Alan Clarke

US retailer Cole Haan has teamed up with high-performance apparel brand Mountain Hardwear in a multi-season partnership, creating the ZeroGrand Outerwear collection.
   Launched this week, Cole Haan has released a campaign featuring mountaineers Cheyne Lempe and Angie Payne scaling New York skyscrapers, photographed by Alan Clarke.
   The campaign blends the idea of urban fashion with rugged function, and is inspired by the idea of ‘Proven on the mountain, refined for the city.’
   The new range features six outerwear pieces and one backpack. The women’s styles are the ZeroGrand Funnel parka, Down jacket and Metro coat while the ZeroGrand Commuter jacket, Trench coat and Motoring coat are offered in the men’s range. The ZeroGrand Commuter pack features a black-out pocket with composite aluminium sheathing to prevent electronic transmission, meant to keep devices protected both literally and virtually, making them hacker-proof. It also features an internal and external umbrella stash and a removable waterproof bag within.
   The same fabrics and insulation that Mountain Hardwear uses for its core range are adopted here, although the design and construction are for the fashion, not outdoor, market. Mountain Hardwear’s lightweight, waterproof and breathable Dry Q Stretch Ozonic shell fabric is used along with 800-fill Q Shield water-resistant down and Thermal Q Élite, a proprietary synthetic insulation.
   In a release, David Maddocks, Cole Haan chief marketing officer and GM of business development, said, ‘This partnership is built on a common understanding of style and innovation. Our ZeroGrand footwear is the pinnacle expression of the kind of elegant innovation Cole Haan is famous for. When we wanted to marry our style sensibility with the very best in engineered garments, we went to Mountain Hardwear. Our consumers are looking for style and functionality without sacrificing one over the other. We worked together to create a revolutionary line of smart products for everyday needs.’
   Robert Fry, global director of product merchandising and design at Mountain Hardwear, noted, ‘Our designers usually solve problems to save lives and maximize experience for outdoor athletes. With Cole Haan, we were presented with a different problem: how do you keep a hard-driving, fast moving urban explorer warm, dry and protected without slowing them down or asking them to compromise style?’
   Additional items bearing the ZeroGrand name made by others include the X Blunt XS Metro umbrella, the X S’well water bottle, and the X Fisher Space Pen. Footwear and a women’s Stagedoor handbag collection complete the range, which hit Cole Haan stores, including its website, on Tuesday. Mountain Hardwear will also retail the Outwear range through direct-to-consumer sales in the US.