Peak Performance Unveils Exclusive London Ski Shell Made From Surplus Fabrics

Scandinavian mountain brand Peak Performance is taking the next big step forward in its innovative FLO programme at the end of this month, with the launch of the Vertical GORE-TEX Pro LDN – a highly technical limited-edition freeride shell made from surplus GORE-TEX Pro fabrics. This exclusive jacket and pants combo will be available in very limited numbers at the brand's newly opened Covent Garden store from 29 October.

Here are the seven major talking points about the launch:

• The Vertical GORE-TEX Pro LDN is the latest addition to Peak Performance's FLO design programme. The FLO – or Fabric Leftovers - concept turns surplus fabrics into technical products without compromising the technicality or aesthetics that Peak Performance is famous for.
• This limited-run style is part of the brand's Vertical GORE-TEX Pro collection – Peak Performance’s most advanced freeride range. It features both GORE-TEX Pro and GORE-TEX Stretch fabrics to offer complete weatherproofing, superior breathability, and enhanced mobility on the mountain.
• To say the Vertical GORE-TEX Pro collection is world-class wouldn’t be an overstatement: the entire range has been rigorously field-tested by the brand’s elite athlete team, including Freeride World Tour Champion Hedvig Wessel, with feedback from each rider informing numerous tweaks and changes until protective and performance perfection is found.
• The fully seam-sealed shell includes all the smaller details you’d expect from a top-of-the-range fully weatherproof freeride jacket and pants combo: a RECCO® Rescue System Reflector, YKK AquaGuard® zippers, multiple pockets, a 3-way adjustable hood, and snow gaiters.
• Talking about the striking colour-blocking aesthetic (a part of Peak Performance’s bold approach to design in general), the brand’s Design Manager, Staffan Thomasson, said: “By pushing ourselves and our design expression, we sought to create a shell that embodies the unexpected and brings a fresh perspective to the mountain.”
• The limited-edition release is part of the grand opening of Peak Performance’s new London store and will be sold exclusively at Peak Performance's new Covent Garden location (49 Long Acre, WC2E 9LS) and at peakperformance.com.
• The Vertical GORE-TEX Pro LDN arrives in four unique and stand-out colour-blocked colourways. It is priced at £720 for the jacket, £630 for the pants and will be available from 29 October.

... back in 1986, two very passionate skiers, one of them a world-class mogul skier with several World Cup wins, were sitting next to each other in a chairlift heading up a mountain. About to test and write about a new skiwear line, they started to talk about why no one was making skiwear that they wanted to wear. Garments that combined excellent functionality with simple, attractive design. Also, they wondered if there was any way that they could stay longer and more often in the ski resort they both loved - the little mountain village Åre, in northern Sweden.

It turned out that the answer to both questions was Peak Performance. Initially, their ambitions didn’t extend much beyond making some clothes for themselves and their friends, in sufficient quantities to make a living from it. The business was shaped by what was important to them. Finding the right design and technical solution was paramount.

And the strategy worked. In the late 1980s, people were tired of extravagance and superficiality. Everybody was looking for the real thing that comes with genuine quality. Ski jackets with leather details and flannel shirts were suddenly the answer, rather than neon and looking like a fully decorated Christmas tree. Orders generated by the first mail-order catalog overwhelmed the little post office in town. So much so that they had to take on more staff just to keep up.

During the early years, most things took longer to do than they should have. After all, Peak Performance was a company founded by skiers – people who more than anything else wanted to ski come winter. Anyone who managed to find their little office in Åre was often confronted with a sign on the front door that read: Gone skiing.