Is Arc'teryx's Brand Identity Eroding as Some of its Production Goes to China and Other Countries?

High-end outdoor apparel company Arc'teryx is eroding the strength of its brand by contracting some of its manufacturing overseas and not fully embracing it.

If Arc'teryx is going to source production overseas they need to fully embrace it, just like Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC) did. The company needs to tell consumers about their corporate sustainability efforts, conditions in their overseas production facilities and have audits & accountability for their contractors. 

Arc'teryx's customer base are avid outdoor people.  These people as a group tend to value social responsibility highly when making decisions on buying.  When companies don't provide this information or worse yet offer weak corporate sounding gloss over statements consumers look elsewhere.

Its not good enough any more to tell consumers 25% of the products are made in China and other countries and the remainder is made in Canada.  Eco-consumers want specifics, they as a group do more product research than any other segment of the buying population before making a decision on what to purchase.  Eco-consumers want information so they can make informed decisions.  Be open and up front and consumers will respond and the focus will shift from the country of manufacture back to the quality of the final product.

Arc'teryx Diplomat ST Gore Windstopper® Jacket made from Italian wool.  Made in China
 

Arc'teryx was founded in 1991 in Vancouver and made all of its gear in Canada.  It was known as a highly respected small brand with impeccable quality.   The company started making climbing harnesses and then began making innovative garments known for their construction and fit. 

In 2002 Arc'teryx was bought by Salomon, owned at the time by Adidas.  With the global presence of Salomon and the increasing popularity of Arc'teryx, the company started to out source manufacturing of some of its garments to China and other countries.

This move is not uncommon in the industry, in fact it is more the norm these days.  However as more and more Arc'teryx gear was being made overseas the company continued to develop its image as the small Vancouver-based clothing designer and maker that it once was.

By making this decision the brand that was built on the idea of being small and high quality and producing everything in Canada started to lose the very identity it used to grow in the first place.  The company seemed not to realize this type of move didn't sit well with its customer base.

Then in 2005 as Salomon's sales were lagging Adidas sold Salomon and its brands to Helsinki-based Amer Sports Corporation.  As a result Arc'teryx is now a brand under Amer.

I called Arc'teryx to find out how much of their product line is made in China and was told some garments are made their because they simply couldn't keep up with demand in Vancouver.  The answer wasn't clear.  The man I spoke with said a lot of their Gore Paclite® garments were made in China.  However I knew it was more than that having seen their Diplomat ST jacket that was made in China and some of their other Polartec items coming from there as well. 

A simple Google search yields a wealth of commentary from surprised consumers reacting to the fact their Arc'teryx garment was made in China.  The most common comment is something to the effect of "I thought Arc'teryx made in Canada."

Arc'teryx was a small brand whose garments are expensive, they catered to a high end niche market of outdoor enthusiasts  who didn't want to be wearing the North Face jacket everyone else had, and were willing to a pay a price in order to get something better. 

Now according to Arc'teryx's web site, they're making the "majority" of their products in Vancouver but also have sourced production to China, Vietnam, Taiwan and New Zealand. 

A statement from Arc'teryx CEO Tyler Jordan on their parent company web site goes further and says the company currently has contracted manufacturing to eight countries.  Not just the four  they name on their own web site. 

Regardless, the company web site is quick to note, "All Arc’teryx products are constructed with the highest quality materials and are individually inspected and tested to the same exacting standards regardless of production origin."

They are missing the point.  Arc'teryx consumers don't want a product made in China, Vietnam or Taiwan.  If they wanted that they could get a North Face or any one of a host of other choices in outerwear that have sent production to China.  Arc'teryx was different they were made in Canada by Canadians, but now they are becoming like the rest. 

Worst its unclear which of their products are actually made overseas.  The company does not tell you on their web site or catalog.  If you're going to source production overseas tell consumers up front.  Embrace it.  Don't let them be surprised when they look at the label of their new garmet to find it was made in China.

Arc'teryx can learn a lot from another Canadian company, Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC).  MEC makes a whole line of high end technical outerwear much of which is made in Canada.  Like Arc'teryx they too source production overseas.  However, unlike Arc'teryx everything they sell through their web site and catalog is clearly labeled with the country where its made.  MEC goes a step further by actually providing information about their overseas production facilities as well as extensive social responsibility data. 

Instead of hiding it MEC embraces the fact they have sourced some of their production overseas and consumers are then able to make an informed choice based on their own criteria. 

Arc'teryx needs to make some changes to revive its brand identity.  Overseas production is not a positive for Arc'teryx whether it increases sales in the short term or not unless they can embrace it. 

Until then I am unclear what the Arc'Teryx brand stands for and I know I am not alone.

Comments

[Brian Rossini]

Here's a WHOLE TRUTH from a real person using the Arcteryx gear often.

I spend a lot of time in snowy or rainy places for fun, and am in the rain for Search and Rescue (Santa Barbara County) as well. I always use my AlphaSV jacket for protection when I can, unless I have to use the jacket with the badge for SAR. I purchased the Alph SV jacket many years ago. It was replaced on warranty a few weeks ago by a friendly enough crowd for some delamination issues, but I noticed differences and wrote the below email before doing any research about the current state of Arcteryx. After reading this blog, I understand why I found the design and construction issues I wrote about. I hope the Arcteryx crowd can band together and gain some value back from this company by staging an outcry heard round the nation. Can that happen? People would have to work hard to do it, and work hard for a few years...maybe the old Arcteryx employees could make it happen, but I don't know how many are left...and they'd need to start over. Would I support them? Yes. Would you? Yes.

I have a very obvious gmail address if you want to try to reach me. It should take you a single try.

On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 11:33 AM, Brian Rossini wrote:

Hi Mr. Howell,

I wrote this to Finn yesterday, but I haven't been hearing anything from him recently. In case he's on vacation I wanted to pass it on to someone else.

Have a great day,

- Brian Rossini

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brian Rossini
Date: Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: Alpha SV question
To: Finn.Purcell at arcteryx.com

Hey Finn,

I got that red jacket, it's pretty cool. Very light.

I wanted to ask some questions about it because it's pretty different from my last one in some ways (which was about 3 or 4 years older if I had to guess)

First, kind of prefacing the questions, I'm wondering if Arc'teryx went through any kind of shift in production style/values/QC over the last few years?

1) Hood drains into jacket: The hood doesn't effectively seal out vertical rainwater anymore...when the head circumferential elastic drawstring is pulled, it causes the visor part of the hood to pull in towards my head in a way that forms gutters on either side of the visor that channel water directly down into the throat/neck portion of the jacket. This seems to happen because of additional material added to the neck/head circumference of the hood.

2) The front zipper is watertight as ever, but it gets caught nearly 100% of the time on loosely stitched fabric on the inside of the upper lapel at the bend where the fabric transitions from in front of the chest to the neck/chin area. I think the bunching fabric is on the left side of the zipper from the wearer's perspective.
On the previous jacket I could zip it up and never worry about the zipper becoming caught on material, but with this new one I have to use my other hand to carefully keep material from bunching under the zipper where it transitions in front of my neck. This is similar to what happens on cheap sleeping-bags, material getting caught in the zipper.
I fear that I will eventually wear a hole in this fabric, but more immediately it is just hard to zip it up reliably because there is too much bunching fabric there.

3) Fit. This jacket billows much more than the previous jacket. It seems like there is additional material in the deltoid/upper-arm area, and a larger diameter neck. This may be the cause cause of increased difficulty in adjusting the hood to reduce facial exposure. The previous jacket seemed more fitted. It almost feels like the jackets went up a size. I did check to make sure this jacket is a medium, not a large:)

4) The elastic and stitching in the cuffs seem like a design compromise, the previous design was really nice. This is not a problem, but I did want to comment on it. This is part of what led me to question any kind of re-structuring or shift in style/values, as if trying to be more economical or switching stitching factories.

Let me know if I should just live with these things... I'm not sure there's anything I can do about this if all the jackets are like this now.

- Brian Rossini

[Big Jim]

First off... Arcteryx employs Asian sewers in it's manufacturing facilities... so either way, made in Canada or made in China, an Asian is building your gear.

Secondly, there is a phenomenal company called Westcomb (formed by ex-Arcteryx employees!) that still builds all their stuff in Vancouver. Check them out - their stuff is bomber and built for core consumers. (And oh yeah, their manufacturing is done by Asians as well).

Last thing... I have spent far and wide in order to find the best gear, and I keep returning to Patagonia. Their merino wool products are slowly taking over my closet. At the end of the day, they are a responsible company that is upfront about everything they do, and when it comes down to it, they err on the side of doing the right thing. You can't ask for more than that from a business.

Vote with your dollars!

[Kelso]

So does anyone have any suggestions on alternative brands that I should be buying from. I see a few suggestions (Westcomb, MEC, Patagonia) but wondering what other ideas people might have.

Thanks

[KD]

I am Canadian Chinese, have experience working with factories in China and visited them many times. I agree that the environmental law and control is lagging behind in China. I am not going to guess what kind of standard and practice that Arcteryx has oversea as we would never know the truth. However, I believe that the whole purpose of outsourcing is all about ROI. Other than providing a quality product, Arcteryx is here to make money, let's be realistic. If they continue to produce everything in Vancouver, we will all be happy, but they would not survive as the volume just isn't high enough. Same applies to many, many industries. I challenge you to find a home phone and cell phone that's made in North America. In fact, try finding 5 things in Bestbuy or Futureshop that's made in NA. Outsourcing oversea will always happen as any company grew larger overtime, as there's simply not enough volume to support the high NA overhead. Outsourcing is about survival for As many already said, some companies are still able to control the quality even made oversea. However, with first hand experience, it's very, very difficult to do so as you cannot afford sending many North American living oversea long term to follow up on all quality issues. The difference is not about the nationality of the person who done the sewing, but their mentality, their understanding and caring of quality. It's all due to how they were taught since birth. It takes a long time to "brain wash" your entire factory if you are hiring local workers, especially frequent movement of factory workers is not uncommon oversea. Outsourcing issues is a lot more complicated that just maintaining quality control.

I personally do not like products made in China more than those written before me. I second guess their quality, called me stereotype. However, I do feel there is greed in Arcteryx for keeping their high prices even for products made in China. I had a very hard time spending that much money on a made in China jacket, even in their outlet store in North Vancouver.