Archives: Press Releases

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Nov. 26, 2024) — POC, the Swedish brand known for pushing boundaries in sports safety and protection, this week releases a new signature edition with leading freeride skier and current Freeride World Tour champion Hedvig Wessel.

Designed exclusively with Wessel, the new collection stems from Wessel’s natural talents and inspiration drawn from skiing and climbing the beautiful and commanding mountains in her homeland of Norway. This third version of Wessel’s signature series continues to be influenced by her roots.

“Norway’s national mountain, Stetind, inspired my first signature edition with POC, which was followed by Storen,” Wessel said. “Both mountains have beauty and extreme difficulty, and I wanted to follow them with an equally inspiring peak from the Lyngen Alps — Piggtind. When I first saw the sunset and colours that enveloped the mountain I knew I wanted to ski and climb there. And I wanted the collection to speak in the tones I saw and absorbed there, and which would represent the power and beauty of sunsets.”

The new Hedvig Wessel edition includes the Calyx Carbon, Nexal, Nexal Mid and the Devour Glacial, and are inspired by the pink sunsets and beautiful tones of Piggtind.

The Calyx Carbon helmet, certified for mountaineering, skiing and cycling, Nexal goggles and the Devour glacial eyewear are highly suited and developed for technical terrain, especially ski touring where rope work and mountaineering skills are required. It’s an environment where Hedvig spends more time and these products were chosen to meet the demands imposed by skiing in these settings.

As the current Freeride World Tour champion, Wessel inspires many with her technical abilities and natural approach to skiing. But those who followed her journey to the 2024 Freeride World Tour title will know that it has not been straightforward. Wessel started at age 11 with mogul skiing, culminating in representing Norway at two Olympic Games. Having switched to big mountain skiing, today Hedvig is considered as one of the worlds leading freeskiers. It’s her dedication and focus that sets Wessel apart as a skier and artist.

Sofie Tenmark, Special Projects Manager at POC, said: “Being able to work with such a dedicated and talented skier is always a real pleasure. And when that skiing ability is equally matched with a naturally creative and curious mind, the results are just wonderful. The new design we have created together is special, and we are particularly proud to release this edition for all to enjoy.”

The new Calyx Carbon in the collection is limited to fifty pieces, all uniquely numbered and including a handwritten note by Wessel. It will also feature a soft neck warmer. The Devour Glacial will come with a lanyard, ensuring retention in challenging conditions.

Product Page links:

Calyx Carbon Hedvig Wessel Edition

Nexal Mid Hedvig Wessel Edition

Devour Glacial Hedvig Wessel Edition 

Link to assets:

Photos by POC and Sophie Odelberg

About POC

Born and based in Stockholm, Sweden, POC is a safety and performance  pioneer on a global mission: protect lives and reduce the consequences of  accidents for athletes and anyone inspired to be one. Creating all types of  protection for cycling and snow sports, POC uses research, scientific methods and rigorous testing in its pursuit of innovation. For more information, visit https://poc.com.

About Hedvig Wessel

Hedvig Wessel is Norwegian with a rich and varied background in skiing which originally started at age 11 with mogul skiing, and culminated in representing Norway at two Olympic Games. Having switched to big mountain skiing, today Wessel is considered as one of the world’s leading freeskiers. She has competed around the globe with the Freeride World Tour and is the current Freeride World Tour Champion.

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PARIS, FRANCE (November 25, 2024) — Reju™, the progressive textile-to-textile regeneration company, and Nouvelles Fibres Textiles (NFT), a French company specialising in the recovery of end-of-life textiles, today announced a collaboration on the sourcing and recycling of textile waste to support the building of a circular ecosystem in France. NFT will supply secondary raw materials derived from used or unused waste textiles to Reju for recycling and production of regenerated Reju Polyester™.

Reju and NFT will collaborate to expand the collection and processing infrastructure for apparel and textile wastes from post-consumer and post-industrial sources. The collaboration will also allow for an open supply chain and guarantee 100% traceability of recycled materials.

Reju is developing the infrastructure to take textile waste and regenerate it at scale, starting with polyester. The end product – Reju Polyester™ – is expected to have a 50% lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester and can be regenerated infinitely. Reju’s first demonstration plant – Regeneration Hub Zero – is now operational in Frankfurt, Germany, and will come on line to enable the production of Reju PET in 2025.

Materials supplied by NFT will be processed at Reju’s new Regeneration Hub Zero in Frankfurt, Germany and the future Reju Regeneration Hubs in Europe.

NFT and its partners opened a unique semi-industrial site and research center for textile recycling in November 2023. The pilot line is the first to combine Pellenc ST’s automated sorting technologies with Andritz’ tearing lines to process high volumes of post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste, eliminate hard points, and turn them into industrial grade fiber and raw material feedstock for new recycling technologies like Reju. NFT also provides secondary raw materials to various industries including non-wovens, insulation, composites, plastics, and other textiles.

Patrik Frisk, CEO of Reju: “Reju and Nouvelles Fibres Textiles are using innovation and collaboration to accelerate the transition to a circular textile ecosystem. This valuable partnership demonstrates our collective commitment to addressing the problem of textile waste and developing new ways to use the resources we have within local supply chains. With the collection of textile waste mandatory in the European Union starting in 2025*, it is imperative we have scalable systems and partnerships to process what is collected and keep it from landfills or incineration. Together, Reju and NFT are building the technology and infrastructure to regenerate and reuse materials across industries and change the way we use our resources.”

Eric Boël and Etienne Wiroth, Co-directors of Nouvelles Fibres Textiles: “After 6 years of research and collaborative work, Nouvelles Fibres Textiles is now ready to collaborate with professionals who need to recycle their textiles. We have an innovative turnkey solution that transforms heterogeneous end-of-life textile streams into high-quality homogeneous raw materials while ensuring their traceability. Our partnership with Reju paves the way for the permindustry: a circular, more local, less carbon-intensive, and more collaborative industry—essentially, an industry that does good!”

*Read more about the European Union’s Waste Framework Directive (WFD) here.

About Reju

Reju is a materials regeneration company focused on creating innovative solutions for recycling polyester textiles and PET waste. Owned by Technip Energies and utilizing technology originating with IBM research, Reju aims to establish a global textile recycling circular ecosystem to address PET plastic found in textiles. Learn more at

https://www.reju.com/.

About NFT

Tissages de Charlieu Groupe and Synergies TLC have partnered to create Nouvelles Fibres Textiles: the first industrial infrastructure deploying ANDRITZ’s automated sorting and textile recycling solutions, incorporating sorting technologies from Pellenc ST. It is capable of automatically sorting clothing by composition and color and can also remove hard points and pre-fray garments. At the end of the line, Nouvelles Fibres Textiles produces a secondary raw material designed for industries that use textile fiber (e.g., shredding/spinning, non-wovens, composite materials, etc.). Together with our partners,

ANDRITZ and Pellenc ST, and all our clients, we conduct real-world productions and applied industrial research to address the challenges of valorization and supply chain sustainability. Nouvelles Fibres Textiles is already laying the foundations for a second material preparation plant scheduled for 2026, which will have an annual capacity of 20 to 30 thousand tons of post-consumer textiles and will create around thirty direct jobs.

The creation of Nouvelles Fibres Textiles represents a major advance in reducing the carbon footprint of the textile sector. Automated sorting was the last missing piece of a French circular economy loop, paving the way for a complete ecosystem that brings together brands, social and solidarity economy actors, collectors-sorters, and industrial players from various sectors, all united to serve consumers seeking more traceability and meaning in their donations and purchases.

For further information, contact:

Reju tali.serantes@reju.com
chris@cgprpublicrelations.com

 

Nouvelles Fibres Textiles (NFT)

contact@nouvellesfibrestextiles.com

AMHERST, Mass. (November 25,  2024) – OrthoLite®, the global leader of branded, high-performance,  comfort footwear solutions, has expanded its OrthoLite India (OIN) facility in Ambur, Tamil Nadu India, and opened a new sales office in Chennai, all thanks to recent growth under new leadership.

The new building expands the footprint of OIN by three times and enables increased capacity to two million pairs of insoles per month. It also bolsters OrthoLite’s leatherwork capabilities; OIN is now fully equipped to make  leather footbeds. The new facility makes OrthoLite India the largest insole manufacturer in South Asia.

OrthoLite India opened its doors in June 2021 and is one of six of OrthoLite’s vertically integrated, global facilities. Through increased investments to the region as well as key new hires in supply chain management and operations, OIN is poised to expand local capacities to meet the needs of OrthoLite’s growing number of brand partners in the region.

In June 2023, OrthoLite announced Vikash Bajargyan as the new General Manager of OrthoLite India. In his position, Bajargyan has been managing overall operations at OIN, which has included leading manufacturing and business development, as well as establishing and managing relationships with brands and  Tier 1 factory partners. His leadership has been instrumental in this expansion.

“Vikash has been a strong leader in helping us grow our business quickly to meet our growing demand in this important region,” said Glenn Barrett, founder and CEO of OrthoLite. “India is a thriving market both for our domestic consumer and export business. OrthoLite’s expanded facility will also serve  as an important hub for leather insole craftsmanship and other forthcoming innovations within our company.”

Under Bajargyan’s leadership, OrthoLite India is growing its team. Sweta Kannan has been tapped as OIN’s Operations Manager. With a BA and MBA in Business Administration, Kannan most recently spent the past 10 years as General Manager and running operations for a textile factory in Ambur. She also has significant experience in running lean line manufacturing.

Earlier this year, OIN welcomed Sureshbabu Seenivasagam and Anbu Sundaram who possess over 25 years of experience in merchandising and global supply chain and warehousing logistics in footwear.

OrthoLite India is a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that catalyzes local-for-local production and service. Sixty-one of OrthoLite’s 550+ global brand partners produce in India, and the region represents part of OrthoLite’s global production strategy to align its factories and provide efficient and exemplary service directly to local partners and T1s.

Like all of OrthoLite’s vertically-integrated, global manufacturing facilities, OrthoLite India brings consistency and capacity and delivers on the company-wide values of quality, sustainability, and continuous improvement.

For additional information on OrthoLite, please visit ortholite.com.

About OrthoLite®
OrthoLite is the world’s leading supplier of open-cell foam technology, and the innovator and creator of Cirql™, the sustainable materials solutions provider that provides footwear brands and their factory partners with lower impact, circular options in materials. OrthoLite is found in more than 550 footwear brands across all categories of footwear and is the first name in comfort and performance foams. OrthoLite has a stalwart ommitment to an ongoing journey toward producing excellence with less-impactful manufacturing practices. The company also has a long-standing history of meaningful partnerships and sponsorships that demonstrate a dedicated commitment to supporting its customers, consumers, brand partners and the footwear industry. OrthoLite is the Official Insole sponsor of the New York Yankees, supporter of The Conservation Alliance, The European Outdoor Conservation Association, Textile Exchange, and is a founding supporter of the Two Ten Foundation. Stay up to date with company news by visiting OrthoLite.com and following OrthoLite on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. To learn more about the benefits of OrthoLite, visit www.ortholite.com.

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New Hampshire’s outdoor industry drives nearly 32,000 jobs and $3.9 billion to the economy.

November 21, 2024; The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released annual data exhibiting that outdoor recreation continues to be a major economic force for the U.S., generating $1.2 trillion in economic output and supporting 5 million jobs in 2023 – 3.1 percent of all employees in the country. In New Hampshire, outdoor recreation accounts for $3.9 billion, or 3.4 percent of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP), with the Granite State ranking 8^th in the country for outdoor recreation as a percentage of GDP. This is the largest recorded measurement for New Hampshire since the BEA started collecting this data in 2012.

“From hiking and skiing in the White Mountains to boating on Lake Winnipesaukee to enjoying the beaches on the Seacoast and everywhere in between, outdoor recreation and its small businesses are a big part of what makes New Hampshire so special. They’re a powerful economic driver, and today’s report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis further underscores the benefits of outdoor recreation for communities across the nation,” said Senator Shaheen, chair of the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. “I was proud to lead the legislation that made this annual report possible, and I hope that it continues to inform policies that help our small businesses and local economies thrive.”

For employment and compensation, New Hampshire’s outdoor recreation sector accounts for 31,917 jobs, covering 4.5 percent of the state’s workforce and adding $1.7 billion in wages. Workforce recruitment and retention programs developed by the state and industry leaders are in the works to further strengthen career pipelines and enhance the outdoor employment landscape.

“The latest BEA data highlights the vitality of our outdoor economy, with increased jobs and participation in sectors like snow sports, hunting, boating, fishing, and cycling,” said Janel Lawton, Director of New Hampshire’s Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry Development. “Our diverse landscapes and outdoor activities play a key role in strengthening communities, enhancing quality of life, and boosting the statewide economy. By preserving and supporting our outdoor resources, we can ensure New Hampshire remains a unique and thriving place for future generations.”

BEA’s 2023 findings emphasize the importance of investing in infrastructure and implementing policies that enhance outdoor access. Although the outdoor recreation sector remains resilient, especially in rural areas, the slower year-over-year growth underlines the need for focused policy advancements and strategic initiatives, such as the passage of the EXPLORE Act.

“Today’s data reveals that while outdoor recreation is driving significant economic prosperity in New Hampshire, we must engage the supply side of the outdoor industry – the business community – and the public sector to ensure protection of our air, water, and lands,” said Tyler Ray, Director of Granite Outdoor Alliance. “As a statewide business alliance, we implore policymakers, from the seacoast to the North Country, to see the outdoor industry not as a passive participant, but as a dynamic and important player in the statewide economy that warrants prioritization and support.”

Despite the impacts of warming winters and increased operational costs for recreation providers, New Hampshire’s snow sports sector remains highly competitive, ranking 7th for value added among states with $250.65 million. For value added by activity, the top activities in New Hampshire are RV’ing ($250.7 million), snow activities ($250.65 million), hunting, shooting & trapping ($209 million), boating & fishing ($191.8 million), and climbing, hiking & tent camping ($72.9 million).

Jessyca Keeler, President of Ski New Hampshire, the state’s ski area trade association, noted the industry’s adaptability in response to the Northeast’s unpredictable weather patterns. “New Hampshire resorts have made significant investments in snowmaking and trail grooming to remain resilient,” she stated. “We are focusing on fostering collaboration and advocating for robust climate and sustainability policies at state and federal levels to safeguard the future of snow-reliant businesses and organizations.”

This year’s progress reaffirms outdoor recreation’s significant role in driving both national and local economies. As the outdoor industry normalizes from post-pandemic peaks, its sustained impact in creating jobs and revenue reveals the enduring appeal of outdoor experiences and their economic power across diverse regions. For more information and to access the full report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, visit https://www.bea.gov/news/2024/outdoor-recreation-satellite-account-us-and-states-2023.

About Granite Outdoor Alliance

Granite Outdoor Alliance is a non-profit business alliance that supports New Hampshire’s outdoor industry including brands, retailers, nonprofits, and individuals. With over 120 business members, Granite Outdoor promotes outdoor recreation as a critical anchor to integrate rural and urban economic policies, communities, and industry to enhance quality of life in New Hampshire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Washington, D.C. (Nov. 20, 2024) — With recently released economic and participation data showing ongoing rapid growth in outdoor recreation, public lands are in dire need of infrastructure improvements and additional financial support to manage those increasing levels of use, according to Outdoor Alliance, a non-profit that works on behalf of the human-powered outdoor recreation community to protect public lands and waters. The EXPLORE Act, a first-of-its-kind package of legislation championed by Outdoor Alliance, could foster some of those improvements. Voicing direct public support to legislators in December may help it pass.

A new report released today from the  U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) shows outdoor recreation in the U.S. generating $1.2 trillion in economic output (2.3% of GDP) and 5 million jobs. With outdoor participation growing, it’s important that Congress prioritize sound policy that would improve access, create more trails, and protect the outdoors, according to Outdoor Alliance. The EXPLORE Act takes important steps to expand and improve outdoor recreation opportunities, according to Outdoor Alliance and its partners, a coalition of nonprofits representing different types of outdoor recreation.

Last week, more than 300 outdoor recreation organizations and businesses signed on to a letter to members of Congress asking them to make sure EXPLORE is passed by the end of the year. In April, the House passed the bill unanimously, and leadership in the Senate has already advanced a similar bill (America’s Outdoor Recreation Act or AORA) out of committee. Now, a number of lawmakers, including Senator Manchin and Rep. Westerman are working to get the final bill text of EXPLORE passed by the end of the year.

The public can help move this legislation forward by contacting their representatives and asking them to pass it before the end of the year. Outdoor Alliance has established a quick-action form to help people send personalized letters to their lawmakers.

Highlights of the bill include the Biking on Long Distance Trails Act (BOLT) to identify and create more long-distance bike trails, the Protecting America’s Rock Climbing Act (PARC) to safeguard Wilderness climbing, the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation Act (SOAR) that will improve recreational permitting for outfitters and guides, and permanent direction for the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership and FICOR.

“Millions of Americans get outside each year, and the EXPLORE Act will improve management for climbing and mountain biking, enhance how agencies manage outdoor recreation and invest in parks where they are needed most with the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership,” said Louis Geltman, VP of Policy and Government Relations at the Outdoor Alliance.

To learn more, please visit www.outdooralliance.org.

About Outdoor Alliance

Outdoor Alliance is the only organization in the U.S. that unites the voices of outdoor enthusiasts to conserve public lands. A nonprofit coalition comprised of 10 national advocacy organizations, Outdoor Alliance’s members include American Whitewater, American Canoe Association, Access Fund, International Mountain Bicycling Association, Winter Wildlands Alliance, the Mountaineers, the American Alpine Club, the Mazamas, the Colorado Mountain Club, and the Surfrider Foundation. By working with its member coalitions and helping mobilize the involvement of individuals to protect public lands and waters, OA helps ensure public lands are managed in a way that embraces the human-powered experience. Outdoor Alliance — conservation powered by outdoor recreation. Learn more at OutdoorAlliance.org.

 

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