Performance Technology
Product Design
Our design directive is to create beautiful, simple, high-performance clothing and gear that helps you better enjoy your everyday trail experiences and is “light on the planet”.
Each new product we create starts with a set of goals and objectives that achieve technically appropriate performance for a specific end-use and exclude anything non-essential. That means eliminating features that may sound cool on a hangtag, but don’t add to the usefulness or comfort of a product. All they do is create complexity, increase the price and add weight. We don’t do something just because we can. We do things that need to be done.
We’ve developed stringent metrics and testing that help us maximize performance and durability and minimize each product’s weight. Those same metrics improve production efficiency, minimize waste, and lower overall material use to limit resource consumption and reduce costs.
Our design team practices Disciplined Creativity to generate more aesthetically pleasing designs that fit better, perform better and require fewer components and operational steps to assemble.
We establish Design Parameters that achieve better function, comfort and durability.
We employ a Clean Slate approach that continually questions the way things have been done before and seeks new and better ways to accomplish the desired results.
Quality Production
Although we design and develop all of our products in the USA, we do not own our own production facilities. We work with contract manufacturing partners in the USA, Canada, China, Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand that are committed to producing the highest quality products available.
For more information on our Fair Labor and Factory policies, click here.
Sustainable Design Practices
We collaborate with two industry organizations, the North America-based Outdoor Industry Association and the EU-based European Outdoor Group, on their respective Eco and Sustainability Working Groups. The long term goals of those groups are to help all member companies improve the sustainability of their products and reduce the environmental impact of their businesses.
The first two deliverables of those efforts were promptly adopted by GoLite and integrated into our operations. They are the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines published in late 2008, and the Eco-Working Group’s Sustainable Materials Guidelines, published in August of 2009.
We are also working to create a product level sustainability report card that grades each of our products in three key focus areas: What materials we use, how we produce our finished products, and how we take responsibility for them after you purchase them. Stay tuned for more developments later this year.
Random Philosophizing (cause we can...)
We believe that if we can make your time on the trail more enjoyable by giving you a shirt that dries faster, a pack that carries better, or a sleeping bag that keeps you warmer, you may end up spending more time outside. We know that is good for you and good for the environment, since being outside helps us all develop a deeper appreciation for the natural world. As a company and a group of concerned and dedicated individuals, we hope you’ll join us in our work to protect and preserve it.
Performance Technology
High-Performance Materials – we work with some of the most advanced textile and materials manufacturers in the world to develop fabrics and components that meet our stringent performance, quality and sustainability standards. Our fabrics consistently test out to be as strong as or stronger than those used by our competitors, but in most cases are significantly lighter. This provides the dual benefit of putting less weight on your back and consuming fewer raw materials.
Each of our materials is developed to deliver maximum durability at minimum weight and:
• Prioritizes end-use specific performance criteria such as:
o Waterproofness or repellency
o Windproofness
o Breathability
o Moisture wicking
o Rapid drying
o Wrinkle resistance
o Abrasion resistance
o Tear strength
o Puncture resistance
o Stretch & recovery
o Color fastness
o Pilling resistance
o UPF/UV resistance
o Thermal reflectivity
o Thermal regulation
o Compressibility & recovery
o Softness & drape-ability
o Impact resistance
o Strength-to-Weight ratio
o Easy-care (cold water wash, line dry)
• Is engineered to cuttable fabric roll widths that minimize the waste created during cutting and assembly
• Is sourced as close as possible to the finished goods production facility to minimize transportation
Based on an increased investment in R&D over the past two years, we have developed a wide range of materials that are both High Performance AND Sustainable. Most products utilizing those materials are indicated with a Recycled Content icon, but s
We have been active participants in a collaborative industry group called the Outdoor Industry Association’s Eco-Working Group, and have voted for and adopted as a company sustainable practices standards for packaging and for materials use.
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