Ecological BARRIER ECO empowers Völkl performance wear collection in 2015/16

Völkl and HeiQ announce that HeiQ’s fluorocarbon-free Durable Water Repellence (DWR) technology BARRIER ECO has been selected for Völkl’s next Performance wear collection. Völkl is synonymous with high-quality skiwear and is always seeking out innovative, sustainable techniques and materials. Now they are taking innovation to a new level by bringing their ski wear enhanced with BARRIER ECO by HeiQ to the market. BARRIER ECO provides the upcoming Völkl collection with environmentally-friendly water-repellent features resulting in an extraordinary level of performance.

Inspired by ducks’ natural ability to stay warm and dry in the wettest and harshest of conditions HeiQ has created BARRIER ECO, a unique water repellant treatment for textiles. BARRIER ECO’s innovative 3D structure imitates a duck’s feathery coat and repels water and snow effectively and ecologically without any harmful fluorocarbons: no PFOSs or PFOAs. This technology is suitable for outdoor wear, particularly jackets, pants and footwear.

Equipped with BARRIER ECO, the Völkl Performance wear collection provides a high level of water repellence without impacting the natural environment. This and even more benefits including strong abrasion resistance and soft handle convinced Völkl to choose this well in-demand DWR technology. “Beside the high-performing and convincing textile treatment itself, we appreciate the supportive and innovation driven teamwork with HeiQ as well. Our fruitful collaboration made our collection unique”, says Robert Schlagenhauf, Division Manager of Völkl Apparel & Accessories.

The BARRIER ECO-empowered Völkl range including e.g. the Team Pro Jacket features a clean, technical, timeless, sporty design, ideal for pros that are on the snow and facing the toughest conditions every day. It will be available for outdoor enthusiasts worldwide in Fall 2015. At ISPO Munich 2015, one of these first samples with HeiQ’s “eco-edge” technology can already be discovered and tested at HeiQ’s booth no. A1-BN02 at ISPO (Brandnew Village).

SKINS re-launches its popular A400 range upgraded with ADAPTIVE by HeiQ

Sports compression wear leader SKINS, re-launches its popular A400 range with HeiQ’s dynamic cooling technology ADAPTIVE, that can keep the wearer cooler than if they were wearing nothing at all. This uniquely responsive technology mimics the skin’s ability to sweat and keeps the wearer cool when it is hot and provides less cooling when it is cold. ADAPTIVE makes next-to-skin garments behave dynamically in order to restore the body’s natural cooling and evaporation process which is usually blocked by clothes.

Nic Tierney, Director of Design & Development for SKINS says: “When we embarked on the early stages of updating our A400 premium compression range, one of the key areas we focused on was finding ways to make our fabrics even smarter than they already were. Our garments are highly technical and very dynamic and we wanted to find a way for our fabrics to become even more intuitive with our wearer. We approached HeiQ and worked closely with them on integrating their ADAPTIVE technology into our core fabrics. At every stage of the process, we were able to draw upon HeiQ’s network both here in Australia and also in Asia and Europe to thoroughly test the ADAPTIVE treatment to our high quality standards.”

The SKINS A400 range of men’s, women’s and youth tights and tops is endorsed by the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA). In February 2015, this collection will be available globally. At ISPO Munich 2015, HeiQ will showcase some highlights of this SKINS range and the intelligent textile effect ADAPTIVE.

Mammut, Triumph, New Balance, Puma, Champion, Hanes, Shock Absorber and Canterbury of New Zealand are just some further HeiQ partners benefiting from ADAPTIVE technology.

Product-Consumer-Linking technology IDENTITY

IDENTITY by HeiQ is an innovative technology for the outdoor industry. It allows the brand to directly connect its purchasing consumer with the uniquely serialized garment, to track and trace the supply chain and to transparently access the components and origins of the garment they bought or intend to purchase. This new technology also means that for the first time a brand can guarantee full accountability and authenticity from fiber to Point of Sale for its outdoor gear and get to know its consumers personally.

HeiQ goes global in its innovation power with HeiQ Australia

In Q4 2014 HeiQ established an Australian subsidiary, HeiQ Australia Pty Ltd. HeiQ Australia has established a manufacturing facility in Geelong/Australia, in partnership with Deakin University. Over the coming years HeiQ will invest more than 4 million $ in research, innovation and scale-up. This unique facility will produce a range of advanced functional fiber materials for use in innovative textile technologies. HeiQ’s cofounder and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Murray Height will lead the new company, who states: “With HeiQ Australia, we have established a breakthrough technology platform for driving innovation in high performance textile treatments. This exciting development positions HeiQ at the forefront of textile technology innovation.”

HeiQ invests in North American Market

HeiQ’s partnerships and existing business with U.S. brands like Champion/Hanes, New Balance, The North Face, Timberland, Athleta and others has led to appointing Colin Lantz to a newly created position of Vice President of Brandforce for North America. As former President of La Sportiva NA, Colin is well positioned to support HeiQ’s brand partners in managing their textile performance innovations within their global sourcing channels. Based in Boulder, Colorado, Colin will be handling new business development for the western half of the U.S. and Canada and will be reporting to Timothy Skedzuhn, President of Global Brandforce, who will continue supporting existing US key accounts.

HeiQ at ISPO Munich 2015

Why not discover more about Völkl’s upcoming Performance wear collection with BARRIER ECO and HeiQ’s further technologies ADAPTIVE, IDENTITY and more? On 5-8 February 2015, HeiQ will present its innovations at ISPO Munich – on the HeiQ booth in the Brandnew Village in Hall A1, BN 02.