Descente jackets and clothing

Descente started in 1935 as an answer to the Japanese need for a home grow out door clothing company. By 1957 the company had grown into a fully blown ski wear company and they had started to supply most of Japan with their out door needs.

Descente was built on well made garments, special detailing and refreshing color pallets. Each piece of clothing was well thought out and designed to perfection and they really set the standard for out door clothing, this long grand history has put them in good stead in the modern word and now they have started to branch out and they supply a lot of the world greatest's winter sportsmen.

The director now in charge of Descente is a man called Yoshinori Ono and he takes his design inspiration from primitive futurism, this combines ancient techniques and knowledge and combines them with forward think materials and futuristic design.

Descente have always been at the forefront of advanced technologies and they continuously add new advancements to their garment to help improve riders or skiers experience on the mountains and to help them improve the personal bests when competing.

One of their great advancements is the DT10000 and DT20000 waterproofing, this is a soft lightweight fabric which uses microporous technology to give the fabric incredible hydrophobic properties and well as letting the fabric breath which keeps the wearing dry and comfortable.

Another great advancement is their use of Poron, this is foam padding which reacts to impacts and hardens when is it hit but as soon as the danger has gone the padding goes back to its original soft form allowing the skier to remain comfortable. This has replaced the harder plastic pads that used to be used to protect the rider. Another great attribute of this technology is that no matter how many times it is hit it will never break down, so it will last until the end of the life of the garment.

Heat Navi is another one of Descente's amazing advancements in sports technology. This system was designed to keep the wearer warm with out using electronic heating elements. It works by letting the suns infra red rays penetrate the fabric and warmth the insulation allowing the jacket or trousers build up heat with out the wearer having to exercise to build up body heat. This technology still keeps the harmful rays away from the skin and is perfect for cold weather environments.

One other feature which is a great comfort to people who do winter sports regularly is the Recco Advance Rescue Technology which allows the rider to be found if anything goes wrong whilst they are taking their ride off piste. This technology makes sure that a rescue team can quickly locate and save anybody in trouble, even if they are hidden under snow or lost in the forest. It is said that it isn't a replacement for a transceiver but it certainly helps when rescue team are out looking for people.

As the video above shows Descente takes the craftsmanship of their clothing very seriously, like most things Japanese they take this craftsmanship to the level of art.

Descente have always been proud to be part of the sustainability movement and they are always trying to make their clothing as responsible as possible. One way they have done this is by replacing some of the the dangerous chemicals which are used in the waterproofing of fabrics.

They are constantly investing in new age technologies and they feel that as a brand which relies on the natural world they have a responsibility to keep that world as clean and perfect as possible.

They have recently been looking in to ways of reducing the amount of PFOA in the environment by switching from using C8 fluorocarbon to C6 fluorocarbon.

They also use as many recycled materials as they can and the polyester used in the clothing has been produced using scrap polyester from industry,

In this years Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia Descente produced uniforms and clothing for 5 national teams. From alpine racing suits for Spain to full Uniforms for the Japanese and Swiss teams Descente were one of the most popular outfitters.

The racing suits used in the Olympics used Descente's Dolphin skin technology which allows a smooth suit to become textured when its moving through the air quickly. This mimics what happens to a dolphins skin when it is moving quickly threw the water, when this technology is used in skiing suits it allows the wind to pass over the suit quickly reducing drag on down hill runs.

Dual-ism is a new project from Descente which looks to incorporate all the knowledge the brand has built whilst making hi-tech clothing for the mountains and put it in to a line of clothing which can be easily worn on the streets.

The clothing in this line has been tailored to suit the urban environment so where you might need a thick down on the slops in the city you might need a fabric which will adjust to the ever changing urban temperature. And on the slopes where bright colours help with spotting your friends against the white background a Dual-ism piece might be coloured in more muted shades so the you bland with the environment that surrounds you.

You will find that a lot Dual-ism clothing is modular and most of the jackets come with detectable liners so that they can be used across seasons.

The Duall-ism line takes a lot of inspiration from an old Japanese layering technique called Kasanegi, it is a simple technique in which the wearer utilises lots of layers in the clothing to regulate their warmth, adding layers when it is cold and taking layers away as the wearer warms up.