The Arrivals AER Puffer (2019)

Type: Insulator / Use: Lifestyle / Face: Polyester / Insulation: 700 fill down

Technologies: n/a

Remember that scene in Zoolander?

Where Derek goes home to go coal-mining, and he ends up in that bar watching his merman commercial while his roughneck family looks agape?

Just keep that moment in mind.

The Arrivals AER Puffer is a 700 fill down jacket with more creature comforts than a puffy deserves. It is a lovely coat. And I’m completely repulsed by it.

Features-wise, the AER is a coat carte blanche. The face fabric is a robust stretch poly. The filling is a 90/10 down blend. There’s some nice big hardwear bits. All-in-all, it should not cost what it costs. But then you get to the styling – and the feeling – and by golly, it all makes sense.

The AER Puffer is outerwear as accessory. Every single visual detail of the AER was designed with a certain winking cool – the idea that features needn’t be functional in the absolute, so long as they do a good job and look nice doing it. That’s why the bungee adjustments just sort of float there in their metal grommets. They don’t work as well as if they were flush. But daaaaahling, they’ll do just fine.

Once you get over the scattering of suboptima (on your $450 jacket), the AER comes into its own. Roomy fleece-lined zip pockets make colds hands cozy. An oversized double-zip makes this one of the more seat-friendly coats around. Typographic details and the no-one-uses-these-but-they’re-neato straps add a feeling of sophistication. And, because it’s a fashion piece first, the fit is superb. I really liked My size Large is flattering in cut and agile, too – something just not expected from the burly face fabric.

Styling came easy. Compliments followed after. To be egregious, I paired it with my Glade Arc’teryx Alpha SV and – credit to the AER – it actually looked great.

The more I wore the AER, the more I found myself charmed by it. Which surprised me. Since on the face of it all, this jacket really fucking bothers me.

My issue with the AER (editor’s note: not a bit!) is entirely with how its positioned. The entire premise of the AER seems to be a fetishization of the outdoors to people who think “upstate” is the Colorado Wilderness. To me, The Arrivals brand has always made capable outerwear filtered through an ironic lens that lets the more “fashion-y” side flourish at the expense of some function. But here, it seems like the irony has taken over.

For example: this version of the AER includes a Faraday cage labeled the “OffTheGrid Pocket,” that, in the brand’s own words, brings “you back OutThere-where you can reconnect with the elements by disconnecting from everything else.”

This is a jacket for walking between the subway and SoHo House – a jacket made for going out, not going out. It’s not terribly warm (peep that “< 30 F” rating), nor is it sold to people who know how warm jackets can get. Theoretically, it could be taken outdoors – what is outdoors if not indoors? – but both I and The Arrivals both know the reason someone is buying a $450 highlighter puffy has nothing to do with disconnection. It’s a reasonably warm fashion piece in look-at-me yellow.

It’s like that scene in Zoolander.

You know, the one where Derek goes home to go coal-mining, and he ends up in that bar watching his merman commercial while his roughneck family looks agape. You took a thing and cut off its bottom half to make it prettier. Just fucking embrace it.

All in all, I think the AER is a great all-around option for people who think Prospect Park is a forest. If that’s not you, but you want a stylish puffy to round out your quiver, this is a handsome piece with a lot to love. At $450, it’s cheaper than a Moncler. Whether that’s worth it is a personal question.