High-tech style needn’t involve kitschy LED lights nor now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t gimmicks. Case in point: Portland, Ore. designer Hillary Day, whose outerwear collection offers clean, sophisticated silhouettes ranging from a modern trench to a belted wrap coat ready for day wear or black tie.
But Day’s line is made to withstand the elements in a way most pretty coats are not. Each is completely waterproof, but remains comfortably breathable, thanks to fabric that incorporates the c_change membrane by Swiss company Schoeller Textiles. When applied to fabric, the membrane reacts to different weather temperatures, opening and closing as needed to let air and moisture in – or keep them out.
“Looking at a pine cone, when a fire rips through the Sequoia, the pine cones actually open up to let their seeds out. c_change works in a similar manner,” Schoeller’s Shannon Walton told me when I interviewed her about the technology for a San Francisco Chronicle story on high-tech fabrics last summer.
Schoeller makes a great many products used in gear that’s not only functional, but fashionable. It’s also the company behind Nanosphere, which you’ll find in Levi’s Commuter Series denim.
Many labels are testing high-tech fabrics these days, but few are producing as fashionable an end product as Day. Her collection ($425-$445) of four coat styles comes in a variety of fabrics, including dark denim, wool and navy herringbone.
It’s enough to make you happy that it’s raining (almost).
Through the end of April, Day’s coats are 15 percent off when you use the code APRILSHOWERS at checkout.
More digitally stylish products…
Images courtesy Hillary Day