STOCKHOLM — September 1, 2020 — To help push the textile industry towards circularity, outdoor brand Houdini and its innovation partner Polartec have teamed up to make their award-winning circular innovation — the fleece jacket ”Mono Air Houdi” — open source.
Outdoor company Houdini has for the last decade been a sustainability pioneer within the clothing industry. The brand is now introducing Project Mono Air, an open-source initiative where all the work behind their latest circular innovation, the Mono Air fleece jacket, is shared online. On the Project Mono Air website anyone can download a complete run-down of the garment’s components — from patterns down to the last button — as well as follow every design decision, learn about the fabric technology and explore the circular design principles that lay the foundation of all Houdini garments.
The goal behind the initiative is to help the textile and product design industry become circular and waste free through knowledge sharing and cross-industry collaboration.
”Our vision is to enable a waste-free world where people can enjoy nature experiences without negatively impacting the environment. The insight that sparked the idea of Project Mono Air was that if we want to really change the industry for the better, we need to work together. We all share the problems that are caused by unsustainable design and manufacturing, so why not share the solutions to tackle them?
One garment is not going to solve the problem, but we hope it can be one step on the way towards speeding up the pace of innovation — and hopefully spark change even beyond the textile industry”, says Eva Karlsson, CEO at Houdini.
The Mono Air Houdi, which was first revealed in January and awarded gold at the prestigious ISPO Awards, was created to address the issue of plastic and textile waste on a larger scale. The garment is designed in a groundbreaking Polartec® Power Air™ fabric technology, made from circular mono material and engineered to reduce microfiber shedding by 80 percent. With its cutting-edge outdoor performance, the jacket pushes boundaries both in terms of sustainability and functionality.
“Polartec Power Air is a step forward in reducing the environmental impact of what we make and wear,” said Steve Layton, president of Polartec. This groundbreaking technology can be a real enabler for circularity. It’s processes and constructions like these, which make circularity possible. And it’s designs like Houdini’s which help show the world how clothing can be made sustainably.”
”The biggest challenge for all brands working with circularity is to design products that are sustainable without compromising on performance. This is what we have been able to solve with the Mono Air: to create a garment that enables both sustainability and cutting-edge performance. The goal with the open- source project is not to create many Mono Air fleece jackets, but to let the work behind it become useful in the development of other products and innovations. If this can lead to new circular breakthroughs in the textile industry — be it in the hands of a basement designer or billion dollar brand — we are on the right path” says Jesper Danielsson, head of Design and Innovation at Houdini.
The open-source files and more information about the project can be found at the Project Mono Air website, launching October 7.
Posted October 9, 2020
Source: Houdini
