Fabrics and materials

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A garment's total environmental footprint is largely traceable to the choice of material. Deep dive into the fabrics and treatments we work with and ones we avoid.

Our circular principles as well as our drive to radically enhance product performance and sustainability often result in innovation projects. These include development of entirely new fabrics and technologies or improvements of existing qualities, fibre compositions, treatments and production methods. These innovation processes broaden our horizon and enable us to question conventions and design superior solutions.

Polyester can be recycled endlessly in a circular recycling system without lowering the quality.

Synthetic fibers

Most of our products are made from polyester. As a fiber, polyester has a long list of pros. Polyester fabrics can be made to be very durable, they dry quickly and they wick away moisture efficiently. A polyester fiber can also be reused again and again, without impairing any of its fantastic properties. Most of our polyester garments are made from recycled fibers, many are recyclable and most are both. Garments made from polyester are also easy to take care of, and since they dry quickly this is yet another benefit for the environment. Production of polyester, especially recycled polyester, require less water to produce than many other fibers, and working closely with our suppliers we can ensure the production is made in a more sustainable way. Polyester can be recycled endlessly in a circular recycling system without lowering the quality. By offering both recycled and recyclable products, we have come close to our goal of offering maximum experiences with minimal environmental impact.

To ensure that our garments are biodegradable and recyclable, we never mix natural fibers with synthetics.

Natural fibers

In products where we have chosen to use natural fibers, we primarily use merino wool. Merino wool offers many excellent properties; it can lock in heat even when moist and it naturally repels bacteria, which means unwelcome smells are not an issue. In order to make our wool products more durable and improve properties such as comfort and moisture transport, we add other natural fibers like Lyocell. In order to ensure that our garments are biodegradable and recyclable, we never mix natural fibers with synthetics.

Bluesign^® member

Houdini is a member of Bluesign and as of now we require that new manufacturers comply with Bluesign chemical standards. The basic idea behind Bluesign is that it combines consumer safety, air and water emissions, the use of chemicals and human rights under one single standard. The Bluesign standard guarantees that approved products and production processes do not contain components that are harmful to people or the environment. Read more at www.bluesign.com.

Anti-odor treatments

Today we use a treatment that we call pH Pure^™, which lowers the pH value of the fabric and prevents the occurrence of odorous bacteria. This treatment contains no hazardous chemicals and is applied while the yarn for the fabrics is being produced and it will not wash out of the garment. Our garments in merino wool are not treated with pH Pure^™ since wool have natural anti-odor properties. We see that different persons have different requests for base layers, both in terms of style but also function/strength and material. That’s why we offer a different variety of garments, but try to make them all as gentle to the environment as possible.

We are very proud to be one of the first brands in our industry to be 100% PFAS free.

Organic DWR treatments

DWR (durable water repellent) is a treatment that makes the outer fabric of garments water resistant. For many years, compounds based of PFAS have been used in the textile industry. These substances are harmful for animals and humans and therefore we decided to completely phase them out. Since fall 2018, all our products are completely free from PFAS both membranes and water repellency treatments. We are very proud to be one of the first brands in our industry to completely phase out PFAS. Instead we use an organic DWR based that is completely organic, water based and free from any toxic substances.

The importance of the right material

We invest a lot of time and effort into our choice of material. If we cannot find materials that live up to our high demands on comfort, function and the environment, we will develop a new material in collaboration with our suppliers. Otherwise we simply won’t produce the product. We never strive for exclusive rights on a material since we believe that the more companies using functional and environmental materials, the better.