Arc’teryx x BEAMS: 25 Years of Collaboration Between Performance and Culture

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In 2001, Arc’teryx and BEAMS began a collaboration that brought the technical approach of the Canadian brand into dialogue with the fashion and cultural sensibility of the Japanese one. 25 years after their first project, the two are looking back at their own history with a collection that revives archival models and reinterprets them through new materials, colors and silhouettes. Some of the most interesting collaborations are precisely those born from the meeting of two seemingly distant worlds that, over time, end up building a shared language.

The relationship between the two began when Kei Hirosawa, then a buyer at BEAMS, recognized in Arc’teryx’s technical design a potential that went beyond the outdoor world. The first collaboration already included two pieces that would become emblematic of the Canadian brand, the Arro Backpack and the Theta AR Jacket. Since then, the dialogue between Arc’teryx’s technical approach and BEAMS’s cultural sensibility has continued through collections that have brought the language of the mountain closer to that of fashion and streetwear.

To celebrate this anniversary, the Arc’teryx x BEAMS Anniversary Collection revives one of the most significant models from that history: the 1998 Theta AR Jacket, reissued with new color blocking inspired by BEAMS’s palette. The jacket keeps the technical character of the original, but is updated with GORE-TEX PRO ePE, a waterproof and breathable material designed to offer lightness and durability, with no intentionally added PFAS.

The color theme of the entire collection is “Kōyō,” a Japanese term tied to the changing color of leaves in autumn. A choice that brings the idea of transformation and transition into the collection, translating it visually through an autumnal palette in which BEAMS’s iconic orange meets tones closer to Arc’teryx’s universe.

Alongside the Theta AR Jacket, the collection includes five other pieces: the Gamma Jacket, a wind- and water-resistant softshell; the Jogen Pants, climbing pants with a wide silhouette inspired by Japanese-American tradition; an LS T-Shirt in brushed cotton with graphics dedicated to the 25 years of collaboration; the Konseal 15L Pack, a climbing backpack made from Hadron fabric; and the Gamma Hat, a five-panel hat with both logos embroidered on it.

Nolan and Juan in the garage working on bikes

The project also introduces what the two brands present as their first complete kit dedicated to bouldering, designed to move between outdoor settings and urban contexts. It’s precisely in this crossover that the meaning of the collaboration comes back into focus: not simply combining two identities, but putting Arc’teryx’s functional rigor into relation with the way BEAMS interprets fashion as a space of cultural cross-contamination.

25 years after their first meeting, the collection thus looks at both past and present at once. It revives a historic model, takes up recognizable visual codes and inserts them into a system designed for contemporary movement. An anniversary that thus also becomes a new chapter in a collaboration built, year after year, around a shared interest in research, functionality and design.

The Arc’teryx x BEAMS Anniversary Collection will be available online and in stores worldwide starting September 25, 2026. To celebrate the launch, the two brands will also present a special pop-up exhibition in New York from September 22 to 24, and in Tokyo from September 25 to 27.