Polartec®, creators of some of the most advanced performance textiles in the world have just released the details of this years winners of their coveted Apex Award….and we’re on the list!!!
Each year designers that have been studiously creating new and inspiring products from any of the 300 different fabrics in the Polartec® fabric collection get the opportunity to be credited for their hard work, creativity and technical know how with the Polartec® Apex Award.
The wizard-style Malden trophies are awarded for the products that are judged on suitability for their intended use, innovation, versatility, function, fit, comfort, performance, aesthetics and overall good design.
Polartec® say that “Malden recipients will forever be the embodiment of Polartec fabric innovation and design inspiration”.
Magic Malden Awards!
I’ve been working with the design team at one of the UK’s leading climbing and mountaineering brands, Rab for just over a year, designing products ‘for the most extreme conditions in the world’. Last year was a busy year at Rab for me, working on many new exciting products including the Rab Neo Guide Jacket and Neo Guide Pants for men and women made from Polartec® Neo Shell®.
Rab Women’s Neo Guide Jacket and Pants
“The Neo Guide Jacket is designed to protect during climbing, ski-touring and mountaineering in all weather. Polartec® Neoshell® delivers outstanding moisture vapour transfer and a softer, more supple “hand” while still retaining durability. The construction of the garment features two different types of Polartec NeoShell; the torso being one style and a second style with extra reinforcement on the shoulders, elbows, cuffs and hips.
The Neo Guide Pant are most active waterproof shell trousers Rab offers and feature Polartec® NeoShell®, the most breathable waterproof fabric on the market. Designed for climbing, ski-touring and mountaineering, an extremely durable version of Polartec NeoShell was chosen for the main parts of the pant. A lighter version has also been incorporated to aid with mobility and flexibility and the upper and back yoke. ”
I’m chuffed to bits to have helped to win this award for Rab and I look forward to seeing them on display on the Polartec® and Rab stands at the Outdoor Show in Friedrichshafen in a couple of weeks time (10th-13th July 2014)
Outdoors Magic have featured me and my job in the The Ten Best Outdoors Jobs
“Posted: 8 May 2014 by Edward Greenland
Outdoor Clothing Designer
What the job entails
All the outdoor kit we wear needs to be designed by someone and those people belong to all the top outdoor brands or working as freelancers. Unfortunately, they get relatively little recognition as they work behind the scenes but that dosen’t make the job any less important.
We spoke to freelance outdoors clothing designer Julie Greengrass – pictured shredding the gnar above – who has been in the industry for almost 20 years and worked with some of the top outdoors brands including Montane, Sprayway and Rab.
So Julie, how did you become an outdoors clothing designer?
‘Making clothes was always a hobby of mine from an early age ever since my mum and nan made me clothes as a child.
‘I did art at A level before an art foundation course, which is where I realised how much I liked working with clothes so as a result I did a degree in fashion design.
‘However, I became disillusioned with fashion and instead realised a strong interest in synthetic fabrics and performance textiles, which was the first step to working in the outdoors industry.
‘During a masters in performance sportswear design I learnt the commercial side of fabrics and from there I’ve had spells at some of the top outdoors brands, learning something new at each step along the way.’
Pros
‘Probably the biggest pro and most satisfying thing as an outdoors clothes designer is seeing someone wearing the garment I made, it shows people really appreciate your work.
‘Winning awards is obviously great and having a range in the market over a long period of time is also very rewarding.
‘The job also allows me to be very creative and innovative as well as enabling me to meet a number of talented people within this industry who give it a real community feel.’
Cons
‘The deadlines are very tight and it requires a lot of work, if you miss one deadline it’s a snowball effect and all the other ones get pushed back, which is no good for anyone!
‘Especially as a freelancer you need to be very good at juggling lots of tasks at once, but you get used to it through experience.’
So would the job suit you?
The best outdoors designers mix top-level design talent with a hands-on understanding of how technical clothing functions so kit not only looks good but works well too. It’s not all about creativity though, designers are under serious commercial and deadline pressures and also need to work within tight budgets and with an eye on reality.”
To see the article and other jobs in the outdoors visit outdoorsmagic.com
I’ve just finished my second day in my second factory on the QC part of my trip. I could complain about my sore back from the very low tables for checking garments, my swollen feet from the flight and standing up all day for the last two days or how dog tired I am, but I wish I’d done this for every company that I’ve worked for.
After the last two days, in my opinion, every designer or tech should go to the factory and quality check some of their products. Only then will they learn which measurements are a nightmare to get even an almost half accurate measurement check of, or perhaps that there needs to be a pattern makers size chart and a QC size chart: one with measurements to make the garment and one with key measurement points that need to be checked and more importantly how to find them. (I must mention at this point that I am currently being driven from the factory to the hotel by a typical Shanghai driver. For those of you in the know I do at least have a seat belt and I’m typing so I don’t have to look out of the window)
Today I spent the morning measuring 3 layer, very technical waterproof pants and jackets. I’m not going to lie to you, it was pretty boring and repetitive. Fortunately I was told to take my iPod to the factory for just such activity. My QC album du jour is now The Prodigy Invaders Must Die. I suppose that makes sense as the measuring and checking could be likened to a long turbo session that requires something bassy and up beat to keep you going.
This afternoon was an activity that I can only describe as a complete geek fest (if you’re that way inclined) – inline QC. This involves walking down the production lines and pulling out things that are at different stages of being made. Not very exciting I hear you say. Oh but it is if you love knowing how things are made. This factory is an extremely good Gore accredited factory. There is all manner of bonding and die-cutting, taping and even some sewing!!
Tomorrow I’m back for more of the same before flying to Guangzhou tomorrow afternoon and then catching a bus to Dongguan. I am very much looking forward to getting to a hotel at a sensible time tonight. What the hell I might even have some dinner that isn’t at an airport or out of a packet too. Bye for now
Today I’m going to China. I’ve been lots of times before but this time for the first 10days it’s just me. The first half of my trip is a Quality Control (QC) trip for a technical ski brand. The second half of the trip is for a UK based Mountain brand and this will be just development.
I’m nervous but excited and ready to get stuck in at the factories. I’ll let you know how I get on.
This year ISPO was a great show. The atmosphere felt buzzing and upbeat and you could feel that there were more people at the show than last year. In fact there were 2,481 exhibitors and 103, 220 sqm of exhibit space which is more than ever and on the visitor side numbers had increased by 4% to 81,000 from 109 countries.
There didn’t appear to be a massive amount of product changes from most of the regular brands at the show, as a lot of them play it safe with retail not being at it’s strongest at the moment. This isn’t a bad thing as retailers tend to favour restocking styles that have worked well perhaps adding in new colours to give their displays a facelift.
Colour
Colour was one thing that you couldn’t miss, with the trend for bright colours continuing: Green, blue, purple, red, orange, pink, yellow etc Either as solid colours, clashing contrasts, colour blocks or contrast trim. Some did it better than others, and interestingly Norrona, well known for their very bright colours had toned it down by adding in an easier to wear grey-blue and some asymmetric tonal colour blocking, whilst Berghaus displayed bold plum with lime green, pink with red, purple with bright blue which was not for the feint hearted or perhaps not even the UK market.
Norrona AW13 colour palette
Insulation
Keeping warm seems to be a continuing big theme. Polartec launched Alpha – a brushed, string vest effect fabric that offers lightweight, highly compressible, warm when wet, quick drying, air permeable insulation that is ideal for high activity in colder situations where down and synthetic non-woven insulation struggles to cope with high levels of moisture vapour. The other benefit is that it is very stable and therefore does not require containment in baffled down proof or wind resistant fabrics to avoid percolation thus aiding the breathability of the overall garment.
“Polartec Alpha was developed to meet the performance requirements of the U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF). SOF required something that was warm, wind resistant, highly durable, quick drying, and more breathable than existing insulation products. Polartec Alpha received the highest testing results of any Polartec product ever tested by the SOF evaluation team. The SOF garment made of Polartec Alpha (by Patagonia) will replace two to three layers, reducing costs, saving weight in the field, and improving combat effectiveness.”
Brands that have launched products using Polartec Alpha include: 66º North, Eddie Bauer, Eider, Mammut, Marmot, Montane, Mountain Equipment, Rab, Ternua, Terry Cycle, The North Face, Trangoworld, Vaude and Westcomb.
Berghaus and Millet have their water repellent down. Down that is treated with a water repellent finish, increasing the insulation provided and also removing the need to be quite so precious with your down clothing in the UK when it rains. See this video here to see a comparison between non treated and treated down in water or visit the Down-Tek site http://down-tek.com
The North Face launched their Thermoball clothing. A technology developed exclusively with Primaloft (TNF have a three year exclusivity on this innovation) to create a synthetic insulation that works like down with out the downside of down. Thermoball is part of their Science of Warmth series and is a short polyester fibre spun into tiny cottonwool ball-like structures of approximately 5mm diameter, that mimics down clusters. These clusters are then contained in small triangular baffles, (smaller than could be used with down due to the size of down clusters) that are sewn into the jacket. By comparison the Thermoball technology equates to around 600 fill power down jacket of similar weight and is as compressible as a comparable garment made with down. For AW13 The North Face are launching men’s and women’s hooded, non hooded and vest styles and a waterproof Gore-Tex style.
Thermoball technology
Merino Wool
The Woolmark Company collaborated with ISPO organisers to create Wool Street – an isle dedicated to brands that used or supplied wool products for the sporting sector.
From the traditional Norweigan knits from Dale to the technical jackets from Ortovox and merino suppliers such as Charles Parsons and their Merino State technology with blends of polyester/merino, and Primaloft/merino alongside pure merino and well know suppliers such as MAPP there was a world of choice.
Merino appeared to be very much here to stay with a lot more brands including it in their collections. Toray and Ortovox had created a waterproof with merino wool backing. As in my previous blog Ashmei included merino throughout their collection and brands such as Icebreaker and Smartwool continue to thrive.
When surrounded by a sea of synthetic fabric it’s good to see something traditional and natural doing well.
Social and Environmental Conscious
I’m not sure whether it was because I was looking for it, but there seemed to be more brands with either an environmental or social conscious. French Snowboard brand Picture (Organic Clothing) aims to make it’s products as environmentally friendly as possible. This was recognised with the ISPO Gold award in the ski and snowboard outerwear category with their 100% recyclable Welcome Jacket and also an “Environmental Excellence” Award highlighting Picture’s continued commitment to reduce its environmental impact.
Visit their site www.picture-organic-clothing.com and each product has an environmental impact reduction rating based on emissions saved during producing of that product versus conventional production methods and fabrics. Where possible they try to use recycled and organic fabrics and all products are certified OEKO TEX 100.
Other brands include German Pyua winners of the ISPO environmental award several times. For this snowboard brand it is all about style, function and sustainability. Their closed loop process also aims to recycle their products at their end of life as well as using recycled polyester fabrics in the first place. American brand Nau, based in Oregon are another brand making sustainable clothing but this time for urban and outdoor users. Then there are all of the usual suspects – Patagonia, Vaude, Klattermusen etc The North Face highlighted their environmental conscience with a company history wall on their stand Their website details some of it here
Technical mountaineering brand Arc’teryx have won the ISPO Social Awareness award for their Birds Nest Project. This project is really all about giving something back. They found that they had large supplies of left over fabric from their production. After a brainstorm session of what to do with it the Birds Nest Project was born, in which employees that wanted to take part were taught how to use the sewing machines by the Arc’teryx machinists and gave up their weekends to sew waterproof capes for the local communities homeless people from the company’s left over Gore-Tex fabric. Here’s a short video about it.
Arc’teryx Birds Nest Project Cape
Top skate brand Volcom, also won the ISPO social awareness award for their Give Jeans a Chance worldwide campaign that aims to collect denim jackets and jeans to give to the homeless. This has been a phenomenal success with around 35,000 pairs of jeans being donated so far in return for a cap or CD sampler and a chance to be entered for the draw to win a custom Volcom Snowboard. Watch this video to see more
Volcom Give Back Series – Give Jeans a Chance
Healthstyle
Health is a big trend, with an area given over to Healthstyle. Healthstyle describes the fusion of sports and health: product innovations, high quality lifestyle design and new customer groups which will revolutionize the sporting goods market and the healthcare industry. Exercise has become a healthcare tool leading to many new customer niches and product innovations. This in turn has added a new angle to the sports goods industry and also the healthcare market.
Alongside the Health Forum Conference there were also a number of exhibits, one of which was a project that I have had involvement with, Design for Aging Well. The project is looking at the rapidly growing gap in the market for fit for purpose and fit for consumer activewear for the over sixty year old. This demographic is rarely catered for by the sporting goods market, yet this is the demographic that is growing fastest. “Older people today are relatively younger, more adventurous and more confident than previous generations” and are looking but not finding clothing that offers them style, comfort and performance for their activities.
On the stand Principle Investigator, Jane McCann, Project researcher David Taylor and Designer Chris Lewis were available to talk through the prototypes that were the result of their research and co-design process. Outdoor brand Sprayway played a hand in the development of the prototypes and also had some of them on their stand. For more information about the project and design for this market visit their website http://www.newdynamics.group.shef.ac.uk/design-for-ageing.html
The Original Mountain Marathon, or OMM for short, are UK brand well known for their events and purist kit for ultralightweightaholics. They are a small company with a big heritage and very strong core principles. All products must be fit for for OMM events and must meet high standards of strength, stability, fit, accessibility, functionality and lean weight whilst also working well with each other. To accomplish this they use some of the best fabrics on the market from Pertex, Primaloft and eVent Fabrics.
I was quite impressed with their stand, built by their small team from banners laced onto scaffolding and a huge magnetic white board to display the garments and write details on. Their aim was to create something that could also be set up at events often at which there is no power so their lighting came from a series of LED lighting strips attached to a car battery!
The piece the OMM are probably most well known for, the Kamelika Race Smock has been trimmed down for next winter by 40 grams, this brings an already incredibly lightweight, four-way stretch waterproof, breathable softshell jacket to just a little over 200 grams, without losing any functionality or features.
Mountain Raid Sleeping Bag £160
For the less nesh among us the Mountain Raid Sleeping Bag could be just what you’re looking for. At 400g this Pertex Quantum outer bag is super lightweight and packs down to the size of a grapefruit. This is serious race kit aimed at endurance racers where weight and performance are crucial. So how warm is it? OMM haven’t added a Clo or Tog rating to their sack. The main reason is mainly it’s difficult to quantify how their customers will use the bag. Mostly it’s up to you how you use it and whether it will be warm enough for your intentions. During a race you’re more than likely to wear all of your warm, dry kit to increase the warmth of the bag, or you may use it as an emergency survival bag, or even put it inside your summer bag to make it warmer for winter.
The sleeping bag is lined with Primaloft One, the most water repellent of the Primaloft family, making it perfect for damp UK conditions. To remove unnecessary weight there is 40g in the base of the bag and 60g in the top with a loose outer and quilted inside. There is a cowled hood, full foot box and a baffled, offset quarter length YKK zip.
As with all ultra lightweight kit consumers are generally a bit more tech savvy and can take informed risks with their equipment and clothing at the detriment sometimes to their comfort and their safety during an event or training
Sonic Smock £60
Another neat little product is the Sonic Smock. This superlightweight wind resistant Pertex Quantum smock packs away into a pocket made in the collar (the only place on the smock with a double layer of fabric) so its pack size is tiny (see photo). At 52 grams it’s half the weight of Montane’s Featherlite Smock and still boasts a quarter length neck zip, thumb loops, and a hem drawcord that pulls in at the back only to maintain a flat front to the smock. At £60 it’s not too heavy on the pocket either….ahemThere were too many other cracking products to mention here. For more info have a look at their website www.theomm.com or maybe enter one of their many events. The next is a great entry level event for those of you that aren’t quite sure about the full OMM, there’s the OMM lite the weekend of the 18/19th May 2013 which is still a pairs event and includes an overnight camp but only involves approximately 5hrs day 1 and 4hrs day 2 for the short course.
Morvelo is a brand synonymous with riding bikes and racing bikes and just having a great time. They’ve put together a Cyclocross race like no other set in the urban wilds of Halifax around a decaying, abandoned mill.
On the 3rd March the race takes you on the traditional route through the beer tent and cowbell alley. The smell of beer, frites, pie, hog roast, great coffee, pizza, sweat and mud will fill the air as riders battle it out in their thirty minute ‘Moto’ around a course that will comprise of man made obstacles, multiple lines, rubble heaps, barriers and more. the aim is to be in the top fifty percent and qualify for the next round until you get to the final.
There are races for all: Under 12’s, Youths, Juniors, Women, Novices, Seniors and Vets and you can go cross or bring your mountain bike.
Outdoor Research (OR) make outdoor kit for the serious outdoor enthusiast. They started around thirty years ago with an insulated gaiter called the X-Gaiter developed by Ron Gregg the founder after his return from a near fatal trip, due to gear failure (a gaiter) from Alaska’s Denali. Their aim is to create functional solutions for human powered adventure and is a brand that really listens to their customers feedback using a programme they call ‘Lab Rat Feedback’. Consumer feedback is sent directly to their product development team and has affected individual products as well as entire product lines, from hats and gloves to bivy sacks and apparel. They also have in-house production and prototyping which gives them the opportunity to rapidly update and tweek styles to get back out on their wear testers to create styles are the best that they can be rather than just creating lots of new styles.
Sports that they use as inspiration for their products include
Alpinism
Backcountry skiing / riding
Hiking
Backpacking
Ice climbing
Rock climbing
Trail running
Paddling
I asked them to show me their show stopper and they produced the Maximus Jacket. As it’s name suggests, this isn’t a flimsy, lightweight windshell. The Maximus is a seriously bombproof technical 3 layer Gore-Tex Pro jacket aimed at those going out into extreme conditions eg. the Alpinist, Mountaineer, Climber and Back Country Skier where durability, breathability and protection are all essential.
The jacket has been redesigned for AW2013 which has transformed something that was quite a plain looking jacket before into something that looks like it means business. The most obvious change are the grey panels. They are made from stretch Gore-Tex Pro to allow for greater freedom of movement whilst climbing. The main body is still made from a 70 denier nylon Gore-Tex Pro the sort of thing that most brands would use on lighter jackets as reinforcement.
This jacket isn’t short of ventilation, firstly there is their Torso Flo system: full length side zips with two zip sliders at each side of the jacket so that it can be opened up without having to remove the jacket. If that wasn’t enough then there are also two huge venting pockets, an adjustable helmet compatible hood with a high collar for face protection, two more chest pockets and another inside. It’s not the lightest jacket but the fabric was chosen to be as durable as it can be without sacrificing weight.
It was quite refreshing to see something so bomber in amongst the lightweight kit. I also quite liked the opening side zips, not something I’ve seen on a Gore-Tex jacket before, I suppose the closest to it would be the Paramo Aspira Smock.
OR has also won an ISPO gold award for their Lodestar Glove. The glove uses Polartec Power Shield High Loft for the back of the glove, which aims to keep the wearer toasty warm whilst not restricting movement. The pile in the High Loft fabric offers a similar level of insulation as a synthetic or down insulation but it is rapid drying like a fleece and works to remove moisture from the skin quickly and keep it away so that there is less chance of fingers chilling through conduction.
The palms are made from goat leather for increased grip and also this helps to maintain a soft, flexible glove. One further feature is that the finger seams are all at the top of the finger so less likely to cause rub and helps with movement. The articulated fingers are also lined with a grid fleece, and this allows for a greater freedom of movement due to less bulk than the use of a solid fleece whilst still maintaining the wicking function. They have also launched the Lodestar Jacket made from the same Polartec fabric technology
Round the corner from MHM I found ISPO Brand New Sportswear Award Winner Ashmei. I knew these guys were going to be at the show and it was a good opportunity for some gear geekery. They are relatively new to the running market, and in a nutshell they make men’s and women’s very sharp looking, uncompromisingly high quality, high performance, technical running apparel with phenomenal attention to detail. Ashmei clothing has clean and simple styling with an identifiable signature, this is in the form of a single stripe that is instantly spotable, in addition they only use four colours: red, black, white and grey. “High vis yellow was an option but when it rains the skies usually turn dark and high visibility yellow does not show up in the dark. [We found that] high contrast and reflective were the two most important factors when running in low light and you can’t get more contrasting than black against white reflectivity.”
British brand Ashmei was founded by Stuart Brooke, a talented designer and Masters graduate in menswear with distinction from the Royal College of Art and also owner of Blue Associates, a successful high performance sportswear apparel design and sourcing consultancy. The little symbols in the logo mean Ultimate and the name itself is a Japanese sounding anagram of Stuart’s daughter’s name Meisha. Stuart wasn’t at the show unfortunately, but Justin one of their sponsored athletes (the barefoot runner in their latest video) was on their stand.
So what’s different about Ashmei? A lot of it is to do with the material choice. The men’s Ultimate Rain Jacket could have been made from any of the fantastical breathable waterproof fabrics on the market, but after extensive testing there wasn’t a fabric that could cope with the amount of moisture and vapour created during a run. They went back to the start and worked out what was important for a runner and developed their own bespoke fabric with a micro weave structure using micro fibres. What they created was a highly breathable fabric with it’s own special permanent water repellency treatment that could keep the rain showers out long enough for your run (about an hour), yet kept you dry from the inside by moving moisture vapour far quicker than any laminated or coated waterproof ever could. By making this fabric more rainproof, it would compromise breathability which is no different to what is already available and from research they found that for most runners one hours protection would be enough.
The Ultimate is pretty lightweight at 205g for a mens medium and packs into it’s own rear vent. Other features include reflective detailing, reflective Ashmei stripe, “3 in 1 winter cuff to keep your hands warm if it turns cold on your run and you forgot your gloves, an offset front zip and bite grip so it feels comfortable and you can open the zip with one hand in case you run with a bottle… a zipped i-pod pocket with earphone cable routing, pit zips and rear venting to keep you cool”
Back View
seams are all bound inside the jacket
simple cordlock and silicone gripper at hem
CB text
earphone cable organiser
side ventilation zips
Womens Ultimate Rain Jacket front
back view
Other products include Merino wool running tights, shorts, and a selection of merino wool vests, jerseys and sweatshirts for men and the same for women but with a skort/3/4length merino tights and socks, beanie and gloves for both. For more information and if you dare trust yourself to look without wanting to buy everything in their collection visit http://www.ashmei.com
They will also be hosting their first race around Ullswater in August an 18 miler and a 33 mile Ultra. If you fancy your chances you could win some Ashmei kit, and there is also a £10 Ashmei gift voucher for every finisher.
Today I took a look around the ISPO Brand New area. This is sometimes one of my favourite areas of the show as it is a showcase of new products coming to the fore from brands that you might not have heard of.
The first brand to catch my eye was MHM Packs. Founded by a bunch of young guys from Colorado with a passion for the outdoors and little enthusiasm to work a white collar job. So they set about starting up a company that built products that offered plenty of versatility with shape and design and allowed them to still live the dream and get out into the outdoors regularly.
MHM (Mile High Mountaineering) have a good collection of packs suited to backpacking and climbing to day hikes and Urbaneering. When first walking past the stand, nothing really stood out as being different about their pack, but as Jeff Popp, founder of the company went through some of their styles I saw a few features that I really liked . The first was on their 34 Litre day sack the Salute Pack. The key thing about the Salute is that it has a Snake Loader System – this is a snaking zip that wraps around the pack in an S-shape to allow you to open the pack up virtually flat, ideal if you need to keep things off of the ground such as a rope. With three zip sliders you can also access any part of the pack you need without opening it up fully, ideal for long days out where the pack is full and the thing that you want is at the bottom of the pack. This pack is loaded with other features, if you pop over to their website there are photos of them in more detail.
Salute 34 unzipped
The larger 55 Litre Divide Pack has two full length zips down each side of the pack. In a similar way to the Salute this allows easy access to any part of the pack, plus the ability to open the back up completely to create a ground mat to keep kit off of the ground. The top lid converts into a small day pack, which is handy on big trips. The other key feature was a built in dry sack at the base of the pack to stow wet kit. Again this pack is highly featured, but more detail is available on their site.
Divide 55 unzipped
For more information and detail on both of these packs and the rest of the range visit their website www.mhmgear.com
Greengrass Design Studio 
