Eva Karlsson, CEO of the Swedish sustainable outdoor and sportswear brand Houdini, has talked about the brand's most recent apparel innovations as part of its responsible approach, its aim to offer more multipurpose and multifunction apparel, and recall to behave differently towards nature.
“Forward to Nature” is Houdini’s message to the world. It’s our rallying cry to inspire people towards a better tomorrow. Forward to Nature is also a distillation of Houdini’s values and beliefs. Today, the world is basically divided in two camps: one camp thinks that we need to go back to a time before the industrial revolution to fix the environmental challenges of our time. The other camp thinks the opposite, that the only solution is to place our bids with technology and hope that will save us.
The New Naturals is a collection of products that embodies the philosophy of “Forward to Nature”. It’s a love affair between nature and technology. A super functional all-natural clothing system that allows you to dress from the inside and out in natural performance materials. From our Desoli base layers made of pure merino wool to our Alto mid-layers engineered with a mix of merino wool and Tencel, to the Lana high-performance shell layers designed with super fine merino wool.
All Houdini clothes are made to work for every aspect of your life. We call it “Functional Life Wear”. We think a jacket or a pair of pants should work for hiking, biking, skiing, working and living in. A Houdini piece of clothing should be both functional and beautiful. That is our way of combatting overconsumption, by designing clothes that can be worn every day for many years without breaking or going out of fashion. We believe that we don’t need more clothes, but we need clothes that can do more. And by having fewer garments that can do more, you can enjoy life so much more.
What are The New Naturals products made of? Are these materials eco-friendly or sustainable? Could you please give more details about it?
As The New Naturals styles are made of 100% natural materials, like wool and Tencel–besides seams, tags and zippers, because there is no natural alternative at the moment–they can all be returned to nature after many years of hard use.
The innovation, development process and concept behind the natural materials is that we never blend naturals and synthetics, because then they can be neither recycled nor decomposed. This includes synthetic treatments and hazardous chemicals that are commercially used in, for example, wool and Tencel products.
Yes, The New Naturals is a clothing system that can be worn together as layers: from base layers to mid-layers to shell layers. And as with every other Houdini product, they can be combined with other styles from Houdini. The colors have been developed, so they not only work together for one particular season, but also past seasons.
Are they genderless pieces? How about other Houdini products?
All styles in The New Naturals' collection exist for both men and women. They are the same when it comes to function and performance, but respect a wide range of body forms and sizes. We do have some fully gender-fluid styles such as The Cloud, The Shelter, the Sleepwalker or the Puffy Square.
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