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Offset Baffles - Thinking Differently
A work culture that encourages people to think differently is essential to innovation. A sketch with a whiteboard marker on a cardboard box and the question ‘what would happen if we did this…?’ is how our Paiyu and Baltoro jackets started out.
Photo by Silvan Metz.
Lightweight down
Lightweight down jackets are great. They’re warm, comfortable, lightweight, and versatile. But those narrow baffles make for loads of stitch lines where rain gets in, heat pours out, and wind howls through. They’re not perfect.
No lightbulb moment
Lightbulb moments are rare. That wild idea usually has plenty of groundwork behind it, and this new development was no different: we’ve been obsessing over down jacket and sleeping bag baffle designs for years, and that laid the foundations for the whiteboard marker sketch. Most of these ideas don’t make it to a commercial product, but some see the light of day. Dual offset construction was one of the lucky ones.
Dual Offset Construction
Offset construction is unique, but deceptively simple. Rather than two pieces of fabric being joined together, with down kept between them, a third layer is positioned between them. The inner and outer fabrics are then sewn to this inner layer, each line of stitching offset by painstakingly flipping the fabric one way and then the other. The crucial middle layer is not only lightweight, but also aluminium coated to further improve heat retention.
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Photo by Silvan Metz
Paiyu & Baltoro
The Paiyu and Baltoro might look like conventional down jackets, but due to their unique Offset construction they have more wind resistance, fewer cold spots and more weather resistance. They are also softer and more comfortable to wear than heavier box-wall jackets. For most people, for most uses, these are the jackets you reach for time and again.
