Outerwear for Fall 2026 Embraces Winter Sports, Performance at Milan Men’s Fashion Week

MILAN – Performance was top of mind for outerwear players unveiling their collections during Milan Men’s Fashion Week over the weekend.

Sure, the gorpcore aesthetic continues to dominate the fashion landscape, but the fast-approaching Milano Cortina Winter Olympics kicking off on Feb. 6 have triggered brands to embrace the category with renewed eagerness.

K-Way ditched its usual once-a-year runway show to channel a newer side of the brand’s ethos, rooted in a lifestyle-leaning love for the great outdoors, including the slopes. Hosting a presentation flanked by workshops and panel discussions, the BasicNet-owned outerwear specialist zeroed in on its existing sportswear, unveiling a fall lineup rich in ski suits and technical mid- and base-layers.

“We believe that people are inspired to engage and also buy fashion in connection with joyful moments that today are increasingly linked to spending time in nature,” said Lorenzo Boglione, co-chief executive officer of BasicNet. “Sports in general, and winter sports particularly, can be additional attributes for the brand,” he said.

This is a return to the mountain for K-Way, which endorsed the French ski team by supplying professional gear for the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, in 1992. As reported, the brand has also recently named its first winter sports athlete ambassador, Australian snowboarder Scotty James, the subject of a recent Netflix documentary titled “Pipe Dream.”

Performance-driven materials were ubiquitous in the lineup, which Boglione believes will also cross-support K-Way’s urban products, lending them extra credibility.  The hero ski and snowboard suit boasting a lean silhouette and the brand’s signature three-colored zipper mingled with unisex capes with PrimaLoft padding, multipaneled hooded fleeces and thermal bodysuits that could easily be used for the coldest days in the city.

At Ten C, creative director Alessandro Pungetti reissued one of the brand’s key silhouettes known as the Skye Ten Anorak, in solid colors or a printed graphic motif, coupled with a padded mid-layer, or stuffed with the lightweight PrimaLoft insulation material. Elsewhere, the brand’s signature OJJ, or Original Japanese Jersey, fabric was garment-dyed in saturated black for short and long parkas or rendered in a new, washed version for a military-inspired field jacket with a detachable hoodie.

Zeroing in on crinkled nylon — a recent introduction to Ten C’s material vocabulary — puffer jackets with OJJ detailing mingled with a range of urban pieces that were part of a collaboration with Tokyo-based brand Comoli. The latter included straight-leg pants, a bomber jacket and blazer, providing a utilitarian and more casual alternative to tailoring. The co-branded capsule collection also featured an oversized parka in OJJ doubled with a tactile cotton fleece.

Moorer has found its sweet spot in casual outerwear crafted from excellent materials and imbued with practicality, which has gained the brand a brisk business — and a New York flagship opening planned for the end of the first half. For fall, it offered water-repellent baby cashmere jackets — spanning blazers, bombers, vests and the signature Monteverdi field style — left undyed to match the collection’s earthy-hued color palette, enriched by charcoal gray and deep chocolate brown. Duster coats were lightly padded with eiderdown, a Siberian down stuffing, that the company describes as cruelty-free, and padded parkas in water-repellent silk. The latter was combined with nylon for the sleeves of mixed-media pieces in combination with virgin wool.

Knitwear was equally sophisticated and luxurious, with standouts including the Long Yarn pieces crafted from ultrafine cashmere rendered in textured cable-knit turtlenecks and cocooning crewnecks. Mirroring the increased appetite for branded ski gear, Moorer also expanded the category with woollen ski suits and après-ski pieces, flanking the existing technical outfits.

Sustainable and innovative workwear brand TRC, launched in 2024 by denim specialist Candiani with the 100-year-old garment maker Grassi, walked the talk for fall, unveiling a drop, named “Glacier,” with campaign images fronted by Italian Olympic snowboarder Ian Matteoli, whose genesis was triggered by a reflection on the impact of climate change on the namesake formations.

A cross-sector circularity project, pieces in the drop included overshirts, lightly padded collarless puffers, as well as loose jeans, that were crafted from recycled Lenzing geotextiles, regularly employed to protect glaciers from melting. The end-of-life material is repurposed by Italian company Marchi & Fildi and then woven by Candiani into selvage denim.

Elsewhere the collection embraced a performance-ready ethos inspired by winter sports, with regenerative cotton windbreakers, truckers and carpenter pants featuring orange accents and utilitarian pockets.

The North Face unusually joined Milan Fashion Week to unveil its Summit Series Advanced Mountain Kit Black Edition, a limited-edition, eight-piece drop crafted from premium performance materials including the resistant Spectra yarns for extra durability; the Cloud Down insulation, which avoids cold spots; the Futurelight electro-spun membrane providing non-PFAS waterproof breathability; the 50/50 insulation system enhancing warmth-to-weight efficiency with a proprietary aluminum and titanium coating that reflects body heat, and the DotKnit Wool boasting moisture management qualities. The capsule comprises a parka, jacket, pants, as well as a backpack and footwear.