Today in Gear: All the Product News Worth Your Time

We talk an awful lot about the potential of electric vehicles (and the new products and cars that come with it), but we don’t often discuss the autos that inevitably come to an end as the industry moves on. Case in point: the Volkswagen Passat here in the United States. The final Volkswagen Passat rolled out of the Chattanooga Assembly plant back in December, as the factory pivots to electric vehicles, including testing future Volkswagen electric models and producing the ID.4 electric SUV. While the car isn’t entirely extinct globally, its death here at home is a good reminder of not just customer tastes (which has shifted to SUVs and trucks in lieu of smaller sedans), but also the EV boom. It’s bittersweet: while the Passat was not necessarily an exciting car, it’s definitely an icon of suburban driving and served (at least in this writer’s experience) as a sensible, reliable family car. Motoring aside, we’ve got the readout on Seiko’s revival of the King Seiko series, the all-new “Spiked Simply Lemonade” and Arc’teryx’s latest System_A drop. This is Today in Gear.

Vuarnet’s Glacier Collection blends mountain-ready utility with classic style.

Vuarnet

Vuarnet’s new Glacier collection is the culmination of three years of R&D, blending on-slope performance with style that still fits on the sidewalk. The Glacier 2110 embodies this blend of form and function, easily identifiable thanks to its eye-catching round lens shape. In fact, with Vuarnet, it begins with its high quality, made-in-France mineral glass lenses (which is in stark contrast to the plastic commonly used by other labels).

Seiko revives the King Seiko collection with plenty of customization.

Seiko

Based on the original King Seiko KSK from all the way back in 1965 (the year the King Seiko series originally debuted), Seiko has brought back the King Seiko line for the 21st century. Originally intended to rival Grand Seiko and embody the best of the brand’s precision watchmaking, the King Seiko watches of today mirror that same commitment to excellence. This revival release has a 37mm case with a 6R31 automatic movement and comes in five different watch faces with five different leather straps (or a metal bracelet).

Your favorite brand of bougie lemonade is going boozy.

Courtesy

Sure, you can get it at nearly any supermarket nationwide, but there’s no denying that the “Simply” series of juices pride themselves on being a “premium” product when stacked next to its competition. That said, the “Simply” series is the latest brand to go boozy, offering hard versions of its classic, strawberry and blueberry lemonades, adding watermelon lemonade to the lineup. With “Simply” serving as The Coca-Cola Company’s second biggest brand in the U.S., “Simply Spiked” looks to be a bright spot for the organization’s summer releases.

Craighill has the solution for sprucing up your desk this year.

Craighill

EDC can mean a whole lot of things to whole lot of different people. For this writer, that includes sprucing up my office space with a few pieces of well-designed… well, writing utensils to keep on hand at all times. Craighill has always impressed us with minimal, elegantly-designed, desk-ready EDC, and its new Kepler pen is no different. Coming in brass, stainless steel or “vapor black”, is a sophisticated pen that’s practically begging for prime real estate in your workspace. What you write with it… well, that’s up to you.

Arc’teryx’s entry level label, System_A, drops its second collection.

Arc’teryx

Arc’teryx has simply never been more in-demand lately, and it’s clear the Canadian brand knows it. That’s partially why it launched its first crop of System_A gear last fall — a less-intensive line of gear to… well, start you off as you get more into Arc’teryx gear. This second drop is built with mountain performance in mind, including insulated jackets and mid-layers, on top of accessories like a balaclava. Be warned: Arc’teryx’s hype means shoppers should expect quick sell-throughs. While the brand is not a streetwear brand by any stretch, it’s beginning to sell out like one.

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