Polartec: Houdini’s new fleece becomes open-source
To contribute to the fight against plastic waste in the fashion industry, the outdoor brand Houdini, in collaboration with its historical partner Polartec, leader in the production of innovative textile solutions, makes available in open source mode for small designers and international brands, the new fleece “Mono Air Houdi” winner of the ISPO Award.
The Mono Air Houdi jacket, presented for the first time in January and awarded with the Gold at the prestigious ISPO Awards, was born from the collaboration of Houdini and Polartec to deal on a large scale with the problem of plastic and textile waste. This 100% circular garment is made of monomaterials designed to reduce microfiber loss by 80%. This will significantly reduce the risk of waste of microplastics that pollute the oceans. This open-source innovation was conceived with the hope that other brands will embrace and implement this circular approach in textile design.
“Polartec Power Air represents a step forward in reducing the environmental impact of what we create and wear,” says Steve Layton, President of Polartec. “This cutting-edge innovation can really contribute to the concept of circularity. It’s processes and compositions of this caliber that make the concept of circularity possible, and it’s through shared examples like Houdini’s that we can show the world how to create garments in a sustainable way.
“The biggest challenge for all circular fashion brands? Designing sustainable products that do not give up high performance. And that’s exactly what we have achieved with Mono Air: a sustainable garment with revolutionary performance. The goal of this open-source project is not to create Mono Air fleece garments in series, but to transmit the work behind them as a legacy for the development of innovation and other products. If this will lead to new circular advances in the textile sector, whether they are in the hands of a small designer or an international brand, we are on the right track,” says Jesper Danielsson, Head of the Design and Innovation Department at Houdini.