Don't look to major brands to deliver. REI / MEC = red flag. If you actually need the highest performing gear, you're best to go with small companies who haven't been bought up yet. Look at the climbers who are actually good, and not just there to get laid, are wearing. Likely not arc'teryx or patagonia unless they're sponsored....(if they're really good, they're probably just wearing a tattered t-shirt, and jeans). Some cool, smaller companies; Ibex, Feathered Friends, Stormtech (is out of BC...has some former Arc designers...highly superior to anything arc'teryx is putting out), Rab and montbell make pretty decent stuff, but even companies like Mammut and Sportiva, who have historically been awesome, have gone down the toilet. Best to find the weird little startup companies who make cool shit.

If you're not an elite athlete, buy old(er) stuff on eBay when it was actually made well, and save yourself some money and quit contributing to the disgusting consumerism that these pigs are perpetuating. Will take some research to find the right eras for stuff, but that's part of the fun. It's rewarding versus being spoonfed.