Spadout recently ran a short interview with a product manager from Polartec. The gist of the conversation was about developing new products, but I really found this tidbit interesting… it basically gives the origin story behind what we now call fleece.
Polartec, or Malden Mills as it was called then, was a mill that largely made fake animal fur products, with the core competency of surface finishing (raising pile and creating loft). A fledgling outdoor company – Patagonia – came and showed us a problem they had. It was a carpet-like polyester pile, with one side of fuzz and one side of carpet backing – it was a little more pliable than carpet, but the same sort of thing. They were like, “This stuff has some advantages over wool; it’s synthetic, breathable, and it dries quickly, but it’s pilly, it starts looking bad, and it’d be better if it were softer on the inside because it’s like – well, like carpet backing.” So we studied the concept, and had some constructions that lent themselves to double-sided surface finishings. We tried some out, submitted them to Patagonia, and they liked it a lot. That’s how fleece was born.
I wonder, had they known back then that their invention would some day be used to make Snuggies and doggie jogging suits, do you think they would have stuck with wearing fuzzy carpets for their outdoor adventures instead?
