FIELD NOTES: DESIGNING FOR COLD
In spring, with our Season 2 prototypes of outerwear, Oskar Hingel and Jakob Meighen from our Product & Design team drove out a few hours from headquarters to the base of the Eastern Sierras to gear up and get out into the last cold front of the season. We sat down with them afterward to talk about the trip, the new layering system, and why testing is such an informative part of our design philosophy.
Interview by Bryce Lowe-White
Photos & Video by Jameson Roller
How do expeditions find their way into the design process?
Jakob (Apparel Designer): The experiential knowledge you gain from these trips, from the test pilot experience, informs so much of the process. There are so many insights you get out in the field, out in nature, that don’t come to you at your desk. You’re putting the gear in the environment you’re designing it for and using it for those specific use cases. That’s where a lot of the breakthroughs come from.
Where does a trip like this fall into the timeline?
Jakob: Ideally, right after we get that first proto. We take that first prototype and bring it out into the field. The sooner you can get it tested, the better, because you’re going to have that firsthand experience to make meaningful and intentional changes that help the product grow.
Can you give an example of something you improved through experience?
Jakob: A lot of it is little changes to fit and patterning. It might be a quarter inch here, a half inch there, but it helps that much more when you’re using it in the environment, because it’s moving with you rather than against you. That’s what’s so nice about putting it through proper testing before we put it out to potentially thousands of people who are going to use it and rely on it. For a lot of people, they’re not going to notice. But for us it makes all the difference, and for the end user who needs to rely on their gear it makes all the difference too.
A little one that comes to mind from this trip is the hood cinch on the Pertex® Down Puffer. It starts at the crown of your head, and instead of the bungee wrapping on your ears, it wraps below them. So there isn’t a whole bunch of stacking. From all the testing we’ve done, you get a more ergonomic, 360-degree hold when you cinch it down. We moved it literally a half inch below where it was before, so it holds everything in place when you’re fully layered up with the hood on.
Why the Eastern Sierra?
Jakob: Having it as the backyard of our design studio as a cold climate testing ground to validate our gear is huge. You can get into extreme conditions and extreme elevation within three hours. That accessibility, being able to throw yourself into the conditions we’re designing this gear to stand up in, is what makes it so great.
What conditions are you designing our layering system for?
Jakob: For this season, we’re designing it to not only let you survive but thrive in extremely cold conditions. Near freezing to below freezing, heavy wind, heavy rain, and even a combination of all three. And to keep you moving at high elevation, which is where we’re testing it.
Oskar, you run the product line. Why go on these trips yourself?
Oskar (Product Line Manager): You want to feel comfortable releasing the product that you make and us knowing first hand that it works is the most important part of that.
We want to test the gear in an environment where we’re even a little nervous. That is how you test the edge of its performance. On this trip we found ourselves in a situation where the spot we thought we were going to camp didn’t work out and we had to think on the fly. We ended up losing light, stranded, digging out a tree well in the snow to camp for the night. If the gear is something you’re not even thinking about when in a real survival scenario like that, you know it’s working well. That’s what really reassured me that this season's outerwear and layering system can stand up against the elements.
“If the gear is something you’re not even thinking about when in a real survival scenario like that, you know it’s working well.”
Oskar Hingel, Product Line Manager
The outerwear line this season is made of many of the same pieces from last season. Why not introduce something new?
Jakob: Season to season, the line looks familiar by name. But you can be assured there are slight changes that are very intentional and go a long way to making it better. It’s a continuous cycle. We’d much rather update a style that has been around for three seasons and improve it than create a brand new style just for some freshness.
Where is the outerwear line today, and where is it going?
Oskar: There aren’t two products in our outerwear line that compete in a role. Each one serves its own purpose. We only make necessary revisions to improve performance.
The box baffle in the Pertex® Down Puffer is a big one. You have to have the right designer who knows how to do a box baffle, and you have to work with the right factories that can cut and sew that kind of technical construction.
So function always leads?
Oskar: We don’t design for aesthetic. Aesthetic comes second, and function always comes first. If something serves a function and that’s how it needs to look to serve that function, that’s how it’s going to look.
Jakob: What it ends up looking like is informed by the function and the end use. I love how simple all of our stuff looks at the end of the day, because I’m never thinking, okay, I need to make this look as simple as possible. It’s always informed by the function. The last thing we want to do is chase trends and make what everyone else is making. We want to stay true to who we are and carve our own path.
So what was the intention behind the trip?
Jakob: It was different from the others we’ve done. We did Langley and Whitney, summiting those peaks, but this time we knew we weren’t going to summit anything. We really wanted to see, from the base of our hike to where we ended, how the layering system would perform. This is one of the first seasons where we’ve got every base covered: base, mid, insulation, and shell. We knew it was going to be really cold, really windy, and high elevation. The main goal was to make sure we could rely on our gear.
The hike started super hot. The sun was reflecting off the snow, we were moving quickly, and we had a ton of gear on us. We were pushing pretty hard. The goal was to see how heavy we could go and push what we were wearing to its limits. At the top, it ended up being something like 70 mile per hour winds, blowing us over.
We realized this was the worst place we could possibly ever try to camp.
How did the system hold up through all of that?
Jakob: We packed as light as we could, knowing the conditions. I wore our Expedition Pant with wool underwear underneath and hiked the majority of it in our Merino Wool Long Sleeve. I was sweating a ton, so it got a little damp on the way up, but it was so hot it didn’t really matter.
When it started to get cold, I threw the Alpha Direct over it. I’m always amazed at how well that fabric regulates my body temperature. Instantly, when it’s really cold, you feel how much warmer it is. And when you’re moving, it breathes so well that it holds the warmth and also dried my wool base layer out a ton. That’s perfect, because I don’t want any piece I’m wearing to be soaked through when it starts to get cold. That’s when you start dealing with serious trouble.
As we got higher up the trail and colder, I threw on our Dispatch jacket, unzipped to help it vent. At camp, I put the Pertex® Down Puffer over the Alpha Direct, and I was totally fine.
Oskar: It was freezing cold and super windy, and we were warm the entire time we set up the tent and camp. The next morning, we took off the Down, threw the Climashield back on, and walked back into that wind tunnel, made coffee on a rock with the most insane views. Then we hiked out the same day.
I’m not even kidding: from the time we left the car until we got back to it, I never took off my Merino. I never took off my Alpha Direct. I only changed between the Climashield and the Down Puffer depending on the situation. When it was really windy, I threw on my Cordura® Packable Windbreaker, and that made an insane difference. No wind got through.
How much were you actually carrying?
Oskar: Each piece packs down so well that we literally just had that in our packs. The Dispatch or the down puffer, a rain shell, and the packable windbreaker. It was probably the smallest amount of weight I’ve ever had for apparel while backpacking. I never even had to use the rain shell. It was super cold but super dry.
How should someone think about the layering system before heading into the cold?
Oskar: In most scenarios it works similarly for almost everyone. If you’re somewhere super cold but dry like we were, most of the time you’ll be in the Merino with the Alpha Direct, plus the Climashield or the Down Puffer. But everyone’s body is different. Some people sweat more, some don’t sweat as much. So it depends on knowing your own physiology. If you know you’re going to sweat a ton, definitely bring an Airtex top for your base layer for when you’re really moving.
Knowing what system you’re bringing before you go, knowing the type of person you are and how your body reacts to different climates, lets you plan and be really comfortable. That’s something we think about a lot at Florence, and we plan for it in the product line. We make sure we’re not leaving anyone out, so every person has the right tools to build a system they’re comfortable in.
Jakob: We’ve seen such a wide range of people test our gear, which is the beauty of it. We like to cross over. We’re an outdoor brand rooted in the ocean, so you might go from a boat straight into a gnarly hike, from warm, humid, tropical conditions to cold and icy all at once. We’ve seen climbers take it up Half Dome and through Yellowstone, and sailors wear it on Arctic expeditions. Ideally we offer you four to six pieces, and we’ve got you covered in whatever environment that might be.
The beauty of the layering system is that it’s personal, custom to the person using it. The whole point of what we make is to help you get out there and trust your gear enough to push your limits, and to learn what works best for you in different environments. It gives you an appreciation for what you’re wearing.
What does firsthand experience teach you about design?
Jakob: The experiential knowledge is everything. You can’t call yourself an outdoorsman or a waterman and not go experience the beauty of nature and push yourself in those environments. It would seem backwards. That knowledge informs so much of what I do here. It’s where the credibility of our claims comes from. This is tried and tested, and it’s going to hold up in the environments you recreate in.
It’s an amazing process to take something that starts as an idea in your brain, see the physical result of it, and then go test it in these beautiful places we get to explore. That’s what fires me up to keep making our product better. 🚩
Build Your System
How it works
A layering system is a set of pieces that each do one job. Add or remove a single layer as conditions change.
Gear up for your next adventure
Base
Moves sweat off your skin
Tops
-
Merino Wool Long Sleeve ShirtStays warm when damp and resists odor.
-
Airtex Long Sleeve ShirtBreathable and manages heavy moisture and sweat.
Bottoms
-
Polartec® Alpha Direct PantOnly needed when it’s freezing.
Mid
Breathes and holds heat
Tops
-
Polartec® Alpha Direct Hooded FleeceHolds warmth when you stop, vents heat when you work.
Bottoms
-
Cordura® Expedition PantDurable stretch pant for any trail.
-
Cordura® Covert PantTen pockets for extra storage.
Insulation
Traps heat
Tops
-
Dispatch Climashield® Zip JacketLight synthetic for cool conditions.
-
Pertex® Climashield® PufferHooded synthetic for cold. Retains warmth when wet.
-
Pertex® Down PufferBox-baffled construction for maximum heat retention.
Shell
Blocks wind and rain
Tops
-
Cordura® Packable WindbreakerFor high wind.
-
2.5-Layer ShellWaterproof, for rain or wet snow.
Leave a comment