The Patagonia M10 Jacket

Kate Rutherford: The Forge is our research and design space where our product teams can explore and create new concepts. Stocked with a robust library of materials and trims and equipped with all of the same capabilities as our most advanced outerwear factories, the Forge is a space for tinkering, creating, and making the next generation of Patagonia product.

Any product we built has the aim to solve for impact and performance. Especially when building technical product, we look at our sports communities and the problems they are facing and see how we can solve them through better performing and longer lasting product.

Kate Rutherford: All our waterproofs need to uphold performance and longevity standards and go through a variety of tests for waterproofness, breathability and durability. The result is our H2No performance standard, guaranteeing performance and breathability for years to come.

This standard is a process of lab and field testing for different aspects of quality. Our lab tests for example includes a killer wash which is a wet flex and abrasion test simulating up to 30 years of use in the harshest conditions. Since nothing can replicate what a shell feels like on the mountain, we also test products through our ambassadors and field testing program to get feedback from real life conditions.

A large aspect in recent product development has been our focus on shells made without intentionally applied PFAS. We’ve been working on solutions that don’t use perfluorinated chemicals for more than a decade and are proud that this fall, 99% of our products are made without the use of PFAS.

Kate Rutherford: M10 is a challenging mixed climbing grade where climbers navigate both ice and rock on steep and overhanging terrain. Because hard mixed climbing requires skills from rock climbing and ice and alpine climbing as well as impressive strength and endurance, the M10 grade that not only denotes a type of climbing, but also embodies the skills, experience and accomplishments of a climber earned through years of experience and dedication to the craft of climbing. In this sense, M10 is aspirational as much as descriptive.

From its original launch in 2010, the M10 exemplified Patagonia’s design philosophy: simple climb focused shells with nothing extra or superfluous. Allowing for unrestricted, climb-specific movements, it was the low-bulk, lightweight, waterproof/breathable layer that every alpinist needed. We have been quietly tinkering with improvements and evolution since we last made the M10 in 2018 and we’re super excited to bring an updated M10 this fall.

Kate Rutherford: Bringing back the M10, we knew we could push the materials further. The M10 Storm material is one of our most durable in the line and is a lighter premium version of our beloved Dual Aspect fabric. We incorporated some car battery tech into the M10 Anorak. Most porous membranes for garments are made chemically, requiring a solvent bath and resulting in randomly sized holes. Automakers developed a nanoporous membrane that’s made mechanically, stretching the material to get uniform, nano-sized holes. The Xpore® nanoporous membrane in the M10 Anorak is made like those in car batteries, with consistently sized pores that keep rain and snow out but still let sweat and heat escape, resulting in a highly waterproof/breathable material made without harsh chemicals.

Kelly Cordes: There are some really unique things about climbing and devoted climbers. They're doing hard, technical, somewhat gymnastic moves, way up high off the deck in remote places. You need a high level of mobility and that also relates to fit. Devoted climbers tend to have pretty broad shoulders and backs, and they tend to be trim in the midsection. So you need to create extra space in the shoulders, but through the torso you don't want a big bulge of fabric coming out, because then you can't see your feet. That's just one example of how mobility impacts design.

Our pattern and design team did an amazing job figuring out just the right articulation, the right spots to add extra fabric. That’s really quite complicated - if it were easy, it wouldn't be a problem in so many jackets. I remember being at an event with our rock climbing and alpine ambassadors and one evening, while everyone else was inside socializing, they had these mockups made of different silhouettes. The designers had a handful of us out on the porch and were asking us questions about what movements we do and where we felt restriction, and our experiences with mobility, good and bad. They took all these notes and did all these refinements. And I remember thinking like ‘How in the world are you going to do this?’ It seemed so variable and complex. The ideal has always been that your clothing should sort of disappear while you're using it. It obviously needs to protect you, but while you're doing it, if you're in the middle of a pitch and you notice your jacket, something's wrong.

Kelly Cordes: For the M10, it was a lot about refinement. The early prototypes were pretty darn good. So, we started sending them out to some of our best field testers and ambassadors in Alaska, the Canadian Rockies, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado but also over in Europe, in Scotland, the Julian Alps and the Mont Blanc massif in the Chamonix area. They got a lot of use from really high end focused, detailed climbers.

We get this feedback, and then send it back to the team and they make tweaks and debate, and then we come out with another one. We just keep refining. It's like anything in life that that you really care about: You pay close attention to the details.