Gorpcore goes quiet: how to wear technical layers this winter

Three very different launches landed this week, and they’re all telling the same story. A Japanese collaboration in inky black, a chunky Nike boot and a sportswear label’s coats arriving at a big European retailer all say that winter clothes built like gear are now simply what people wear in town.

The name for it is gorpcore, and the 2026 version has toned itself down. Here’s what it looks like now, how it started, five ways to wear it on any budget, and an honest guess at how long it’ll stick around.

What gorpcore looks like this season

The first wave leaned on the most technical-looking colours going: bright orange, reflective panels, highlighter details. The current direction is more restrained, with earth tones, navy, black and stone.

Highsnobiety’s report on the Ten C x Comoli FW26 collaboration is a good snapshot. It’s eight all-black pieces of nerdy artisanal winter-wear, and it pairs Ten C’s Original Japanese Jersey with Comoli’s Japanese cotton flannel, crinkled ripstop nylon, satin and brushed stretch wool. The interest sits in texture rather than colour. There’s an oversized hooded coat, and some pieces are reversible.

Ten C is a good label to know about even if the prices sit out of reach: its founders, Alessandro Pungetti and Paul Harvey, previously worked at C.P. Company and Stone Island. The collaboration’s price and release details weren’t published in the coverage I found.

At the other end, Nike’s Lahar Low is a plainer proposition. Highsnobiety calls it a hiking-inspired shoe for the city, with a chunky silhouette, rugged details and an all-black finish. It’s available for $140 on Nike’s website. The design borrows details from the 1989 Lahar Escape Boot, and a retailer listing describes a suede upper, rope-style laces and a chunky rubber outsole with lugged traction.

In between, lululemon’s latest outerwear has arrived at Zalando, with styles from its Featherweight, ThermoZen and Wunder Puff lines. The Wunder Puff range adds bomber-style cuts and vests, and the pieces use RDS-certified down and a water-repellent SoftMatte shell. Prices weren’t listed in the coverage, so check Zalando for your country.

Where it came from

On 25 May 2017, Jason Chen published a piece in The Cut that coined the term, describing how A$AP Rocky and Drake wore extreme-weather and hiking gear, including big jackets and boots, as casual streetwear. The name comes from GORP, which stands for “good old raisins and peanuts”, a kind of trail mix. At first it was used ironically, for outdoor clothes seen as “defiantly ugly”.

The look picked up celebrity cover. When Frank Ocean wore an Arc’teryx beanie to Paris Fashion Week in 2019, popularity of the brand’s hats surged. It then became an increasingly prevalent trend on TikTok in the early 2020s.

So the trend is nearly a decade old. What’s new is the polish: Ten C and Comoli treat technical cloth with the care other brands give to tailoring, and the colours have quietened to match.

Five ways to try it

1. Let a fleece show under your coat

This is the easiest entry point. Build from the inside out: a base layer, then warmth from a knit, fleece or sweatshirt, then the outer shell. One styling guide suggests leaving the shell open so the tee peeks at the collar and cuffs and the fleece shows through the front.

A chunky mock-neck fleece also works where you’d normally reach for a knit. Try it with straight-leg jeans and loafers, as Miolook suggests, and the outdoorsy feel softens quickly.

2. Put nylon next to something soft

Contrast is what stops a technical jacket looking like a hiking trip. A rustling nylon raincoat works with a flowing silk slip skirt, because the silk’s sheen balances the sporty fabric. Add a thick knit and your boots, and you’ve got a dinner outfit that handles drizzle.

3. Take the shell to the smart side

Technical jackets cope well with grown-up clothes. Pair a shell with wool trousers, or wear an anorak over a button-down. A shirt borrowed from a friend or a family member does the job, and so do wool trousers from a charity shop.

4. Start with the boots

If a full jacket feels like a lot, begin at the ground. Trail runners and hiking-style boots, like the Lahar Low above, are both considered suitable for this style. Pick one pair of substantial shoes and let them carry the look; one practical bag is enough, so skip the carabiner.

5. Go all black, but mix the textures

This is the Ten C x Comoli lesson, and it costs nothing if your wardrobe is already full of black. Stack a matte nylon shell, a flannel shirt and a wool knit, and the different finishes give you detail without any extra colour. Highsnobiety’s verdict was that fabric and detail add character to an otherwise monochrome look.

Outfit formulas at a glance

Occasion	Pieces	Budget version	Second-hand version
Weekday commute	Shell, fleece quarter-zip, straight jeans, trail boots	Wear the jeans and boots you own; borrow a fleece	Fleece from Vinted or Depop
Dinner with friends	Nylon jacket, slip skirt, chunky knit, boots	Swap a skirt with a friend	Slip skirt from a charity shop
Smart-ish day	Anorak, button-down, wool trousers	Borrow a shirt	Wool trousers from a vintage shop
All-black weekend	Nylon shell, flannel shirt, wool knit	Re-wear the black you already own	Vintage black shell or flannel

The second-hand route

Gorpcore may be the easiest trend to buy used, because the clothes were made to be worn hard. A reseller’s guide lists technical jackets, fleeces, parkas and trail runners among Vinted’s trends, with strong demand as autumn approaches. That means decent pieces go quickly, so save searches and check often.

On Vinted UK, fleeces from the brand Technicals were listed from £1.50 up to about £8.00. The brand isn’t a name you’ll find on a runway, which is the point: a plain fleece in a muted colour layers just as well as a famous one.

If you want a recognisable label, the prices rise but stay well under new. Listings are a snapshot and change daily, but this is the spread I found:

Second-hand outdoor jackets and fleeces: listed prices

On Depop, a Patagonia fleece jumper was marked down to $8.00 and a Marmot jacket was $15.00. Vintage specialists price higher: a 90s Helly Hansen jacket was $49.00, and a 00s Patagonia Snap-T fleece was $83.00 at Stocked Vintage.

For a new pair of boots, the Lahar Low’s $140 is the benchmark. Compare used pairs on resale sites before you buy, since asking prices there vary a lot.

A simple way to start

You don’t need ten new pieces. One guide recommends building a single look and wearing it for a whole week, so you notice what’s missing and what’s too much. The same guide also suggests capping the palette at three colours, which fits the current black, navy and stone mood.

Will it last?

My honest read: the trend will last, and the loud version of it will fade. Warm, weatherproof clothes stay useful as long as winter exists, and nine years of evolution suggest the look keeps adapting rather than disappearing. A black fleece or a stone-coloured shell is also easy to re-wear in other outfits long after the label stops being fashionable.

The parts most likely to date are the head-to-toe versions with lots of visible branding and a carabiner on every strap. One styling guide puts the risk bluntly: without a deliberate touch, a full technical outfit can read as missed PE kit. Pick one or two pieces, buy them second-hand where you can, and you’ll still be wearing them when the next trend arrives.