Okie: Zooming out just a bit, I’d love to talk about your design process. To not become a brand that is clinging on to old standards, but one that showcases that technology in nature can work in symbiosis with our products and the system they’re within - if we can accomplish that, we can get more people to jump onto this journey with us. I think it's important for us to really deliver on both aspects. And by doing that, we can then deliver an experience that is on the same level or higher to what they were getting before.
We need to help our end users understand how to maintain and care for their garments. When it comes to water repellency we feel that we can deliver a similar if not better performance, but when you start looking at oil repellency - it's not quite in the same ballpark. The first massive hurdle was to uphold the performance aspect of what we do. Okie: What were the biggest obstacles when it came to this transition? Danielsson: Performance and education. We wanted to lead by example and work with our suppliers to push forward in that direction.
As a small company, we needed to set a clear direction of what the win-wins were.
From the chemistry to looking at how different materials bind together - there was a lot of trial and error. We started the process back in 2012 and it’s been a long, long journey. It's really a question of keeping our products and resources clean so they can go from one use to the next. Jesper Danielsson: Phasing out PFAS was one step in our journey towards creating a circular system. Tell me a bit about the motivations that led to this strategy, and what it took to achieve it. Suz Okie: PFAS are obviously top of mind, but Houdini has been PFAS-free since 2018. It has been edited for length and clarity. Here’s my interview with Danielsson, exploring the numerous facets of Houdini’s circular aspirations. If we take a step back and look at nature as the blueprint, the goal is a system where one piece feeds another, feeds another into a bigger circle: a systemic approach. In fact, their goal is to have all products and services be circular by design this year, and for the entire Houdini ecosystem - across its value chain and user phases - to be designed for circularity by 2030.
From material selection - 100 percent of their fabrics are recycled, recyclable, renewable, biodegradable or Bluesign certified - to the implementation of rental, subscription, resale and repair business models to the circular design principles that guide their ethos - Houdini is going full steam ahead towards a fully circular system. But that’s not where their circular credentials stop. Leveraging Atmos - a hydrophilic membrane made with recyclable polyester - and a biomimicry-inspired, water repellency treatment by Organotex, Houdini’s water-repellent outdoor products have been PFAS-free since 2018. That’s why I sat down with Jesper Danielsson, head of design and product at Houdini Sportswear, a small outdoor apparel company based in Stockholm, Sweden. But some organizations are ahead of the curve. Meanwhile, in the private sector, a wide variety of corporations have committed to phasing out PFAS use in the coming years. Increased scrutiny has led to some promising developments: The EPA has recently established a strategic roadmap to study and address PFAS and a patchwork of state regulations are tackling forever chemicals in things such as drinking water and packaging. Just last week, a new study by Toxic-Free Future revealed nearly 75 percent of products labeled as water- or stain-resistant contain forever chemicals, a finding that tarnished retailers from Walmart to REI. Thanks to their unique repellent properties, PFAS are used widely in a variety of goods - everything from beauty products to apparel to food packaging and beyond. And it’s no wonder they’re seemingly everywhere. Known formally as perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl compounds and informally as "forever chemicals," the roughly 5,000 human-made compounds that fall under the PFAS umbrella are highly persistent, linked to a variety of adverse health effects and alarmingly present in drinking water, food and even blood and breast milk across the nation. Over the past several years, the condemnatory buzz that surrounds PFAS has grown louder. This article originally appeared in our Circularity Weekly newsletter. Going PFAS free, and other circular lessons from an outdoor apparel company