Patagonia Debuts Warmest Jacket to Date—and it’s Made with Marine Plastics
Patagonia is introducing its warmest jacket to date—and it’s made with recycled ocean-bound plastics.
The Stormshadow parka is the outdoor lifestyle brand’s first product brought to market featuring a new material innovation developed in concert with Gore-Tex and Bionic. Waterproof, windproof and highly durable, the jacket’s textile shell is made using 50 percent recycled polyester derived from coastal and marine plastics harvested by Bionic in Costa Rica. The two-layer laminate shell gains its weather resistance from Gore-Tex’s new ePE (expanded polyethylene) membrane and a durable water repellant (DWR) made without PFAS, the class of substances also called “forever chemicals.”
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Gore-Tex and Bionic began their partnership in late 2020, with the performance textile maker investing in the material engineering firm’s plastic recovery and sorting center in Cóbano, Costa Rica. They used the sorted plastic waste to develop the new fabrication, with Patagonia announcing its plans to incorporate it into future offerings in late 2022. Gore-Tex has provided further investment and material science and supply chain expertise to the recycled yarn and fabric maker, to help it scale its supply chain and build up a local recycling infrastructure in the Central American nation.
Patagonia characterized the Stormshadow parka as “the ideal cold-weather companion,” built to withstand frigid temperatures and inhospitable conditions. “We are so proud and excited to finally reveal the result of years of hard work and collaboration,” Mark Little, men’s life outdoors global product director for the certified B Corp, said of the project. “This product could only be made possible by all parties coming together and bringing their respective expertise and resources to the table to pursue a shared goal of turning waste into opportunity.”
Patagonia has been working to incorporate recycled and upcycled materials into its product lines in recent seasons, partnering with Finland’s Infinited Fiber Company in 2022 on its Tee-Cycle collection of shirts made with Infinna reconstituted cellulosic fibers developed from fabric waste. It has also used Eastman’s Naia Renew recycled cellulosic fibers in a limited range of T-shirts for its Workwear line.
Achim Loeffler, consumer fabrics business leader for W. L. Gore & Associates, said the collaboration between the brand and the material innovators on the Stormshadow parka is a testament to what companies with aligned values can accomplish. “We all share a commitment to using scientific innovations to find solutions for complex problems so that we can to go further together and turn garbage into good.”
“We believe in the power of working together, and this launch epitomizes that belief as it represents years of close collaboration with Gore, the development of novel processing techniques, and the creation of an entirely new and traceable supply chain,” Tim Coombs, Bionic co-founder, added. “Moreover, Patagonia as a brand offers the perfect home for a collective milestone like this, given its long history of high-performance innovation and environmental stewardship.”
Available on Patagonia’s e-commerce site and at select retailers, the Stormshadow parka retails for $899.
