Rarefied Air

I don't have much interest in technical outerwear. It's partly because I'm not an outdoors sort of person, and partly because I don't care for how it looks. So why, then, do I really like this Cloud jacket from technical outerwear company Aether? (By the way, I tried copying that image and pasting it in here, but it's so small that it looked terrible.)

In fact, I like many of the jackets in their line. I think a big part of it is the minimalism of the designs. A lot of outdoor gear is terribly overdone in appearance, with color blocking, pockets on top of pockets, extraneous zippers, gaudy logos--basically everything I hate in a garment. The Aether jackets are distinctive because they are pared down to the essentials. And most of them are available in black or at least gray, which suits someone like me whose outdoor time involves navigating the concrete jungle.

But damn, this stuff is expensive. That Cloud jacket is $625--ouch! (Sometimes I feel like I'm cursed by having expensive taste.) One of the uninsulated shell jackets is under $250, but even that would be an unjustifiable purchase for me. There's an opportunity here: I'd love to see someone step in and execute some outerwear with the Aether aesthetic at less aethereal (see what I did there?) prices.