Wend Volume 5, Issue 3 DrClime Catalyst

“Consumers are not looking for recycled garments. They’re looking for garments that fit their immediate needs, such as color and price. No one goes in the market to say ‘I’m going to buy a recycled garment today’ … they go out and say ‘I need a new jacket or pants’ … and if it meets all their criteria then they buy it,” says Brian LaPlante, Marmot’s Category Merchandise Manager. This is the idea behind the DriClime Catalyst jacket, the upcycled (pre-consumer waste) version of the original DriClime jacket, which has been in Marmot’s line for 18 years. The DriClime Catalyst maintains the exact same level of performance as its virgin counterpart – both jackets can be described as moisture-wicking, insulating windbreakers. The moisture control in both is achieved through a denier gradient three-dimensional system; two yarns knitted together, which mechanically move moisture off the skin and disperse it to the outer layer of the jacket. The only difference between the jackets is that the Catalyst utilizes entirely upcycled fabrics – leftover, unused yarn clippings and fabrics from production runs that function and look the same as the virgin materials in the original jacket. “Part of our design philosophy is that we can’t take a hit in the performance just to go ahead and use those materials. They have to perform exactly the same as standard materials and they have to have the same visual characteristics,” says Plante.