Imagine you are in one of the factories that produces ski touring skins for the company where you work, you are surrounded by huge machines spinning, weaving and cutting the material needed to get to the final product. But out of the whole process, something catches your eye and you can't get it out of your head - all those fibers being discarded at the end of the skins' processing, high-quality material ready to be thrown away.
That's just what happened to Ruth, LaMunt's brand manager, when she visited Velotex, the company that produces ski touring skins for the Oberalp Group's POMOCA brand. And that is exactly how the story of LaMunt's innovative padding began: the ReMOCA Pad.
But back to all those scraps: for Ruth it was unthinkable to let them go to waste so easily, was it really possible that those fibers could not be used in any other way?
After long reflections, came the idea: why not get help from the very people who already produce padding for LaMunt by recycling waste materials? We are talking about Imbotex, an Italian company specialized precisely in recycled and technical textile padding, which already produces for LaMunt the recycled Cashmere with which several of the brand's jackets and outerwear are padded.
In addition to its focus on sustainability, Imbotex has another strong element in common with LaMunt: female leadership. It is in fact Stefania, CEO of Imbotex, who Ruth turns to in order to share her idea of giving new life to POMOCA leather waste. The request is taken by the administrator and the entire company as a real challenge that, after several tests, will be successfully achieved leading to the implementation of a process for restoring the discarded fibers and a final padding with thermal capabilities that are no less than the most technical materials on the market.
What Imbotex has developed is a system that goes about mechanically processing the discarded fibers to pull them apart and open them up without using chemicals. This processed material is then mixed with recycled polyester, the result of the recovery of PET plastic bottles, which will give softness and at the same time strength to the final padding. ReMOCA Pad® is then ready to fill many wonderful LaMunt pieces, such as the Irmi jacket.
The story of the ReMOCA Pad® is the story of an ambitious project that encapsulates the essence of LaMunt: innovation, technicity, concern for the environment, and belief in women's leadership.
