Tokyo (SCCIJ) – The Swiss clothing manufacturer Muntagnard from the Canton of the Grisons has convinced the jury of the world’s largest trade fair for sporting goods and sports fashion, the Munich ISPO. An award honors the full recyclability of an outdoor jacket. The Swiss development partner Innovation Unit shared the prize.
Muntagnard's MIUtec Iso Jacket gives circular functional clothing a boost (© Muntagnard/Innovation Unit).
With longevity in mind
The longer a product is used, the smaller the ecological footprint. Muntagnard’s products are primarily developed with a focus on longevity. The MIUtec collection, including the Iso Jacket that received the award, is based on the principle of mono-material. This proves that activewear with single material components can still bring full performance.
The MIUtec ISO jacket is a high-performance insulation jacket with a timeless design and a functional choice of durable materials made for circularity. In that sense, the goal is to create the products in a way that they are fully “real-cyclable” (from jacket to jacket) using 100% enhanced biodegradable materials, from zippers to sewing yarn, filling, shell and lining.
A cross-section shows the structure of the MIUtec ISO Jacket with an integrated insulation layer (© Muntagnard/Innovation Unit).
What the jury said
For the MIUtec Iso jacket, Muntagnard uses two materials. A new generation of materials, enhanced biodegradable polyamide 6.6 for shell, lining, pockets, and trims combined with 100% wood-based insulation (lyocell). Thanks to new recycling processes, Muntagnard can separate these materials from each other in a used jacket to make a new one out of them. The price of CHF 399,00 is comparable to other high-value jackets.
These features convinced the ISPO jury: Recyclable, biodegradable, abrasion resistant, water repellent, and windproof. “Already with its first products, the young brand from Switzerland put a clear exclamation mark on its consistent path in terms of recyclable materials,” the jury argued in its award statement. “With the Iso Jacket, Muntagnard is once again emphasizing closed-loop recycling.”
Development partner
The young premium fashion company consistently produces sustainably, using materials such as wool from Swiss Alpine sheep, Swiss deerskin, and fabrics made from wood fibers. Muntagnard employs seven people, is based in Domat/Ems, and has offices in Zurich and Chur. The products are available in selected boutiques and sports stores or its online store.
Co-founder Dario Grünenfelder, now Head of Brand Management, was an environmental economist advising organizations such as the WWF before founding Muntagnard with childhood friend Dario Pirovino who is the CEO of the start-up. The brand’s name stems from the Swiss language Romansh and means “mountain people”.
The start-up is developing its sports product line together with industrial designers and textile engineers from the Zurich-based Innovation Unit GmbH. The team of experts for functional sportswear around the founders Linda & Mathias Durisch has already developed numerous other award-winning products for performance brands such as X-Bionic, X-Socks, LEKI, UYN, Bauerfeind, Therm-ic, and Aycane during their careers.
Text: SCCIJ based on material of Muntagnard and ISPO
