We try our hardest not to gatekeep stuff here, so we’re excited to share a secret about the best Korean outdoor brand you’ve probably never heard of…
Somewhere Outside Hiking Company.
Since launching their first collection in 2023, Somewhere Outside Hiking Company (SOHC) has wasted no time in producing highly functional and wearable outerwear.
With the recent surge of people beyond Northerners wearing outdoor gear in daily life, many new outdoor clothing brands have emerged. While we welcome the influx of weather-ready outerwear, we understand the argument that much of it feels a bit repetitive…
However, SOHC stands out from the crowd, and their AW24 collection showcases their ability to craft truly unique and conceptual outdoor garments.
The collection features weather-ready apparel with bold camouflage patterns, tasteful colour-blocking, and intriguing asymmetrical cuts.
In our opinion, two key pieces stand out in the collection, and unsurprisingly, these are the two largest coats. These are a synthetic-filled puffer jacket and a goose-down puffer jacket, and we’re still struggling to choose a favorite between them…
SOHC’s synthetic-filled offering for AW24 goes by the name of the Mountain Heavy Puffer Jacket – an absolute unit of a coat that has a beautiful, dare we say even Osti-esque sheen to it. This sheen acts as a coating for the coat’s unorthodox baffles that have been filled with the finest of 3M Thinsulate insulation, providing comprehensive coverage against the coldest of Korean breezes.
The Mountain Heavy Puffer’s down-filled big brother is the Contour Lined Goose-Down Jacket, which makes use of the same unorthodox baffles, but as the name suggests, they’re filled with the most premium of goose feathers instead of synthetic fill.
Both coats incorporate a dual zip system, we’re not entirely sure what the benefits of these are, but aesthetically, they’re very pleasing.
Another item from the collection we’re big into is the Classic Fleece Anorak, which functions as the canvas for an embroidered storytelling of a huntsman and his two wolves. It sort of reminds us of those old farmer jumpers you find in the charity shop, only instead of someone wearing a flat cap being on them, it’s someone dressed in techy-looking outdoor garb.
There are loads of other nice bits in the collection, including an assortment of fine tees, trousers, headwear, shorts and even a handful of choice backpacks – all of which make use of SOHC’s distinct design cues.
SOHC has got all bases, and conditions covered for in this AW24 drop, and despite being relative newcomers, they’re already carving out their own niche, and for this reason we’re definitely going to be keeping a keen eye on all their future movements.
To learn more about Somewhere Outside Hiking Company, do so here.
