Challenged by new, environmentally-conscious labels, the outdoor clothing industry is beginning to question its methods and introduce more eco-responsible collections, explains Frédéric Martin-Bernard, who conducted this inquiry for Promas List .


Photo: IKKS x Duvillard

This year, the winter sports season is already well underway. At least this is so in Paris, where in mid-October, several outdoor brands that originated in the mountains have events going on in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Fusalp has opened its fifth store in the French capital. Also from Annecy and originally known, as Fusalp, for its tapered ski pants, Duvillard introduces a collaboration with IKKS, known for its more rock attitude. This unisex capsule collection is produced in eco-sourced materials. The insulated fabrics are made from recycled polyesters "whose manufacturing consumes 30% less energy than traditional nylon", a fact emphasized by both brands in their communications. This is not surprising since men’s expectations for their outdoor sport and leisure activity garments have evolved significantly in recent years.

GREATER RESPECT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Photo: Lagoped

"Consumers are asking more questions. Before they purchase, they want to know where and how the models are made and also specific details about the garment. They are increasingly well-informed. They now want to be able to verify brands' eco-responsible claims. For a long time, though the outdoor clothing industry communicated about nature, it tended to develop outfits that were the antithesis of these values," explains Christophe Cordonnier, co-founder in 2018 of the Lagoped brand that specializes in sportswear for outdoor activities, mostly in high altitudes. The brand is named after a small European mountain bird, also known as a "snow hen", that lives frugally and changes color when winter arrives to blend into the environment.
“Our clothes are inspired by nature," adds the entrepreneur, who comes from a financial background while his two original partners had built their careers in the clothing and mountain worlds.

"They're designed for outdoor living and produced near our company headquarters to respect the environment. We only use recycled fibers, don't cut down trees and manufacture our garments in democracies." Last March, with the help of the Peftrust platform that uses a standard method recommended by the European Commission since December 2021, Lagoped became the industry’s first brand to publish eco-scores for each of its models. These arguments have clearly been a hit with consumers and the brand already has almost sixty retailers after just five years in business during a period that included challenging pandemic restrictions and tough economic conditions. Another sign that its eco-responsible commitments appeal to customers is that it just raised 5.7 million euros from private investors to accelerate its development.

BREAKING FREE FROM OIL DEPENDENCY

We've come a long way in the outdoor clothing industry from a recent past where most outdoor gear designed to accompany open-air activities was made from petroleum by-products that were assembled on the other side of the world - yet no one seemed to care. "When we created our brand in 2008, we did a survey at the 2 Alpes ski resort. Not a single person we questioned was prepared to spend an extra euro on eco-responsible clothing... And when we asked specialty stores the same questions, the response was pretty much the same. Most said ‘your concept is nice, but we're not interested’", explained Julien Durant in an earlier interview. Along with Jérémy Rochette and Vincent André, he is co-founder of Picture Organic Clothing, another French mountain clothing brand that has been committed to sustainable development since the company’s early days.

As snowboarding enthusiasts, the three young partners, all raised near the Auvergne Volcanoes Natural Park, were looking to "experience the mountains differently" when they launched their pioneer label 15 years ago. At the time, besides the American Yvon Chouinard and his Patagonia label, few nature lovers had a problem wearing synthetic materials to protect themselves from the elements. “We went to the mountains for its wide open spaces, clean air and healthy environment and the clothes we wore were a disgrace in relation to our aspirations," also says Christophe Cordonnier when asked how the Lagoped adventure began. “As the founders, we’re also passionate about mountain sports and are not just salesmen or marketers looking to cash in.” The label just inaugurated its first pop-up store in Paris at Au Vieux Campeur, the French benchmark boutique for outdoor sport enthusiasts, while Picture already has its own network of boutiques plus a large number of retailers worldwide. This label has sought many solutions to its dependence on oil. In place of the eternel polyester, it now uses biosourced polymers made from castor seeds or sugarcane waste. It also claims that its models can be repaired to encourage people to buy less and consume better.

SHARED EFFORTS

Photo: Pyrenex @FLC/ADAGP

Faced with these new players in the industry, long-standing mountain and outdoor clothing brands question their methods and seek to "green" their models. This progress is often launched in collaboration with another label as Duvillard and IKKS did for autumn-winter. Sometimes it is even the result of pairing up with a designer who doesn't share the same point of view. At the end of the lockdown, the manufacturer Millet, who has specialized in mountaineering equipment since 1930, collaborated with American designer Spencer Phipps, then working in Paris, on an amazing collection that recycled its unsold stock. For several years Pyrenex, a brand specializing in comforters and down jackets, has also resorted to one-off collections in tandem with other brands. After Lacoste, Le Mont Saint Michel and agnès b, the company’s main collaboration this winter is with the Paris women's ready-to-wear brand Roseanna. At the same time, the company, based in Saint-Sever (the Landes region) and classified as a Living Heritage Label (EPV) by France’s Ministry of Economy and Finance since 2020, is increasing its use of recycled polyesters for the outer layer of its models, photographed this season at the Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Inside the quilted jackets and blousons there is no synthetic filling but instead down from ducks raised for their meat (not their feathers) in Aquitaine. This insulating material is usually considered to be a waste product of the food industry. This form of recycling, located close to the company’s factory, checks off several eco-responsible boxes.

Comments collected by Frédéric Martin-Bernard for Promas List