As she so often does, WD pretty well nailed it...

Many of us have had to deal with sloppy, poorly designed clothing that tried to achieve the "outdoor look" at the expense of function. The results can be very bad, even life endangering in extreme circumstances. Thus we tend to regard fashion as The Dark Side.

The companies that WD cited have achieved a good marriage between function and fashion, in particular Patagonia, the brand with which I am most familiar. I would add that the so-called."expensive" clothing is actually pretty cheap when you consider that you can wear it for many, many years. I have Patagonia items more than twenty years old that are still useful.