GAINAX launched in 2022, and riders soon nicknamed it “Big G”. It calls itself an outdoor fashion brand, and its line is “unbound the outbound”: resorts have boundaries, mountains don’t. The clothes are meant to go from the slope to the forest, the river and the city, and to get more people outside.

Two GAINAX lines are in our 26/27 order. AURORA and GLOW are the classics: clean, versatile shells in pastels and brights for any level, including the N2 Pro jacket with its signature wide front zip, the N1N and the NT1 and NT4 pants. REBEL is street-retro for park and freestyle riders, with denim and canvas textures, topstitching and relaxed cuts: the X5 jacket, the X6 hoodie, the XT8 pants and the X7 vest.

Every GAINAX style we ordered is a 3-layer shell. The N2 Pro and NT4 are rated 30,000 mm waterproof and 25,000 g breathable; the denim pieces put a two-tone faux denim over a clear TPU membrane, and the X6 hoodie uses a four-way-stretch nylon. Jackets add a hood that adjusts four ways (helmet-compatible on the N2 Pro family and the N1N), two-zone vents, a detachable powder skirt and a pass pocket; most styles use YKK waterproof zips.