Switchback makes a tight line of shells, layers, and trousers for people who hike until the map runs out. Every piece is cut for movement, seam-sealed against weather that arrives without warning, and built from cloth we'd stake a ridgeline bivvy on — not a rack you forget by next season.
The mills, membranes, and makers behind every stitch
Weight is the tax you pay on every climb. We spend it only where it buys you warmth, weather protection, or a freer stride — and nowhere else.
A 20,000mm waterproof, 25,000g breathable membrane with fully taped seams and a wired storm hood that holds its shape in a headwind instead of collapsing onto your eyes.
Active-insulation midlayers with a Polartec grid face that dumps sweat on the climb and traps warmth at the col, so you stop peeling off and pulling on every twenty minutes.
Articulated knees, a gusseted crotch, and a drop-tail hem drafted on real bodies mid-stride — so the cuff stays at the boot and nothing rides up when you reach for the next hold.
A full hardshell at 312 grams in a men's medium. We publish the real weight of every garment, every size, on the product page — no rounded-down marketing numbers.
Cordura reinforcement at the seat, knees, and pack-strap shoulders, so a granite scramble or a heavy haul doesn't end your shell three seasons early.
The wind shell stuffs into its own chest pocket to the size of a fist and clips to a harness, ready for the squall that wasn't in the forecast.
The numbers we stand behind
We don't drop a hundred SKUs a year. We build a tight, layerable system — base to shell — where each piece works with the last from a damp trailhead to an exposed summit ridge.
A 312g three-layer shell in a 30-denier Pertex face with fully taped seams, pit zips, and a helmet-compatible wired hood. The piece you bury at the bottom of the pack and trust completely when the sky goes black.
A 78-gram windproof in a 7-denier ripstop that breaks a 40-knot gust yet packs into its own pocket. The most-worn piece we make — on the climb, on the descent, and clipped to the harness in between.
A Polartec Alpha Direct midlayer that insulates while you move, so you can leave it on for the whole climb instead of stopping to layer. Cut close to wear under a shell without bunching.
A 280g hooded sweater stuffed with 850-fill responsibly-sourced down and a DWR-treated Pertex shell — the warmth you throw on the second you stop moving at the top, when the wind finds you.
A Schoeller four-way-stretch softshell with articulated knees, a gusseted crotch, and Cordura kneepatches. Sheds a passing shower, takes a granite slab on the knee, and moves like it isn't there.
A 150gsm 17.5-micron merino base in a flatlock-seamed cut that resists odour over a four-day traverse and dries on your back before the next climb. The first layer, worn three days running, still wearable.
A waterproof rating on a hangtag is the easy part. What keeps you dry on hour nine of a wet ascent is the slow, unglamorous construction underneath — the work that costs more and shows less.
After a shell is sewn, every seam is heat-taped from the inside and the whole garment is pressure-sprayed on a rain rig before it ships. A waterproof face means nothing if the needle holes leak — so we close them all.
Water-resistant zips at every opening, with storm flaps behind the main zip and laminated garages at the top so rain can't track in at the chin on a long, soaking descent.
Patterns are cut, worn on real climbs by real testers, then re-cut where they bind or ride. A shell that's perfect on a mannequin and useless mid-stride never makes the line.
A torn pocket or a worn cuff comes back to our bench and goes out fixed — free, for the life of the piece, no receipt required. The greenest jacket is the one you never replace.
No bundles you have to take whole, no seasonal markdowns to wait out. Honest prices on gear meant to outlast a decade of seasons — start with one layer, add the next when the trail asks for it.
The 78g windproof that lives in every pack. The first Switchback piece most people buy.
Base to shell for the trips most of us actually take, dawn to alpine dusk.
Every layer we make, base to belay, for the climbs that don't forgive a gap.
“I got caught in six hours of sideways rain on the Long Range Traverse and walked out bone dry. I've owned shells twice the price that gave up in twenty minutes. This one just didn't.”
“The wind shell never leaves my pack. It weighs nothing, it lives in its own pocket, and it's saved a cold descent more times than I can count. It's the most-used piece of kit I own.”
“I tore the knee of my trail pant on a scree field two years in. Sent it back, they patched it from the same Cordura, no charge — and didn't try to upsell me a new pair. That's why I keep coming back.”
Carry the wind shell on every hike — it weighs 78 grams, breaks the wind, and sheds a passing drizzle. Add the hardshell when the forecast holds real rain, sustained exposure, or alpine weather that can turn fast. Most people own both and wear the wind shell ten times more often.
Any wear-and-tear repair our bench can do in-house — re-taping a seam, replacing a zip slider, patching a tear, restitching a worn cuff or pocket — free, for the life of the garment, no receipt required. You pay shipping one way; we cover the return. We'd rather mend it than have you replace it.
Less than you'd expect, and that's deliberate. Our shells run a 25,000g/m² breathability rating with pit zips on the hardshell to dump heat fast on a climb. Pair it with an active-insulation midlayer that moves moisture and you stay dry from the inside as well as the out.
We cut for an athletic, layered fit: a merino base and an active hoody underneath, a shell over the top, with room to move and no bunching at the elbow or shoulder. Every product page lists the real garment weight and a measured size chart, and our fit team will talk you through it before you order.
Wash it more than you think — trail grime clogs the membrane and kills breathability. Use a technical wash, skip the fabric softener, and tumble dry low to reactivate the DWR. When water stops beading, re-proof it with a wash-in treatment. A well-kept shell outlasts a neglected one by years.
Our shells and insulation are cut and sewn in a small technical-outerwear factory in Vietnam that we visit twice a year; our merino is knit in New Zealand. Every garment ships with a card naming the factory, the membrane, and the tester who signed off on the fit.
Start with the wind shell you'll never leave behind, or build the full layering system base to shell. Free repairs for life and 60-day trail returns on everything — wear it on a real hike before you decide.