The Origin of Fleece
When Yvon Choinard was looking for weatherproof insulation for his newly formed Patagonia clothing line, he turned to his heritage for answers. His father was a fisherman, so he checked in with people who fished commercially on what they used to keep warm. He discovered a synthetic pile liner worn under their foul weather gear and made a jacket with the pile on the inside and rough finish on the outside. It worked, trapping body heat if covered with a shell. Yvon next found a polyester-based fabric much like bath mats and fashioned a jacket from this as a prototype. From there, he contacted Malden Mills, the leading maker of fleece, to get a polyester fabric for such jackets. The result was the bunting jacket in the early 1980’s.
Patagonia began to use recycled fibers to save cost and reduce waste. They had fleece in the casual line, such as the Better Sweater, Synchilla, Los Gatos, and Micro D. Patagonia also used fleece in technical applications, such as R1, Retro X windblock fleece, ReTool, and Retro Pile. The lightweight, easy drying and adaptable fabric is a staple of their clothing line.
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Posted By Jim Cournoyer