Fit And Fabric

Innovative, eco-minded, and always original.

    The concept of fit and fabric goes beyond simple aesthetics. Outerwear’s texture, weight, and how it follows the human form are also crucial to function. The highly recognized “Holden fit” is a classic tailored fit—not skin tight and not huge. Our outerwear doesn’t restrict, ride up, or get in your way. It’s very simply designed for movement. We work closely with in-house experts in fit to ensure that our outerwear both fits your body and moves with it, too. Fit has become a vital design component for us.

    When it comes to fabric, Holden steers away from cheap, crinkly nylon in favor of something softer and more organic. We develop 60 percent of our fabric in-house instead of just picking it out of pre-made fabric books like most of our competition. It’s about doing it better with some ingenuity and excitement, and we think the difference speaks for itself. From progressive materials like Toray Dermizax—a high-quality, ultra-waterproof and breathable Japanese textile application with a rich, soft texture—to our new three-layer fabric courtesy of a collaboration with Swiss textile innovator Schoeller, we’re continually innovating and improving. Still pushing the eco front, we’ve updated our waterproof Hemp line this year with a special searing process that burns the rough, fibrous surface of the fabric to make it even sleeker and more water repellant.  

    Holden’s focus is always on high-quality elements and functionality. Our outerwear is designed with the old adage of quality over quantity in mind. We’re confident that if you take the time to look a little closer, actually put the pieces on and notice to the touch of the fabric, you’ll discern a subtle yet genuine excellence to our products. They’re made for a lifelong run, not a one-year fix.

 

Environmental Dedication

Eco is more than just a catch phrase.

    Two years ago, Holden released a groundbreaking new hemp-fiber outerwear fabric that was highly waterproof and much more environmentally friendly than the polyester-based or nylon fabrics on the market at the time. Since then, several other major outerwear brands have followed our lead in pursuing alternative, natural fiber fabrics. We take pride in the fact that there’s now a legitimate eco niche in the world of snow outerwear.

    Holden operates from the inside out with environmental consciousness. We’re continually searching out and developing better, more eco-minded materials, laminates, and even packaging material. In addition to improving the texture and waterproofness of our hemp fabric this season, we’ve updated the glue and improved the hemp laminate to make them both more environmentally friendly. We’re also using Cocona again this year in many of our garment linings—a coconut-shell-based fabric technology with excellent evaporative cooling, odor absorption, and UV protection qualities. And our new 3-layer fabric features the award-winning Schoeller c-change laminate that’s bluesign certified, meaning it’s made with eco friendly processes and meets strict independent standards of environmental commitment. We even package our products in fully biodegradable, acetate ethylene bags, which take a mere six years to decompose (even without sunlight).

    Despite all these efforts, we know that our products are never going to be 100-percent “eco friendly.” Producing anything creates some sort of waste along the way. All we can do is keep striving to be “eco friendlier” and asking the hard questions from our suppliers to ensure that they’re using environmentally conscious sources and processes, too. “Green” might be a slick marketing catchphrase these days, but the essence of the term comes down to trust. Our consumers can trust that when they buy Holden, they’re getting real quality and supporting people who’re doing the best they can with their products.

The Kimono Print

    Now in its second year, Holden’s kimono print process is still one of kind in the world of snow outerwear. On our quest for the genuine and unique, we’re continually searching for prints that stand out to us as something a little more exceptional. These patterns aren’t a scanned graphic from an old kimono pattern—they’re the real thing, created on the Japanese sea coast at a premier kimono printing house in the traditional style.

    For us, the journey is part of the reward. Holden’s unexpected discovery of the kimono print process (by virtue of a passionate and soulful man from Kyoto) and the knowledge that we’re bringing something truly unique to the table is what makes this theme so important. The traditional kimono printing techniques are arduous and exacting, and they always create something delicate, wonderful, and subtle. Also, each pattern—and oftentimes each color represented—has its own story or symbolic meaning. This season’s kimono skeleton print represents a poem from old-time Japan called Gaikotu-Moyou, which basically says that as people, our human-ness brings us together. Everyone grows old and dies, so do your best and enjoy life.

    A connection to the humble genius of Japanese folk stories and the fact that the process itself is an art form means something a little bigger to us than just some artwork on a garment. But it’s also simply a beautiful print that’s one-of-a-kind and fun. Its development demanded a lot of time, effort, and expense on our part. We love making things that speak to us and that we’re confident will speak to you, too.