Allied Feather + Down, in partnership with Fuze Biotech, received a 2023 Outdoor Retailer Innovation Award for the new ExpeDRY down insulation which is said to outperform traditional hydrophobic down under extreme, real-world conditions.

Fuelled by a new approach to moisture management and incorporating Fuze gold particle technology, the companies believe it will render current, chemistry-intensive hydrophobic down treatments obsolete.

“At Allied, we pride ourselves on creating the best performing, highest quality and most sustainable down insulation available,” said the company’s creative director Matthew Betcher. “We spent a lot of time researching down’s performance in the presence of moisture, and realised that we could improve upon our original HyperDRY hydrophobic down insulation. We found that insulation chambers behave differently in real-world scenarios and working with Fuze allowed us to create a much better solution.”

Traditional hydrophobic down works when in direct contact with water droplets but in real world situations, the down in jackets and sleeping bags often comes into direct contact with water vapor at  high levels of humidity, where hydrophobic chemistry is far less efficient. ExpeDRY actively works to keep this vapor from condensing, allowing it to evaporate more easily and keeping the entire insulation chamber and the user dryer for longer.

ExpeDRY has a much lower environmental impact than traditional hydrophobic finishes and allows brands to remove another, unneeded chemical from their supply chain. The gold used in the process is recovered from discarded electronics and will not wash out.

ExpeDRY insulation is currently available globally in jackets by Artilect and Jack Wolfskin, with additional brands adopting it for Autumn/Winter 23/24 collections.

www.alliedfeather.com

www.fuzebiotech.com