Jan 10

Jan 10 Spyder Metro Parka GTX (2019)

Alex Rakestraw

GORE-TEX, Lifestyle, Parka, Review

Spyder Metro Parka GTX (2019)

An iconic ski brand cuts a new line.

Spyder Metro GTX Parka (2019)

Type: Parka / Use: Lifestyle / Face: Nylon / Insulation: Hybrid

Technologies: GORE-TEX Infinium Windstopper, PrimaLoft Down Blend Silver

Price: $600.00

Imagine you’re a ski brand.

(Since corporations are people, this shouldn’t be hard.)

You, John Q. Ski Brand, are facing a dilemma.

A nasty mix of climate change, rising inequality, and general preference shifts have put your core business at risk. Ski gear is expensive but justifiable when people are skiing. When they’re not, it’s not. Even the dullest roleplayed C-corp can see trouble downhill. And so, like a practiced skier, you pivot.

In the twilight of the 2010’s, nearly every major ski brand – Obermeyer, Helly Hansen, Mammut, you name it – launched some sort of “lifestyle” collection. The briefs must have read like Mad Libs. Take the (adjective) technologies that made (proper noun) a legend. (Verb) them for the streets. Some were ambitious. Others, less so. What they all had in common: a shared vision of the writing on the wall.

In the last fall/winter of the decade, legendary American ski brand Spyder launched its first “Mountain Lifestyle” collection.

And believe me, Johnny. It’s one hard left turn.

The Everest of “Mountain” is the Metro, a hybrid down parka with enough heat to close a chairlift. Aesthetically, it’s a mix between a greatcoat and an N-3B – a coat straight from Advanced Wars, with tastefully oversized features to prove it. The styling direction reminds me of Goldwin’s Hunting Parka, just drawn by a heavier hand. It’s not as precise. But it is handsome.

While the Metro is certainly good-looking, like any Real Person®, the beauty is on the inside. The coat runneth over with Primaloft’s Down Blend Silver, a mix of down and synthetic insulation meant for all-weather resilience. That weather-resistant filling is then topped with GORE’s Infinium Windstopper – not exactly waterproof, but with a PFC-free DWR, it gets close.

As feature sets go, it’s a smart choice. The net of that almost-waterproofness is a loud and proud oversized field coat without the crinkly corset of a full 3L membrane. GORE-TEX proper makes for nice marketing, but with the synthetic blend and DWR/Windstopper combo, it is very difficult to feel the cold wet through this jacket.

There’s a time and a place for the Frozen Ranges of the world. It just typically ends with a hip cut. Here, a full-length space heater is freed from Michelin Man impersonations care of a supple, wool-like nylon face. An armada’s worth of pockets (including two (2) different bicep pocket designs) break up the monotony. It’s part Star Fleet admiral’s coat, part Bomb Cyclone blizzard buster. I like mine a lot. And – in a sentence that makes you totally get why ski brands are in a bind – at $600, it’s one of the more affordable parkas in its class.

It’s worth mentioning that this affordability comes through in the little things. The fasteners look great – inkblot buttons on a pen-sketch field. They do, however, feel quite cheap. The construction is solid but not gobsmacking. The main zipper is sealed but not super user-friendly. Durability won’t be a concern here, but for true details nerds, try it on first. The package as a whole feels premium. Under a microscope, there’s room for improvement.

A final note on wearability.

The Metro parka is stupendously warm. But because it doesn’t have that full-bore GORE membrane, it’s also quite breathable. I have no trouble wearing it, indoors and out. With a sweatshirt on crowded subway cars. With a wool shacket on a long walk to work. It just performs.

All in all, the Spyder Metro Parka is a exactly that: a metropolitan parka, courtesy of America’s most prolific ski brand. I like how it wears. I like how it looks. And for a pinnacle parka, it’s reasonably priced.

Sure, it was born from a business case and that fact sometimes pokes through. But hey – that’s snow biz.