Textile Insight

textileinsight.com January/February 2019 ~ Textile Insight • 41 pants using their Corkshell textile. Both were awarded the ISPO Product of the Year award in snowsports for the outerlayer category. It's a bluesign certified jacket with four-way stretch and a membrane that opens and closes based on the climate inside the jacket. For Fall '19, we reworked some styles. We are also utilizing Polartec Alpha in a streetstyle way. Lastly, we did some made-in-Japan product on a whole garment knitting machine. We did a range of trackable merino wool and recycled PET blend in mid-layer tops, along with a jogger. for men and women. It creates less waste. Every piece is 100 percent consistent. You aren't picking through a pile for the best sweater." Do you have a favorite garment in the line? Mike: "We have a women's down jogger that's trackable down and Polartec Power Wool, that may be the most comfortable fabric I've ever put on. It has merino fleece on the inside and nylon to cut down on abrasion. We've also been running our take of a classic military jacket, the Fishtail Jacket, for several seasons, and we'll be doing a 3-layer women's version." Scott: "Whole Garment is really exciting for me because there are so many possibilities. We are also going to do a spring collection for the first time. We're an authentic brand that helps you survive in the harshest climates of the world, but we also understand the fashion market. That marriage is exciting and we'll start to manifest that more. You are seeing outdoor looks from fashion brands, but they maybe aren't using the best ingredients. Then the outdoor brands have the ingredients, but the styles may not be as exciting." Why are you ramping things up now? Scott: "The brand has been through a variety of structures. We have a new logo and identity. After 17 years, it was time for a refresh. Adam Shiffman, our new president, had raised capital for another brand and was always a big fan of ours. Mike and I had our wins and losses as far as the business goes. The economy had some funny times, and we made some funny decisions. Retailers over the last couple of years had been asking why we veered off-brand. Adam brought a more stable financial backing to the company." What does the future hold for Holden? Scott: "From a product standpoint, continue to build around versatility and have more products that are less snow sport specific. I want to keep researching innovations like whole gar- ment and other textile advancements. I want to create ranges of Holden products that people can use more days of their life, not just on the mountain." Mike: "When Adam came in, one of the first things he asked was, 'what do you want to do?'" And we said, explore daily wear. We've never had the ability to finance that. If you look at our trajectory, last year we were about 90 percent alpine. Now with this upcoming '19 collection, it's about 70 percent alpine or even less. That trend will continue. It mirrors what we do in our lives. Our strongest age range is 25-35, but the next is 35-50, so we target folks like ourselves who are into a little bit of everything. We make products for them." l Scott Zergebel Mike LeBlanc Holden Whole Garment High Neck Top, Corkshell Summit Jacket and Bib

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