Mountain Khakis' environment friendly yarn, insulation

Towards reducing environmental woes, Mountain Khakis with its suppliers has come out with a new yarn and an insulation - SeaWool Yarn and SeaWool Insulation – which have been produced with superior materials that are made from crushed oyster shells and blended with post-consumer recycled Polyfill (Insulation) or post-consumer recycled PET bottles (Yarn).

SeaWool combats the environmental and visual issues occurring on the beaches of Asian countries and is a win-win by combining otherwise discarded shells and recycled PET bottle into a new yarn/fabric whose structure shares 98 per cent of wool’s traits, with a few added bonuses like building a circular economy, anti-static properties and easy care.

Manufactured in a bluesign system partner mill (a third win), SeaWool uses a proprietary heat process to combine crushed oyster shells with recycled poly fibres from post-consumer recycled PET bottles to create a fibre that’s great for both yarns and insulation fill. MK is using SeaWool for both applications, starting with a limited offering for Fall 2019 and expanding in 2020.

“We’re always looking for new, natural materials that can enhance our apparel, while limiting our impact. SeaWool offers a unique opportunity to remove waste and build a superior product at the same time,” said Ned Hutchinson, senior product manager at Mountain Khakis. “The CLO value of the Insulation is even higher than other branded insulations of the same weight, and the yarns offer amazing hand and drape with so many of the same properties of wool, it makes sense to have it in the name.”

SeaWool Yarn benefits are many, including anti-static, odour-blocking, quick-dry and offers low thermal conductivity and superior warmth-to-weight ratio. It is incredibly soft, too.

SeaWool Insulation is also anti-static, odour-blocking, quick-dry and offers superior warmth-to-weight ratio. It’s designed so that the outer layer consists of robust hollow fibres, while the denser middle layer maximises insulation, resulting in low thermal conductivity, and increased heat storage.