Environmental responsibility in the snowboarding industry has become much more than just a trend. In the last few years a landslide of snowboarding brands have been introducing eco-friendly products and materials to their lines. Some of the earliest initiatives in this area can be traced back to one independent that’s been quietly pioneering the eco-friendly movement in snowboarding for nearly a decade.

Holden Outerwear was founded by professional snowboarder Mike LeBlanc and designer Scott Zergebel in 2002. Although Holden isn’t marketed as an eco-friendly brand, by 2006 they had designed, developed, implemented and won awards for an entirely new and groundbreaking fabric made from hemp and recycled bottles.

We had a chance to speak with Mike LeBlanc about his views on the evolution of the eco-friendly mindset.

BIrd’s Eye: The first time someone sees a piece of Holden Outerwear, the thing they’ll most likely notice first is the difference in design. Is it mostly you and Scott behind the designs at this point? Do you take outside influence?

Mike: At the end of the day it’s Scott’s responsibility to design the line. That said, I definitely come in the door with my ideas and he comes in the door with his ideas and pretty much every style that goes out the door, we talk about, we discuss, we battle, we build in things we need and that’s how it’s been since the beginning. It was just the two of us at one point in an office with no heat and no air conditioning. Depending on the time of year, we could be wearing jackets or shirtless. It was he and I building all those little features in and making it look clean and it’s still like that today.

Now we definitely try to incorporate as many people as we can. These days we have a good crew in the office. Some of them snowboard, some don’t, which I think is a good mix. We get all their attitudes and opinions on things. We do round-ups with retailers as well. But really at the end of the day Scott and I make the call. We go with our guts and our hearts on all of our products.



Bird’s Eye: Even as a start-up, you were pushing for eco-friendlier fabrics and materials right?

Mike: Yeah, definitely. Literally from day one of the first year we were determined to do what we could. We were asking vendors for eco-friendlier fabrics, and no one, literally zero vendors had anything. So about six years ago we found a really good hemp supplier that was down for the challenge. We connected them with a laminator that was down for the challenge and together we put out the world’s first natural fiber, waterproof, breathable fabric. We won a bunch of awards at ISPO [The International Sports Business Network] and also awards through a bunch of great sites like the WGSN [Worth Global Style Network] and from there on out we’ve built what we call eco-friendlier elements into the line.

Back then, we used to really push that hemp piece as an eco-friendlier piece. Then we found another fabric that Patagonia was using a couple of years later which was 100% recycled and recyclable. We would segment those pieces out as our eco-friendly portion of the line. Then, two years ago we made a shift to where 90% of our outerwear has something eco-friendlier on it.

When we have the chance to buy a recycled fabric over non-recycled, we do it. We had a chance to use a solvent free lamination, so we did. When you put a laminate to a fabric, a lot of times there are harsh solvents involved. Those solvents are harsh for the workers and harsh on the environment. So, whenever we have the option to move away from that, we do. We even use recycled zippers whenever we can.

Bird’s Eye: Are you working towards 100% recycled and recyclable throughout the line then?

Mike: There are of course our marquee pieces, where we still run the hemp and a couple other fabrics, where the whole garment including the lining is eco-friendlier. From a cost perspective though, and also from a customer perspective, we can’t do that with the entire line just yet. Ten years from now we hope everything is there, but right now the customer’s just not coming in the door looking for that product and they’re not willing to pay for it either.

But all the way down to our starting pant, which is $150.00, there are eco-friendlier materials. The pant is 100% recycled with a solvent-free lamination. At the top end we use the Schoeller fabric, which is basically a Gore alternative but its bluesign® rated. It’s got a true nanotech eco-friendlier DWR and it blows away Gore on every test. So throughout the line, about 90% of the outerwear has something eco-friendlier on it. We don’t really market that though. We definitely put it on hangtags, but it’s not the mantra of the brand. Its just part of the brand’s DNA.


Bird’s Eye: So, obviously there’ve been a lot of changes in our economy over the last few years and it has people thinking differently about their purchases. Do you feel people are thinking more short-term about garment purchases?

Mike: Absolutely I hear it time and time again, especially in the street game, about the H&M’s and their disposable fashion. It’s true that fashion’s changing. I feel like all the different genres are being mashed together. It’s exciting because it brings people together. At the same time, people are getting trained to buy a disposable garment.

I think when you’re going for outerwear you’re looking for something that works. You don’t want to be out on the hill wet. You don’t want to be cold. You may be sixteen and get fooled into buying that disposable garment once, but then you get out in a storm and you’re soaking wet and freezing cold. You’re also buying a garment that’s generally on trend for one year. Our thing at Holden is we design classic garments with classic styling that can be worn year after year. That’s our style. Our aesthetic is that timeless, classic design, and the color palette generally works from year to year.

Bird’s Eye: Do you feel like that shorter term thinking affects what people are willing to spend on outerwear, and how does that affect Holden?

Mike: We can play to a price point too. We definitely have a really affordable, really quality garment at a good price point. I think a lot of people don’t consider that a quality garment, well built, with quality fabric is eco-friendlier, and a better investment though since you’re not buying that disposable one-year piece that you can only ride for ten days before you’re soaking wet and need new pants for next year. As you go up in quality, you’re gonna gain features that really will pay off.

I think, as a customer gets older and is trained a couple times by buying trashy garments, they realize what they’ve got when they buy a Holden or another higher quality brand. They use it once and they’re just like “Ok, I get it.” I can now buy a coat every two or three years or buy a coat every year and have a bunch of coats that work, look great, and function well. Whether it’s freezing cold on a windy day in Chicago or you’re up at Baker and it’s raining and snowing on you, that’s when you realize that thirty extra dollars means all the difference.


Bird’s Eye: From eight years ago when you first started looking for more eco-friendly alternatives, do you feel like it’s become easier for brands to be more environmentally conscious, and will it stick and be the new normal?

Mike: I think it is the new normal. When I looked eight years ago, the vendors didn’t have anything with the qualities we were looking for and now it’s the first thing they bring in. If everybody just said ‘look, we’re switching absolutely to 100% recycled yarns,’ the price would be the same. People are still teetering on either side though.

There are a couple brands out there that are doing the right thing, like Prima Loft, an insulation company. Really high quality goods, great company. It cost them more to make the Prima Loft ‘Eco,’ but they’re charging the same price as they do for the standard Prima Loft insulation. They’re hoping for everybody to just choose it when they check off the box on the order form, because if everyone of their customers were to switch to Prima Loft ‘Eco,’ it would be the same price as Prima Loft. So, that’s the right move for the long term.

Do I think it’s going to stick? I absolutely think every brand’s doing it. Maybe they’re not all doing it for the same reason. Some are doing it for marketing and that’s fine. Every little bit helps build that landslide up. Then eventually the scales shift and then we’re gonna keep pushing.

The next step is bluesign® rating all your factories. Bluesign® is a third party governing body that goes in and literally measures every element of a process for environmental sustainability. That’s the future of really improving conditions and making a difference. I think it will matter. Right now, the customer, they may care, but they’re not buying on it.

Bird’s Eye: So if people aren’t buying on eco-friendly, and at the same time are being trained to buy disposable garments, what needs to happen to get people expecting more from the brands they support?

Mike: I think it comes down to the majority of people being pretty uneducated about the brand they’re going in for. I think it’s up to the shop to start telling the stories, and it’s up to the kids on the shop floor selling it and it’s up to the reps. They say print’s going away. It’s still there, but it’s really hard to tell a brand’s identity with a photo and a couple words. So, to me it comes down to the shops. It comes down to online, to that customer being interested. A customer that’s interested definitely is gonna discover the brand and discover the stories but really it’s up to the brands to clearly communicate that to the stores so they can clearly communicate it to the customer. If a person walks in to a store and all they see is a sea of Burton, that’s what the customer assumes is a good product. The shops relay the message to the consumer, and it’s our job to let the shops know who we are and what we do.

Bird’s Eye: So, it takes getting the message out?

Mike: Getting the message out is one side of it, but the eco side is part of what we do no matter what. It’s something that someone’s getting in a Holden garment no matter what. It’s just something we have to do when we make a garment so we feel good about it.

Bird’s Eye: Thanks Mike.

By Steve Reaves.


Holden’s 2011 outerwear and apparel is available now, here on Bird’s Eye.




Learn more about the bluesign® standard at www.bluesign.com.