A Ski Jacket Is More Complicated Than You Think

From waterproof membranes to coated trims, Ridestore and Bluesign believe responsible outerwear depends on managing the chemistry consumers never see.​From waterproof membranes to coated trims, Ridestore and Bluesign believe responsible outerwear depends on managing the chemistry consumers never see. 

When consumers think about sustainable apparel, they tend to focus on the obvious: recycled polyester, organic cotton, maybe a recognizable certification logo stitched onto the tag. But technical outerwear is built from far more than fabric alone.

A technical ski jacket is more complicated than it looks. Beyond the shell fabric are waterproof membranes, adhesives, trims, zippers, cords and heat-transfer labels sourced from different suppliers, each with its own chemical and manufacturing considerations. Building one responsibly means managing all of those decisions, not just the visible ones.

For Swedish outerwear brand Ridestore, that complexity became the starting point.

Working within the Bluesign system, Ridestore set out to build its Spartan jacket with oversight extending far beyond the shell fabric itself. The process required onboarding suppliers across the value chain, from weaving mills and dye houses to laminators and trim manufacturers, into the same chemical management and environmental framework.  

“Everybody thinks about product impact being in the recycled fibers or in the final product, but it is actually a lot more than that,” said Ashish Ahlawat, head of R&D for Ridestore, Dope and Montec.  

The Spartan jacket starts with mechanically recycled stretch polyester, but its construction quickly becomes more complicated. A TPU membrane provides waterproofing. A PFAS-free, durable water-repellent finish adds weather resistance. Lamination adhesives, coated trims and printed labels all introduce additional chemistry into the equation.  

Rather than concentrating only on the finished garment, Bluesign evaluates the factories behind it, including their chemical management, environmental practices and worker safety systems.

For brands, that also narrows the supplier pool.

“When you have environmental considerations and chemical safety built into your product creation process, your pool of suppliers is not as wide,” Ahlawat said. “But it is wide enough that we can create the best-looking garments, in the highest quality, without sacrificing the environmental or safety concerns.”  

According to Bluesign, many of Ridestore’s manufacturing partners were already operating within the system, while remaining facilities were onboarded during the process.  

The work consumers never see often carries the greatest operational burden. Snaps require coatings. Zippers involve chemical treatments. Waterproof laminations depend on adhesives. Even drawcords introduce sourcing and material considerations. Ridestore said it applies the same scrutiny to those components as it does to primary fabrics, sourcing high-impact trims and treatments from Bluesign-approved suppliers wherever possible.  

Performance, meanwhile, remains non-negotiable.

Ridestore subjects materials to failure testing during both development and production, evaluating bond strength in laminated membranes, water-repellency performance and trim durability before materials move into manufacturing.  

Outerwear brands have spent years trying to replace PFAS chemistry without losing the water repellency consumers expect from technical gear. Ridestore said the Spartan jacket relies on non-PFAS alternatives that still meet the brand’s performance benchmarks.

For Ridestore, the value of the Bluesign system ultimately comes down to visibility.

“Without Bluesign help, we are a bit blindsided,” Ahlawat said. “We don’t know what chemistry the supply chain uses and how they are using it.”  

That visibility spans environmental emissions, worker health protections and chemical residues in finished products, all assessed as interconnected parts of the same manufacturing system rather than isolated compliance checkpoints.

The process, Ahlawat acknowledged, is slower and more demanding than conventional sourcing.

“But it gives us confidence that what we are putting in the market meets the highest standards,” he said.