---
title: "shoes and jackets"
type: concept
related: [Gear]
source: https://www.jemoka.com/posts/kbhshoes_and_jackets/
confidence: high
status: active
---

A friend recently asked for recommendations for shoes and jackets, and I realized that the links on my gear page has slowly died (very sad). So I figured I should update it with more information and alternatives.
What I (normatively) do I&rsquo;ll give specific recommendations shortly, but before I do that I feel like it&rsquo;d be helpful to give some normative statements about what &ldquo;good&rdquo; gear to me feels like.
light, and waterproof, in that order I try to get things that are both waterproof and light, and if both doesn&rsquo;t exist (in particular for shoes), I prioritize being light.
This can be justified somewhat as a high measure (https://web.archive.org/web/20230207121856/https://taimur.me/posts/measure-a-mental-model-for-decision-making/) decision, in the sense of:
I have to carry around the gear a lot (i.e., they have to be high availability) I can&rsquo;t afford (temporally, financially, mentally) multiple copies for different scenarios Back pain so I try to spend a semi-stupid amount on gear that fits the exact load-bearing requirements to make my life easier.
minimized style/logos I think icons/branding is bad and makes me feel like a walking advertisement. In particular this is why I refuse categorically to wear Adidas clothing because of the stupid stripes. I try to buy cloths that minimal in style (i.e., MUJI).
get it (in spirit) from REI Like for carabiners, so with cloths. If it works to save hikers&rsquo; life, it surely works for some urban scrambling. Try to get things that are battle-tested or at least variants of them.
This, of course, assumes that you do what I do which is buy this once and use it for as long as you don&rsquo;t loose it, up to replacing and resurfacing. Fashion and/or daily travel doesn&rsquo;t work this way.
Often you will realize that performance requirements change dramatically if you are actually using them to do things. A pair of normal khakis are $50ish, the same technical pants for EMS are upwards of $80. Not a huge difference, but it does make one.
a note about cost gear I end up choosing are largely super duper expensive (your tax dollars at work!); I buy very little other things, so it mostly works out, but it doesn&rsquo;t mean your actual cost is actually this high. For instance, for jackets (in particular not! shoes; break in shoes by yourself), second hand + retreating the Gore-Tex fabric often does wonders.
What I do Let&rsquo;s begin with what I actually wear; mostly these are no longer on sale except for the second-hard market.
Jacket In terms of rain jackets you can&rsquo;t really get better than the ultralight jackets from Arcteryx.
I loved the Norvan SL, but at the time it was more out of range: https://www.rei.com/product/117215/arcteryx-norvan-sl-hoodie-mens or, its sibling, Norvan LT, which was more in range: https://geartrade.com/products/arcteryx-norvan-lt-hoody-mens-1067816 (used link for $200!) Arcteryx apparently still sells this line of Jackets, just at a stupid high price of $450: https://arcteryx.com/us/en/shop/mens/norvan-jacket-9571. I can&rsquo;t vouch for how good they are physically, but from product photos they look much stupider than the original versions if nothing else but the enormous logo.
Shoes I wear three types of shoes, two for daily carry, both from Merrill, and one for support, being Asics.
summer: for non-rainy-seasons, and in terms of general carry, there&rsquo;s nothing in my opinion that beats the Embark Lace sneaker: https://www.merrell.com/US/en/embark-lace-sneaker/52565M.html?dwvar_52565M_color=J067217 (for some reason, only this hilarious aqua colour is available, but for $50 bucks!) winter: sadly you can only buy these used, but for trail hiking/weather withstanding, the Gore-Tex MQM-3 from Merrill is light and unbeatable: https://www.ebay.com/itm/126614314821 (they don&rsquo;t see it anymore :/) running*/*tennis: asics Gel-Kayano: https://www.asics.com/us/en-us/gel-kayano/c/aa50101000/ (much like wands, everybody and they running shoes is a 1 to 1 match, I wouldn&rsquo;t overindex on this) What I recommend I have no clue why I&rsquo;m qualified to give product recommendation, but here goes. Also here&rsquo;s a fun ultralight packing list which is cool.
Jacket $300-400 range: M10 from Patagonia (10 oz), or Arc&rsquo;teryx&rsquo;s stupid looking new Norvans (7.6 oz) sub-$200 range: Montbell Versalite Jacket (6.4 oz!, this is on sale somewhere, but for some reason you can&rsquo;t buy it in the US?) sub-$100 range: REI Rainier Rain Jacket (11.3 oz) sub-$30, a garbage bag to put over you: Frog Toggs Ultra-Lite2 Shoes I feel unqualified as to give shoe opinions because they can&rsquo;t be measured as easily. Also I find that decent shoes are always in the $50 - $150 price range, unless something is up or you run marathons.
Summer Other than the admittedly garish colour, I think one can&rsquo;t beat the Embark Lace. Its slip on, breathable, very light (7.19 oz) non-water-proof. Overall pretty happy.
Winter I still wear my MQM-3 (11.63 oz) daily, and if you can find it, you shod too; I heard Agility Peak Gore Tex running shoes are pretty good, but it really isn&rsquo;t a shoe for more technical scrambling, etc.
Running You can still buy a Gel-Kayano. But your mileage may vary and you should visit a Footlocker.
