About

Arc'teryx refers to an outdoor clothing brand that makes jackets, pants, shoes and other outdoor gear that's designed to be extra waterproof and warm. Arc'teryx jackets, more specifically, have been used as an exploitable reference in memes starting as early as 2017 on Instagram. Arc'teryx jackets are often associated with designer streetwear culture and allude to a type of man who wears Arc'teryx and uses it to flex his wealth and waterproofness. In 2021, Arc'teryx memes became prominent across Twitter, Reddit and TikTok.

Origin

On February 18th, 2017, Instagram^[1] page @polo_cutty created and posted the first known instance of a meme using Arc'teryx as a reference. The meme followed the Galaxy Brain format to show a progression from Columbia to The North Face to Arc'teryx. The meme (shown below) received 530 likes over four years.

Spread

@polo_cutty continued to post Arc'teryx based content going into the rest of 2017. The next Arc'teryx meme^[2] he made was posted on March 17th, 2017, which used the likeness of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. The meme (shown below) received 620 likes over four years.

In 2018, Arc'teryx memes began to surface on Reddit. The first instance of this is a meme that was posted to the subreddit^[3] r/malefashion on May 17th, 2018. The meme (shown below) used the Virgin vs. Chad format and received 540 upvotes over the course of three years.

On September 30th, 2019, Instagram^[4] page @poundlandbandit posted an Arc'teryx meme, bringing attention again to the trend. The meme (shown below) received roughly 20,300 likes over two years. On the same day, the meme was shared to the r/Arcteryx subreddit^[5] by Redditor mezigue55 who said "I feel personally attacked." The meme received 126 upvotes on Reddit.

Memes began to surface in the r/Arcteryx subreddit after the above meme was shared. For instance, on February 16th, 2020, Redditor^[6] suunsbro posted a meme with Bernie Sanders wearing an Arc'teryx jacket. The meme (shown below) received 387 upvotes over the course of one year.

Overall, Arc'teryx branded clothing, as an exploitable reference, received the most amount of meme usage starting at the beginning of 2020. For instance, Instagram^[7] meme page @fakeyeezyboots posted a meme with text reading, "That's him officer, That's the man pretending to enjoy hiking so he can wear Arc'teryx." The meme received roughly 7,100 likes in one year.

"Men who wear Arc'teryx" began to become its own cliche, alluding to men adjacent to hypebeast and zoomer-hipster culture. This can be seen in a meme posted by Instagram^[8] account @dickowensonline on April 25th, 2020. The meme (shown below) makes fun of men who wear Arc'teryx and it received roughly 2,300 likes over one year.

Arc'teryx, and men who wear Arc'teryx, began to be referenced on TikTok starting in mid-2021. Making fun of men who wear Arc'teryx mostly revolved around them trying to go out of their way to show it or flex how waterproof it is.

On May 4th, 2021, TikToker^[9] @lucehpoo posted a video with text overlay reading "help im on a first date and he wont stop showing me how waterproof his arcteryx is." The TikTok (shown below, left) received roughly 760,800 plays and 27,900 likes over the course of five months. On May 25th, 2021, TikToker^[9] @bruhbruhski posted a video with text overlay reading "Dudes will get an Arcteryx jacket and don't know how to act." The TikTok (shown below, right) received roughly 182,400 plays and 13,900 likes over the course of five months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References