Jason Chen coined the word gorpcore in The Cut on May 25, 2017, in a piece titled First Came Normcore. Now Get Ready for Gorpcore. The name plays on normcore and on gorp, the trail mix known as good ol' raisins and peanuts. Nine years later the joke has become a wardrobe. Highsnobiety said in December 2024 that Salomon XT-6 sneakers, Arc'teryx jackets and convertible cargo pants were walking runways, with Arc'teryx and Salomon both posting record revenues that year. GQ Middle East pointed to a 170% spike in Lyst searches for Arc'teryx after TikTok took hold in 2022. I would call it a mature trend rather than a dead one. Start with the jackets. Moncler takes its name from the village of Monestier-de-Clermont, near Grenoble, where the label began in 1952, and the Grenoble line debuted in New York in 2010. Its slim-fit quilted jacket is the sharpest thing in this grid. Beside it, the Portal Biome hooded jacket and the ON Ascent shell are lighter and plainer. Wear a shell over a gray hoodie and keep the trousers dark. What I would skip is the Moncler Grenoble Arpasson down gilet on a humid September subway platform, since it is built for cold air.

Nike began in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports, founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman in Eugene, Oregon, and became Nike in 1971, named for the Greek goddess of victory. Bowerman's waffle-iron idea led to the Waffle Trainer, patented in 1974, which tells you something about how this company thinks: it starts from a kitchen appliance and ends up on the mountain. The ACG Smith Summit convertible shell cargo trousers are the ones I would try first, because the Highsnobiety line about convertible cargos walking runways is exactly this cut. The Moncler Grenoble convertible ripstop cargo in beige does the same job in a softer color. Portal's Traka line is the quieter route: the green recycled-shell trousers read as plain trousers until you notice the fabric. Tapered legs look best over a chunky sneaker, so choose a hem that breaks once and stops. My test is the sit-down: if the shell bunches at the knee, the cut is too slim for city days. What I would skip is the Moncler Grenoble Day-Namic belted shell shorts once the temperature drops to jacket weather, because bare knees under a technical shell look like a forgotten plan.

Salomon started in 1947 in Annecy, France, as the workshop François Salomon et fils, making ski edges, and filed its patent on May 28 of that year. The XT-6 trail shoe launched in 2013 for long-distance running and then slipped into fashion, and in 2016 Salomon hired Jean-Philippe Lalonde, formerly of Arc'teryx Veilance, to launch Salomon Sportstyle. The dark brown XT-6 and the gray XT-6 Shadow are the ones I would put on first. Hoka is Salomon's cousin: Nicolas Mermoud and Jean-Luc Diard, both former Salomon employees, founded it in 2009 in Annecy, and the name is a Maori phrase meaning to fly. The Kaha 3 GTX in black nubuck is the sturdy one here. ON came out of Zurich in 2010, and its CloudTec cushioning began with Olivier Bernhard gluing a cut-up garden hose to a shoe sole. The Cloudrock Mid is the single boot in this grid. Nike's Zegama and the Tom Sachs General Purpose shoe round out the group. Wear any of these with straight dark trousers so the sole is the only loud thing. What I would skip is the yellow Salomon X-ALP in suede on a wet commute, because suede and puddles never agree.

Portal is the youngest label in this edit and the one I find most interesting. Patrick Stangbye, formerly Creative Director at ROA, started it in London in 2023 with John Roberts, who worked in product development at Rapha, plus Colin Meredith and Barrie Bloor, and it launched at Paris Fashion Week in summer 2024. It makes gear for running, cycling and hiking, which explains why the Drift merino-blend T-shirt and the Root organic cotton and hemp tee look so calm. The green Radius cap finishes either one. Moncler Grenoble supplies the hoodies and tees in this grid, and the gray cotton-jersey hoodie with shell trim is the one I would live in. Then lululemon, which Chip Wilson founded in Vancouver in 1998, opening its first standalone store in November 2000 on West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano. Its black recycled-shell duffle is a good gym-to-weekend bag. Layer a plain tee under a shell jacket and keep the cap low. What I would skip is the white Moncler Grenoble logo hoodie on a muddy trail day, because white shows the first splash and never forgets it.

What I like about this look is that it was never really about the mountain. The word dates from 2017, and the better answer to the joke is to wear the gear well. If you are building this from scratch, buy in order: one shell jacket, one pair of tapered trousers, then the sneakers. The Moncler Grenoble slim down jacket or an ON Ascent shell handles the first step, Portal's Traka trousers the second, and an XT-6 or a Hoka Kaha 3 the third. After that, add a tee and a cap and stop. The mistake is wearing every technical piece at once, so choose one loud item, usually the shoe, and let the rest stay plain. Trends move, but a good shell and a pair of trail sneakers will keep earning their place on a wet Tuesday. That is the best argument for any of it.

The idea of wearing one technical piece at a time is easiest to try with the shoes, and this last rack has five pairs. The Salomon ACS Pro, the Nike ACG Pegasus Trail and the Nike Vomero Premium are the closest to the trail, while the ON Cloudtilt Arc and Cloudvista 3 are the ones I would reach for in town. Above them, lululemon has a Sojourn jacket and ABC straight-leg trousers, and DISTRICT VISION adds shell trousers if you want a second straight-leg option. The Aimé Leon Dore mesh shorts and striped shell sweatpants round out the easy end. What I would skip: the mesh shorts on a cold commute, no matter how good the sneakers look. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Salomon Sneakers Guide and Nike x Jacquemus.