A 1990s Puffer Loved By Rappers, Hikers, And Prep-School Kids Is Everywhere Again

When The North Face introduced the Nuptse jacket in 1992, its goal was to offer high-performance outerwear for serious mountain climbers. It came out of a research trip where designers were studying what climbers needed in an expedition layering system. They chose down for insulation to keep the jacket light, warm, and easy to pack, and introduced an innovative baffle construction that held the feathers in horizontal bands to keep them from shifting. The length was kept short, hitting at the waist, so climbers could easily get to their harnesses. The name itself, Tibetan for “West Peak,” refers to a mountain in the Himalayas near Everest. Read more at Quartz.