape out of the urban environment and that was where people discovered that regular streetwear just wouldn’t cut it. As the popularity of venturing out grew, the popularity of functional clothing grew in tandem.
Can you name some of your favourite (and maybe) overlooked gears and garments for going hiking?
AR: Firstly I'd say a good pair of hiking boots. I used to wear trail running shoes on hikes but soon realized everyone needs that ankle support! Maybe even hiking poles for added protection, I don’t use them myself at the moment, but I know I will one day. Lastly, I’d say binoculars, something I've only just started taking out with me on hikes.
GG: To be completely honest, a trusty pair of sweatpants has taken me a long way in the outdoors. It’s something most people have in their closets, they’re comfortable and keep you warm at night, and in the winter during dry conditions you can catch me hiking in them. I almost never go on a camping trip without a pair in my pack. In my early days of camping/hiking these were such a staple and will continue to be. Sorry to not plug some super cool under the radar gore-tex gear haha.
114: A piece of gear that’s often overlooked to me is a headlamp. Most people don’t think of it as necessary due to them going out during the afternoons, but having that in your pack just gives that freedom to venture a bit further and push the limits of that last bit of light more but still get back to the car or home safe when it fades. Carabiners can be massively useful too, for keeping hands free of things like rubbish bags or securing wet clothes or shoes to the outside of your bag.
Garments wise you can kind of make a case for anything but one I’ve found that often goes under the radar is a simple single-layer gilet or vest. Something like a nylon running vest can really do bits when you’re out in the cold but moving. On the flip side, a compact down or insulated jacket on your person no matter the season can be a literal lifesaver.
Gorpcore is consistently on the rise, even to the point of fast fashion brands dipping their toe into it and wanting to get a piece of the pie, releasing their own renditions of items such as the super wide baggy cargos. As pioneers of the trend, what’s your thoughts on this?
AR: I guess this has happened for years with many other fashion trends and not just “gorpcore”. It’s kind of a natural process when things come into fashion. I guess they have a job to keep up with current trends so the brand stays relevant. That being said, it doesn’t mean what they’re doing is helping at all. They’ll produce cheaper versions of outdoor garments which won’t last as long and then it just becomes waste. You’re better off buying from the brands who actually make the technical clothing because it’ll last much longer or buying second-hand on eBay.
GG: I’m forever an advocate for people getting more outside, and if experimenting with the fashion side of it, and wearing more technical clothing is part of that then I support it. But when fast fashion brands start to contribute, making it more mass-produced and with the poor treatment, poor pay and poor working conditions for fast fashion garment workers, I can’t get behind it.
114: My thoughts on this are much the same as every person who’s even remotely clued up. This is how these fast fashion companies work, moving from trend to trend at pace; mass producing product that mimics the “real deal” at a price point most everyone can access it at. But what is the worst part is that this trend specifically has seen a promotion in the respect for the planet and natural environments, a conscious person understands the damage from fast fashion monsters have no morals or respect for this planet or the different environments they are knowingly destroying. There has to be some form of accountability from them and an admission of guilt that they are fast becoming one of the world's biggest polluters.
We see brands now add on Vibram soles to their shoes, GORE-TEX membranes to their jackets. Functionality is becoming fashionable and it’s a great thing we are seeing the bigger brands make their items more functional, therefore hopefully longer lasting, but do you think this trend is here to stay? Or are brands also just hopping on the possible momentary trend?
AR: I think the outdoors is here to stay haha. As far as the trend, I think the people who’re into outdoor activities will continue to do them and wear functional outdoor clothing mixing it with other pieces. And the people who’re here for the trend will move onto the next thing when it comes. I think it’ll be here for a long time though!
GG: I think it will be here to stay for a while and will evolve into a more futuristic, techy version of what we’re seeing today. I think it’s great that designers are incorporating more features to make their pieces last longer and more functional for everyday consumers or explorers.
114: It’s great to see these things happening and people like Vibram getting the recognition they deserve outwith the traditional outdoors scene, and I guess it does show that these brands who are now utilising the technology to push a more hard-wearing or purposeful product understand that there has been a move towards this from the general consumer. However, much like the way fast fashion companies are mimicking functional gear, trend savvy brands can be seen to be hopping on it too, just in a different way by equipping product with a Gore-Tex membrane as they know it markets itself to a degree and is a total buzzword right now in terms of the current outdoor trend.
On top of all this though, personally, I feel like this trend is here to stay - at least for a while longer anyway. It may not be as intense or in your face as it is currently, but the shift in how most consumers are now not only looking at products but analysing it in a way won’t be going away any time soon. People are generally travelling a lot more now, becoming more active in their day-to-day lifestyles which is probably slightly symptomatic of “functional” clothing and sports & outerwear being at the forefront of everything from shop windows to editorials posted on social media.
We also see brands such as Oakley’s making a huge comeback, becoming a gorpcore archiving icon. In your opinion, in 20 years from now, what brand do you think will be the ‘archive’ brand of the gorpcore genre?
AR: Good question! I think crocs will be the next brand for this! Especially now that Ryan is working there, pulling out old catalogs and silhouettes to take reference from. I think La Sportiva could have the same effect if they brought back some of their old styles.
GG: Brands such as Oakley had such a cult following back in the day, so I imagine the brands both kids and outdoor explorers love today will have that same status in 20 years. Brands such as Salomon or Arcteryx.
Advanced Rock, your page goes beyond simple Gorpcore aesthetic but features your trips and adventures in the wild. What role do you think “authenticity” plays in the success of your page, and an outdoor page in general during this often-artificial world of social media?
AR: I think people recognise when it’s “authentic” and want to follow to see more of what you’re up to and posting. The page actually started as more of a climbing page under a different name, just to document my own climbing and old climbing magazines haha. So I think from day one it’s just been about documenting adventures and the outdoors for me, since then I've taken focus on the clothing side from time to time but it’s always about the adventures.
114.index, your Bio reads: “References for functional living.” How do you define functional living?
114: In my opinion, there’s not really one answer to this in my head. I guess a reference is just something that alludes to whatever the subject is, so in this case one person may reference my feed and interpret functional living as being active, climbing hills or wild swimming. Whereas another may interpret my bio as going about their daily life but living it in functional clothing or adopting things that are multipurpose to them. To me though, it changes a lot with how my life is at certain points - a mix of both examples I’ve given but sometimes diet or work-life balance comes into it too because as a human we can't just be one dimensional otherwise we cease to function in certain ways.
Your account was started in August 2019. Within two years, it has established itself as one of the major platforms for the outdoor niche community. How big of a role does interacting with your followers play for you?
114: The growth for me personally has been pretty wild and still to this day surreal. When I first posted I set myself a goal of 5K in two years. When that 2 year anniversary rolled around last august I was up at 40-something thousand which completely blew me away. Interaction has played a huge role from the very beginnings of 114.index as I always felt that being a completely faceless account, you need to have some sort of personality in there to remind people who interact that you’re still just a normal person regardless of follower count. This growth has also now slightly hindered just how much I interact from post to post, it’s a bit of a double edged sword in the sense of as you grow, you start to get some work out of it and really get busy with the page. However it’s this busyness that then begins to take time away from sitting to go through comments, messages, requests and interact on a personal level - but I’m very aware of this and I’m slowly starting to get back to it again on a community level. I still go through almost all of my tagged photos throughout the week, even though I stopped the features on Fridays.
To gain such a following in 2 years is also very impressive. Why do you think so many people got on board with the outdoor scene?
114: Lockdown one was a massive period of growth for myself and it seemed to never stop for pretty much a year which was crazy. There was a huge urge to get outdoors and relieve the built up stress of being forced indoors for months on end, which at the time people had nothing better to do than scroll through social media for 10 hours a day. There was an element of luck that this sort of clothing was just starting to get momentum on a wider scale on social media, so combining this with insanely high traffic on Instagram is how I see the growth happening. Of course people must like what I was posting or else they wouldn’t follow and continually engage, and its this that became a bit of an outlet, a daydream into where they were going to go as soon as they could get back out of the house.
Do you feel like that with the gorpcore wave, that went through a broad mass of young people, also the outdoors itself became more accessible to younger and more diverse hikers?
GG: I think that with more and more people sharing their adventures, especially for women it has encouraged people to get outside more and feel less alone. However with many major internet trends it has been very much led by the straight white male. So I think there is still a lot of work to be done within the community, inclusivity and diversity. Which is where GorpGirls is working to make its mark.
How do you prepare for a gorpgirl hike? Can you take us with you into how the planning works?
GG: We will usually post on Instagram announcing the activation, whether it's a hike or climb a few days prior to the live sign up. Girls can then sign up via the link, and we usually take the first 10 girls to sign up. We choose easily accessible routes to London, looking at a 2 hour train journey max. We’ve been super lucky to have brand sponsorships, so in the past we have been able to provide kit for the participants as well.
The accessibility to females especially is also a refreshing thing to see. As a fairly male dominant trend to start with, we are seeing more and more female creatives and pages like yourself come through the ranks. Why do you think females are drawn to this style?
GG: Women have been super involved in the outdoors scene for a very long time, I think it just hasn’t been shown on Instagram, or going unnoticed amongst other content. It's been very refreshing to see more of these large outdoor pages posting female content, and growing the online community via GorpGirls. I think women have been drawn to posting more of this style because of this new wave of female outdoors content but have always been inclined to get outside just as much as our male peers.
Can you name some of your favorite female-run outdoor pages that our readers and we should follow?
GG: Yes! My good friend Rikki posts the best content for California camping and trekking.
HikeClerb and its founder, @evemeetswest, have been one of my favourite pages and communities to follow for years! They really are the blueprint for inclusivity within the outdoors. And finally, @hy_mengmeng_hy is a girl I found via GorpGirls who posts the most insane nature.
How do you think pages like yours that show this “authentic” lifestyle of the outdoors have elevated the Gorpcore trend?
AR: People are seeing what myself and other people/pages are up to and want to try it for themselves. They realize how easily accessible it is to get outside for a walk, a run, hike whatever you’re into. Then maybe the clothing aspect of it follows after, the more you get into the activity the more you research about the garments and which to wear for your activity. People are also feeling the positive effect it has on your mental health to get outside!
You also work with outdoor garment companies for editorials and shootings. What is essential for a good outdoor editorial?
AR: I think this one ties back to authenticity. If you’re working on a climbing editorial, it makes sense to use actual climbers for the shoot so it looks authentic. I think just having fun with it and enjoying the outdoor space you’re in whilst shooting helps as well.
It feels like Bristol birthed some of the most influential people in the UK outdoor/ functional garment scene. What makes this area so unique and influential for this scene?
AR: I feel like I took most of my outdoor gear inspiration from older people out hiking in the Lake District hahaha. Bristol has birthed some of the best people in ‘technical’ and ‘functional’ clothing for sure. I wouldn’t say they’re specifically in the ‘outdoor scene’ or ‘gorpcore’ as they take reference from much more than that but Bristol locals Rob Boyd and Jean-Luc have played a big part in the way we look at functional clothing and how we wear it. Themselves and others around them were wearing outdoor gear back in 2013/2014 so already spearheading the trend from early.
We see you are also an avid climber, another activity which has soared in popularity since the rise of gorpcore. Could you ever see the crossover of the fashion trend and the activities involved going too far? Could you ever see people wearing the Fivefingers walking down Park Street for instance?
AR: Yeah climbing has really taken off, seeing so many people get into it, so good to see! I think too far would be people wearing actual rock climbing shoes as an everyday shoe hahaha that would be too uncomfortable. I’m an avid fivefinger wearer haha, I've been converted, they’re super comfy! Not sure I could see many people wearing them in Bristol but they’re definitely getting more popular amongst this scene. It’s cool to see people pushing the style and wearing garments that might just be for a particular outdoor activity but wearing it as fashion. I’m sure some will say it gets taken too far but I guess it’s all personal preference :)
In the past couple of years, outdoor aesthetics and outerwear left the mountains and can be seen in the fashion weeks from Paris to Milan too. What do you think of this development, and why do you think it came to be?
114: This development is definitely a natural one in terms of trend cycles and rapid rise in popularity. I don’t see it as a bad thing in the majority of cases and even if the “wrong” type of person begins to buy into it, I feel that in a way this trend has somewhat educated people or at least opened their mind a little bit to go out and explore more in nature. I also see this as a slight forecast to how much further this trend is going to go, with FW23 looking much the same as the last few seasons in terms of inspirations, influences and aesthetics it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see a lot of the same roll over yet again into SS24 collections from a lot of designers and brands.
Can you name some of your favourite outdoor brands that really do things differently to the others. The one who is above all when it comes down to functionality?
114: In terms of who does things differently, It’s got to be Klattermusen for me. They really do have a good ethos and vision for the brand, I’ve got a lot of love for the people who work at the brand and share this vision and the quality of gear they continually engineer is fantastic. It’s been one of my favourite brands for the last couple years now and the fact that they are so environmentally conscious, produce their own fabrics and don’t deviate from their path to submit to the market speaks volumes.
Canadian trail running brand Norda are another who have spent time engineering some seriously incredible footwear that really does function for what they believe is its true purpose. The use of experimental fabrics like Dyneema and the composition of a one-piece upper and chunky Vibram sole feels great on foot.
Thank you!
About the author:
Peter is a writer and senior editor based in Berlin. In his studies, he began to dive into Japanese culture and its perception overseas. Partially located in Tokyo, he continues to research culture and whether it’s possible to eat more than two bowls of ramen a day.
Joe Goodwin is a Tokyo based creative and writer. Born in the UK, but now living in Japan, he explores his dialect with fashion and subculture as he dives deep into the neon streets and back alleys of Tokyo.
