The Beginner's Guide to Techwear

If you've noticed more than a few of your style-conscious colleagues dressing like they're extras in some futuristic, sci-fi dystopian thriller these days, you're not alone. Techwear is a bona fide trend, and it looks like it's here to stay.

Techwear at its essence is exactly what it sounds like: "technology" (sometimes in the loosest sense of the word) that you can wear in the form of intricately crafted clothing designed by a bunch of people whose rallying cry is never sacrificing form for function. Today, the best techwear pieces—the ones you're most likely to see lusted after online—come with enough functional details to satisfy even the most ardent gear wonk, whether he's spelunking his way through a cave or speed-walking to catch the subway.

As a style movement in its own right, techwear has been bubbling up in the culture for a minute now. There's just something satisfyingly reassuring about wearing clothing that can withstand way more than it'll ever need to, or so the thinking goes. Call it doomsday prepping for clothing enthusiasts. Call it man's last desperate grasp for the comforting familiarity of the analog world in an increasingly isolated digital reality. I call it a damn good look, if you can pull it off.

Luckily for you, there are five big names that tend to dominate the conversation (a few of 'em you might already be familiar with), and, as with almost all niche subcultures, knowing which names to drop is half the struggle to fitting in. Provided you know what's good, picking up the lingo will be a cinch. How do you do, fellow techwear fans?

I'll show myself out.