Helly Hansen’s Rapide Lifaloft Air Jacket Delivers Lightweight, Breathable Durability with Innovative Insulation and DWR Technologies
Designed with insights from the Seattle Mountain Rescue team, the jacket is a lightweight insulator featuring LIFALOFT™ Air 75g insulation –lighter and warmer insulation offering maximum breathability. The innovative insulation was first integrated into the brand’s FW21 collection development and features Helly Hansen’s LIFALOFT™ technology, designed to keep the wearer warmer with less weight and bulk compared to traditional polyester insulation. With more air pockets and an open structure, the insulation allows for increased moisture transfer away from the skin during high-intensity activities.
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While search and rescue teams are regularly faced with navigating dangerous terrain or remote locations during harsh weather, warm, lightweight, and durable gear goes a long way in supporting them to focus on their life-saving work with maximum efficiency. The Rapide Lifaloft Air Jacket is especially lightweight for this reason – ideal for high output activity as well as layering up or down. In addition, the jacket is sturdy, offering the high durability of a hard shell to withstand challenging mountain and bushwalking conditions.
As Helly Hansen continues to push the boundaries of responsible design in outdoor gear, the jacket also features an everlasting DWR-infused face fabric, made without any chemical coating. This will be the first season the brand introduces this innovative fabric treatment, where PFC-free water-repellent substances are woven into the yarn, instead of applying any after-coating. This approach achieves a no wash-off, no wear-off water-repellent protection, meaning the garment will not require reproofing. The jacket also includes optimised seam placement for enhanced comfort on long journeys.
“We’re very motivated to continually develop our outdoor designs using more responsible water-repellent treatments like the DWR-infused face fabric in this jacket. Not only does this feature offer extreme durability in the elements, which is essential for search and rescue professionals, it also saves water, chemicals, and energy use during production because we skip the inefficient dipping process where regular DWR would typically be applied at the end of fabric production,” says Ralf Baerwald, Senior Fabric Manager at Helly Hansen.
Helly Hansen Mountain Design Manager Jayna McParland adds, “The insights we receive from working with professionals like the Seattle Mountain Rescue team are invaluable, and drove our commitment to creating an even lighter, more durable garment in the Rapide Lifaloft Air Jacket. It’s a significant development that we’re proud of.”
The Rapide Lifaloft Air Jacket will be available in both men’s and women’s specific styles in-store and online from Spring 2022.
To learn more about Helly Hansen’s innovative technologies and the entire SS22 outdoor collection, please visit www.hellyhansen.com.
