Rethinking Apparel: WNDR Alpine & Beyond Surface Technologies

GEAR:30

BLISTER

Arts, Design, Skiing, Snow, Snowboarding, Sports, Outdoors, Bike, Technology, Gear

4.9 • 809 Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Odds are that just about every piece of clothing you own has been applied with some sort of surface treatment, and those (typically petroleum-based) treatments contribute to a significant portion of the apparel industry’s already massive carbon footprint. With their recent collaboration, Beyond Surface Technologies and WNDR Alpine are changing that.

So Luke Koppa got the whole story from BST’s CEO, Matthias Foessel, and WNDR Alpine’s Matt Sterbenz, including the details of WNDR Alpine’s Phase Series apparel collection; how BST’s “miDori bioWick” treatment actually works; how it differs from existing plant-seed-based treatments; why it’s important to take a holistic approach when developing alternative processes and treatments, and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Matthias’ Background (2:53)

Fabric Surface Treatments: Background (5:31)

Surface Treatments: Environmental Impact (11:15)

WNDR Alpine, Beyond Surface Technologies, & Checkerspot (14:42)

What does miDori bioWick do? (18:52)

WNDR Alpine Phase Series (25:15)

Algal Oils vs Plant Seed Oils (29:05)

What’s Next? (36:12)

Holistic Approach to Surface Treatments (40:59)

What We’re Celebrating & Crashes & Close Calls (46:26)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Gear 30 on the Blister podcast network.
0:11.4	My name is Luke Kappa, and I am an apparel nerd, a person with a very questionable and very well-documented diet.
0:20.1	And I'm also the managing editor at Blister.
0:22.4	And you can check out everything we are doing and reviewing over at blisterreview.com.
0:29.1	That includes our recently revealed 2023, 2024 winter buyers guide, which you can now pre-order,
0:36.2	as well as information on all the benefits
0:39.1	of our Blister membership and Blister Plus membership, plus all of our latest reviews, podcasts,
0:45.2	videos, and a whole lot more. Today, I am talking with Matthias Fusel, CEO of Beyond Surface
0:52.6	Technologies, and Matt Sturban's, the founder of Wonder Alpine,
0:57.4	GM of Winter Sports at Checkerspot, and recurring Gear 30 guest. Now, many of you are probably familiar
1:04.5	with Wonder Alpine skis and snowboards, but what do they have to do with a textile surface
1:10.5	treatment company?
1:12.1	Well, Wonder Alpine just launched their first line of technical apparel.
1:16.6	And as you'll hear, their collaboration with Matthias and BST was an integral part of that collection,
1:23.5	starting several years ago when BST began experimenting with the same exact algae derived oil
1:30.1	that Wonder Alpine uses in their skis and snowboards. But why should anyone care about the
1:37.0	treatments that are applied to these pants, shirts, and hoodies? Well, the first reason is that
1:41.8	nearly every piece of clothing you and I wear is applied with some sort of surface treatment.
1:47.8	And those finishes are actually one of the main reasons why our clothes feel and perform how they do.
1:54.0	But the vast majority of those treatments are made with petroleum-based materials,
1:58.1	and they contribute to a much more significant portion of a given
2:01.8	garment's carbon footprint than you might suspect. So to address that, beyond surface technologies
	...

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