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PrimaLoft is all about turning up the heat—for people, though; not the planet.
The insulation developer began integrated its Produced Using Reduced Emissions (PURE) manufacturing method into production practices, beginning with PrimaLoft’s flagship offering, Gold Insulation, as part of its broader conversion strategy.
The reason? The “Relentlessly Possible” producer said PURE’s tech is both environmentally and economically superior to traditional methods—allegedly cutting emissions by 50 percent or more. This advancement, PrimaLoft said, is a fruit of some fossil-fuel-fighting labor. And weather patterns.
“The reason we say 50 percent or greater is because global or seasonal fluctuations, believe it or not, are one of the main influences,” Andrea Paulson, senior vice president of technology and innovation at PrimaLoft, told Sourcing Journal. “Really, PURE is about power and efficiency; the reduced emissions are coming from solar and wind energy production [and] adjustments within the manufacturing and production line.”
PrimaLoft’s trademarked proprietary process—which, essentially, boils down to curing insulation without thermal ovens—doesn’t yield static savings due to the variables and efficiencies of production, considering things like scale and the specific genre of insulation. A third-party audit by SGS North America backed the accuracy of such flexibility.
The Origins Material collaborator introduced the initial iteration of PURE back in 2019 with Patagonia.
This version was two-fold, considering the utilization of a “patented fiber recipe” that negates the need for “energy-intensive ovens” to “bond the insulation and provide stability.” And it worked, allegedly, as turning off the ovens resulted in an emissions savings of almost 50 percent. Until increased production times led to reduced capacity and increased costs—something the supplier said indicated a need to return to the drawing board for a smarter, scalable solution.
Patagonia described its Men’s Nano Puff Jacket as featuring “60g PrimaLoft Gold Insulation Eco 100 percent post-consumer recycled polyester with PURE (Produced Using Reduced Emissions) technology.
Tyler Wayne / PrimaLoft
As such, the material tech specialist “pivoted away” from the former to focus on the latter; time is “better spent “enhancing the incumbent product already available,” per Paulson, versus “trying to mold something new.”
“The value is really in the manufacturing philosophy, right,” she continued. “We pivoted and transitioned to really make it a purely—no pun intended—technology offering.”
Following those early hiccups, PrimaLoft’s “purified” 2021 version refined its manufacturing method working to reduce the carbon emissions incurred during synthetic insulation production. And that worked, too, as the revamped approach yielded more manufacturer interest and brand adoption.
“I think you don’t have to keep them separate,” Paulson said on the division of the fiber innovation from the manufacturing technology. “But I think you keep them separate so that you can layer them and make permutations of them.”
As it stands, the once Army-contracted has partnered with five factories (mostly across southeast Asia) with plans to onboard more throughout the year. There’s also talk of converting PrimaLoft’s facility in Europe, for example, to the PURE practice.
“We need to be wherever our brands are producing; that’s just part of business and logistics, to try and get as close as possible,” Paulson said. “From a sustainability perspective, yes, but also from the linear, vertical production perspective.”
PrimaLoft currently counts 50-plus brands (like Arc’teryx and Adidas) as purists, so to speak, having adopted its combination of renewable energy sources (like solar and wind) in tandem with more energy-efficient equipment.
Looking toward the future, PrimaLoft’s feeling confident; this first move marked a “significant milestone” in its ongoing environmental efforts. And that transition, the Compass-owned company said, represents just the first step toward applying the technology across PrimaLoft’s portfolio.
“I like to [consider] innovation through sustainability, not sustainability through innovation,” Paulson said. “Because really, we’re pushing away from [any] internal conflict around ‘do we make it sustainable, or do we make it a performance product,’ right? No, we do both, because we should, and because we can.”
With the PrimaLoft Gold conversion, the former Albany International subsidiary projected that 275 brands will tap PURE moving forward. The planned conversion of its other legacy offerings—PrimaLoft Silver and PrimaLoft Black—are two years out, with further proliferation not far behind.
“What PURE is doing is just enhancing the incumbent product; making it better for the brands and making it better for the individuals, without, really, changing it,” Paulson said. “We can make incremental improvements—and we will continue to do so in terms of logistics and infrastructure—but enhancing the incumbent is also innovative.”
