Feeling Energized

When asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 the significance of the recent determination by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), Seth Casden, CEO of Hologenix, the maker of Celliant, answered enthusiastically, “an 11!”  And when asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 the challenges endured to obtain FDA approval, Casden responded, “111!”

It’s been a long slog for Hologenix to be able to post hash-tags like #pumped and #FDAapproval on the Celliant twitter feed. The company completed nine clinical studies and four physical studies over the course of 15 years. Not to mention dealing with the skeptics. Consider this email Casden received from a NASA scientist: “I’m not interested in your voodoo science. What you’re saying is like me saying I can grow broccoli on the top of my hand.”

“That’s a favorite quote of mine,” said Casden, enjoying a laugh.

According to Casden the FDA approval represents a huge, seismic shift in how Celliant is perceived. “Now brands can basically ‘check the box,’ when reviewing our technology. It takes the burden of proof off, and as such allows us to focus on getting the tech adopted,” said Casden, adding, “We want to be the ‘Kleenex’ of IR tech; the best of the best of responsive textiles.”

The FDA Stamp of Approval 
This July the U.S. FDA determined Celliant products are medical devices and general wellness products, as defined in Section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. According to the FDA, Celliant products were determined to be medical devices because they temporarily promote increased local blow flow at the site of application in healthy individuals.

Celliant-engineered products are the first of their kind that the FDA has designated as medical devices. The technology can be used in everyday products to create an increase in local blood flow thereby increasing energy, boosting performance and speeding muscle recovery, according to Casden.  Celliant-engineered products harness and recycle the natural heat emitted by human beings to boost performance and rebuild and recharge the human body after physical activity and while you sleep. Celliant is made of a patented blend of thermo-reactive minerals infused into the core of fiber used to create all types of textiles and fabrics so it does not wash or wear out. Products made with Celliant fabric absorb and convert body heat into infrared energy (IR) that is recycled back into skin and tissue in a safe, natural way. IR is a vasodilator, increasing blood flow to tissue and muscles throughout the body, which delivers vital nutrients and oxygen to the cells.

“We had a high bar to hurdle, but this is science based,” said Casden, who refers to Celliant technology as an “elegant use of science, that we are just on the precipice of.”  “With Celliant you can achieve results in loose-fit, comfortable clothes,” said Casden. “You can wrap yourself in Celliant with no side effects.”

Believing in the Science Celliant is currently used in a diverse range of textiles and applications – apparel, bedding, wetsuits and veterinary products – with brand partners and products including Xcel wetsuits, sportswear by Salewa and Montura, Titika yoga wear, PureCare Elements bed sheets and Bear Mattresses. Casden is excited to expand adoptions in these established markets as well as pursue opportunities in new markets.

Draper Knitting has been keen on Celliant for years and company execs are pleased by the FDA approval. After eleven years of producing and working with Celliant fabrics, Kristin Draper, president of Draper Knitting isn’t surprised. “When I was first introduced to Celliant I was a skeptic too,” said Draper in a prepared statement, “but after seeing the remarkable way it reduced inflammation on myself and my family, we knew this was a winner. We have been working with Seth since the beginning and made fabrics, then equestrian products, which lead to dog and human products.”  

“These firms have believed in our science,” explained Casden. “One company sent a bottle of champagne when the FDA news broke.”

Going forward Casden envisions Celliant gaining traction in a host of other markets such as workwear, textiles for furniture and transportation end use, as well as recovery wraps, braces and scrubs.

“There’s been an overwhelming positive response to the FDA approval,” said Casden, “We’ve stuck with this so long, and it’s just great.”

For Spring/Summer 2019, the good news for the sports and outdoors sector is that the consumer continues to pursue health and wellbeing, on both a physical and spiritual direction. One mega trend that has been identified is “The Experience.”In today’s highly connected global community, the selfie and social media obsessed consumer is set to shift their allegiance from possessing to experiencing.

In our consumerist society it is clear we have reached “peak stuff,” and accumulating possessions is no longer prominent. Instead the concept of experiencing new activities – whether from travel or just maintaining an active lifestyle – is what gets posted on Instagram and Facebook. 

It is the millennials who are pushing this work/lifestyle balance, coming of age with their purchasing power. The kudos of posting the purchase of a new smart phone or car doesn’t get anywhere near the esteem as posting the weekend’s latest city break, the involvement in a new sport or reaching a particular goal. 

The need for new experiences in turn is allowing brands to pursue enhanced collections, which is where the textile industry comeFs into play, delivering multi-functional fabrics to deliver active lifestyle and specific sport collections.

Nourishing and energizing fabrics, including FIR (far infrared yarns) and micro encapsulated minerals, are gaining ground. The FIR yarns and fabrics in particular give the wearer a sense of wellbeing, as the body’s heat is released to the fabric and redirected back to the body, increasing circulation and enhancing the experience. This trend also pushes towards a softer touch to fabrics, much more delicate than previous textile offerings, giving enhanced tactility and wearability.

There is a growing tendency toward hybrid blends as we look to cotton, wool and Tencel teaming with performance synthetics in a synergetic approach. These new natural technical blends, brings the inherent performance of the natural fibers together with the performance of synthetic yarns.

Today’s consumer is conscious of the impact on the environment brought on through their lifestyles and is keen to embrace those brands that go that extra mile in delivering cleaner products. For the textile industry we are looking to cleaner processes, recycled polyester and nylon through to the reduction of water and energy use. Chip dyed polyester and recycled denim yarns deliver yarns that don’t require a dyeing process, thus saving water.

This also translates into garment production. There is an increase in seamless and also strategically positioned performance fibers in woven and warp knits that eliminates the need for seaming, thus reducing the production time, resulting in a cleaner, more efficient process. In addition, the reduction of seams enhances the wearability of the apparel. Clean-cut warp knits, for example, eliminate traditional finishing, and offers the wearer a smooth finish and anti-chaffing experience.

Fabrics that Target Running, Biking and Water Sports
Running, mountain and road biking are among the sports that continue to grow in popularity as year-round activities. Moisture management is still key, the development of anti-bacterial/anti-stink yarns and finishes are gaining ground. A complete fresh approach now enhances from yarns through to finishes.

Demand for cooling technologies is also on the increase. Specifically, fabrics that feel cool to the touch and keep the wearer cool. Achieved through permanent performance in innovative yarn technology to finishes applied at the padding process of the textile production, for Summer 2019 a cool and fresh selection is readily available.

Another growth area is water sports. From stand up paddle to kayaking and paddle board yoga, the shift from traditional terra firma sports is shifting to the buoyancy of the ocean, leading to demand for functional water-friendly fabrics. Savvy brands are starting to offer “gym to swim’” collections with collections that feature duality; sports bras in particular offer modern multi-functionality.

Rash vests are key, especially with built-in UV protection, compression, salt resistance and soft touch. This isn’t without the added detail of prints, pulled from the traditional swimwear market. Swimwear in turn is taking influence from the development of the athleisure market, shown in stronger sports-look inspired swimwear by the pool.

This contemporary lifestyle direction sees no bounds. This evolution of living-wear is the next generation of athleisure.

Jill Dumain’s departure from Patagonia may have raised a few eyebrows, however her extensive industry experience and passion for environmental responsibility makes her new role as bluesign CEO a no-brainer. Her 27-year tenure at Patagonia included leadership positions, innovative project launches and the introduction of bluesign tools and systems at the Ventura, CA firm. Throughout her career Dumain has been involved with the Organic Exchange, Textile Exchange and the Sustainability Working Group at the Outdoor Industry Association, in addition to serving as Chairman of bluesign technologies’ Advisory Board from 2011 representing brands. Since 2000, when Peter Waeber debuted the input-based textile supply chain management system, bluesign has been instrumental in reducing harmful chemicals in textile production and raising eco-awareness from fiber to finished goods. Here, Dumain demystifies the bluesign process and offers her fresh perspective on what distinguishes the system and future objectives.

Even within the outdoor industry, a marketplace fairly well educated about supply chain certifications, bluesign is still something of a mystery.  What is the easiest way to understand the value of bluesign?
“One of my colleagues calls bluesign the ‘easy’ button for the industry yet we all know the complexity when dealing with chemicals in a complicated supply chain.

We begin at the chemical supplier’s manufacturing site with an audit to ensure they can manufacture the chemicals properly. This is looking at the control of air emissions, water discharge, and protection for the workers in addition to the manufacturing process of the chemical products. We want to ensure the chemical producer has the required know-how that they can produce without harm to people or their surroundings. After their site is approved, they become a bluesign system partner and can move onto submitting their chemical products for assessment. We run it through our tool that looks at environmental and health considerations (end points in toxicology jargon) and either approve or reject it. The chemicals that make it through the assessment are then put onto our positive list of chemicals that we call the bluefinder. This enables the chemical supplier to label their chemical products as bluesign approved. The bluefinder is the sourcing tool for safe chemistry for the textile mills.

Next, the textile mill has two choices. They can buy the bluefinder to help them source better chemistry or they can become a bluesign system partner. The bluefinder helps them to replace chemicals that are forbidden by MRSLs (Manufacturers Restricted Substances Lists) and RSLs (Restricted Substance Lists). When I was working for a brand I always wanted my mills to avoid ‘regrettable substitutions’ when working with chemistry. The bluefinder helps a textile mill to choose a wise replacement when one of their chemicals in use contains substances that can be found on one of the restrictive lists. If they choose to become a system partner then they will also go through a site audit with similar criteria to the chemical supplier to ensure the same protections move along the supply chain. If their site is approved and they become a system partner using bluefinder chemistry, they are also able to label their products as bluesign approved.

The last step moving this direction in the supply chain is the brand selling to consumers. They are the front facing business that has to answer the questions of many inquiring minds. We have put in place a new tool for brands in the last year and that is a brand assessment. This is designed to give them an evaluation, gap analysis and action plan on their current environmental, health and safety (EHS) program with a focus on the evaluation of mostly textile mills to help them to understand and manage the riskier aspects of their existing supply chains. In addition to the brand assessment, brand system partners also have access to the deep knowledge that bluesign has in textile chemistry, the community of likeminded companies and a tool to implement deep in their supply chains. And if implemented to our criteria, they can also label their products as a bluesign product.”

The “cost of compliance” has become an industry talking point. How do you engage in that conversation and is bluesign designed to cater to small companies as well as large firms?
“Cost is always part of the discussion and it has to be. We know the challenges in our industry but I am a firm believer that we have to figure out the economic piece of all the environmental work if we are going to be attractive to the full textile industry. When a smaller brand comes to us, our first encouragement is to start by asking their mills for bluesign-approved fabrics. This is easy for them if the mill is already a system partner. We have had very small brands source almost their entire collection from bluesign system partners without paying us anything. For the mill, they can also buy access to the bluefinder at a very affordable price and start the process of changing their chemicals. They can do this without becoming a bluesign system partner and start the process this way. For a chemical supplier, they can begin with a certain range of chemicals to assess but they do have to go through the onsite audit before this can happen. As a result, they probably have the least flexibility on the process and cost but we are constantly trying to determine ways for interested companies to begin the process in a way they can handle considering the investment needed in both time and cost.”

The playing field for certifications has gotten crowded in recent years. What specifically differentiates bluesign?
“There are a few unique distinctions. First we are a complete system. As described in the first question, a full supply chain can work in the system with confidence. I have made the analogy before of playing in a sandbox knowing that all of your toys are safe. This frees up all the product development people to focus on the fun part of their jobs around innovation and not worry about the environmental work so much. The next point that has always impressed me about bluesign, and even more now looking from the inside out, is the attention to detail. There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t hear a conversation between colleagues that are discussing the finer points of a particular chemical at a specific supplier and what this might mean for everyday use. For example, one conversation I heard last week was around a softener and if it should be allowed for clothes that are meant to be used next to skin or if it was better to be used on outer layer clothes. There is no way a brand can look at this level of detail with the chemicals in their supply chain. An additional big differentiator is the onsite audits that we perform. In addition to assessing the toxicological aspects of the chemicals, we are actually making sure the production of the chemicals is done in a responsible way. If you think of eating in a restaurant that is serving great food, you also want to know that the kitchen is clean where it is being prepared. It wouldn’t taste nearly as good if you saw a dirty kitchen sending out a beautiful plate of food.”

As you’ve taken the reins as CEO these past six months, what have you learned about bluesign that surprised you?
“There are two things that have surprised me. The first is the depth of knowledge that sits in bluesign. We have nearly 80 employees now with deep expertise from the chemical industry, the textile manufacturing industry and brand experience. I started to try to count the years that we have cumulatively and got to several hundred before we all starting feeling old! The other pleasant surprise is to learn how supported bluesign is in the industry. We have system partners that are really committed to seeing bluesign succeed.”
At this point in your new post, can you elaborate on some of your near term goals for bluesign as well as any future objectives?
For example, gaining traction in new/different markets? And/or plans for global expansion?  “We are constantly looking at new markets and this is an active part of the strategy we are building. In my short time here, I have had many conversations with people that want us to expand into new markets. We are looking at them all strategically and will have a plan in place by the end of the year.  As far as global expansion, we are building up a hub in Asia with employees based there to service the markets better. As our business evolves into different geographic areas, we will definitely find the best way to support those markets as well.”

Bradley Spence never really cared for denim, preferring cords or chinos. “I found jeans uncomfortable, or they stretched out,” says Spence, who has since changed his tune having co-founded Boulder Denim with business partner Taz Barrett. These days the duo find themselves behind the wheel of a vintage 1975 Airstream touring North America in a mobile showroom/pop up shop selling and promoting Boulder Denim brand functionally versatile jeans.

The journey began two years ago when Spence and Barrett decided they wanted to upgrade their usual climbing attire of gym shorts and non-durable yoga pants. Baggy, bright-colored climbing pants were not a stylish option.

“We wanted a pant that you put on in the morning, cycle to work in, wear all day, climb in after work, and then wear to grab a beer in the evening,” explains Spence, who is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Textiles were the number one factor in the hunt for a better climbing pant. Research led them to a manufacturer located outside of Quebec City that had developed a sophisticated denim weave allowing for stretch, flex and excellent shape retention, and no bagging! According to Spence, “Most stretch denim tends to bag out as you wear them and lose that perfect fit that you tried on in the store.” The denim used in Boulder Denim is a patented cross-woven fabric that has 92 percent stretch retainment — the highest in the industry — compared to an industry average of only 64 percent, states Spence.

Boulder Denim is a 10-ounce dual-FX blend of 93 percent cotton/5 percent polyester, and contains only two percent Lycra.

Boulder Denim also features Nanosphere, a Schoeller treatment that repels stains, liquids and dirt. “Nanosphere had never been done before on denim and Schoeller was keen on giving it a try,” says Spence.

Sustainability is also part of the Boulder Denim ethos. “Being made in North America is a plus, and the fact that Nanosphere keeps the denim clean and stink-free means you can wash the jeans less often,” Spence explains, adding “You can wear them for a year without having to wash them — although we encourage a cold water wash and hang dry.”

The denim is also billed as cruelty-free per a suggestion from Spence’s brother. “He’s vegan – as are many in the climbing community – and he said to us ‘why harm an animal to make jeans?’” The partners agreed and decided against using any leather patches on Boulder Denim jeans. An organic cotton option is a future consideration.

Boulder Denim offers styles for men and women, and has found a niche not only with climbers and adventure travelers but also consumers looking for a jean that balances function and fashion for everyday wear.

Design details include a hidden zip-pocket ideal for a passport or smartphone, and a unique fit. The jeans feature a special waistband construction so jeans comfortably stay put without gapping – with no belt required and no underwear showing.

“There was one brand of denim that I liked, Genetic Denim,” recalls Spence. “But when the company dropped men’s styles, that was it for jeans for me. I never wore another brand until we created Boulder Denim.”