The new collection gives Columbia a head-to-toe urban range built on Omni-Shield, Omni-Tech and Thermarator technology, taking on The North Face, Arc’teryx and Salomon on their own city ground.
Columbia Sportswear has decided the city counts as terrain. Street Tech, announced on September 18, is the brand’s first range designed specifically for urban wear, and it arrives with the full technical arsenal rather than a token jacket.
The collection covers outerwear, fleece, jersey and accessories, and runs on four of Columbia’s core systems: Omni-Shield rain repellency, Omni-Tech waterproofing, Thermarator insulation and Omni-Wick moisture control.
The Striker 3L jacket uses the same three-layer Omni-Tech construction Columbia puts in its mountain product. The St/rmwall balaclava puffer comes with an integrated balaclava collar, which is either excellent winter engineering or a strong look for the morning commute, depending on the commuter. The Sh/eld puffer goes micro-baffle with a semi-gloss finish; the Sh/ft windbreaker keeps the Omni-Shield shell but hides the pockets and adds reflective detailing.
Underneath sits a full layering system: deep-pile Mou/tain fleece in hoodie and full-zip, a stretch-woven cargo jogger in the same Omni-Shield fabric as the outerwear, a 450gsm graphic hoodie with matching tee and jogger, and a jacquard skull beanie lined with Omni-Wick microfleece.
The breadth is the point. One hero jacket would have been a toe in the water; four outerwear styles and a head-to-toe layering system is Columbia going in properly against The North Face, Arc’teryx and Salomon on their own city ground. And it does so without a new fashion brief, just trail technology moved onto pavement silhouettes.
The product commitment sits alongside a marketing habit that has kept Columbia in these pages campaign after campaign. Two days before Street Tech, the brand started offering selected entrants £135 for photographs of their bare feet, taken outdoors on a hike, to promote the new Peakfreak hiking shoe. Winners go into something called the Hall of Feet. Engineered for whatever, it turns out, covers a broader range than anyone expected.
