Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri Featured Image Blue Skidoo Jacket

NAPAPIJRI

Index

  1. The Origins
  2. Logo
  3. The Style
  4. Iconic Skidoo jacket
  5. Napapijiri Supports the Environment
  6. Thermo-Fibre Technologies
  7. Collaborations
  8. Current Situation

The Origins

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri Intrepid Explorer's
Napapijri Intrepid Explorers

1987 marks the beginning of Napapijri brand. The story began under the shadow of Europe’s highest peak, Mont Blanc, when Italian Manufacturer of travel bags, Green Sport Monte Bianco, founded by the Rosset family in Aosta, Italy, introduced a new meaning to outdoor apparel. Manufacturer combined innovative materials with a close attention to style. The iconic Bering Bag was the very first product created and produced by Napapijri, named after the great 18th century Danish officer in the Russian Navy, Vitus Bering, one of the first men to explore the great expanse of Arctic sea separating Russia from North America. In the course of a few years, the Aosta headquarters were flanked by new production units and numerous joint ventures with technologically advanced companies, allowing the brand to maintain its high production standards.

Logo

Napapijri means Arctic Circle in Finnish and the logo, half positive and half negative, expresses the North and South Poles in graphic form. The Norwegian flag is closely linked to the brand’s DNA, representing Europe’s northernmost country, the birthplace of some of the great explorers of the 20th century as well as a land of extreme conditions and magnificent landscapes.

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri Logo
Logo Napapijri 

The Style

Jackets, parkas and pullovers are designed in muted colors that blend right into urban landscapes, so they’re great for city wear, travel, and mountain wear. It comes in a minimalist style, with no overboard logos, patches or colors. Very easy to combine with any style you are going for and casual overall look, that goes well in most occasions.

It is a brand that mixes fashion with function. Meaning their products blur the line nicely between an afternoon hike through your nearest forest and that casual supper you will have afterwards at your local eatery. The brand represents a global mindset through the intersection of boundaries, culture, nature, and art. From the beginning, the company was committed to marrying the performance features of mountain gear with the fashion appeal of urban wear.

Iconic Skidoo Jacket

The iconic Skidoo jacket was born in 1990. Still one of outerwear models ever made revolutionaries, the Skidoo conquered the success establishing itself as an undeniable style icon. Initially conceived as a pullover, this jacket is carefully designed in a modern technical fabric, durable and lightweight at the same time, to ensure maximum protection from the elements. Intelligent details make the difference.

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri Iconic Skidoo Jacket
Napapijri Iconic Skidoo Jacket

Napapijri expands its product range from clothing to accessories. 1998 the company lands in Japan and opening its first store in Paris in the prestigious and picturesque Village Royal. From 2000, the Napapijri Geographic Company of sportswear, accessories and shoes for men and women, has been joined by Napapijri Kids, a collection of about 80 unisex garments for children from 2 to 16 years old. In 2003 the collaboration between Karl Lagerfeld and Napapijri for the creation of a limited edition Skidoo.

What happened next 

Then, in 2004, Giuliana Rosset is the CEO of a public company when the brand is acquired by VF Corporation, a US-based leader in lifestyle apparel and owner of Lee, Wrangler, Nautica, and Eastlake, leads the brand in the direction of a more global business. This entailed a process in which all design, distribution and communication operations were centralized in headquarters in Lugano, Switzerland. Also, thanks to the investments on the international market, it is predicted by 2004 half of Napapijri’s turnover will come from abroad.

In 2005 they open a Munich store, Germany’s mecca for cultural tourism. Then, in 2007 Napapijri launches a footwear line along with the opening of a new store in Berlin, Europe’s capital of cool. The same year, in 2007, the brand also began the production of sunglasses, and a repositioning of its identity with the inauguration on Milan of a gallery store in Via Manzoni, hosting photographic exhibitions and events on themes such as travel or the environment. The Recent opening of the own-brand store in Milan followed others in Chamonix and Paris, while the Tokyo store, in the Shibuya area, is the first step on the way to expansion in the East, a priority for the company.

Napapijri Supports the Environment

In 2008, to celebrate the opening of the Milan store, Napapijri teamed with brand’s official ambassador, photographer/adventurer Sebastian Copeland, exhibiting Copeland’s photographs entitled “Antarctica: The Global Warming” at the store. Proceeds from the sale of the photographs went to Global Green USA, the U.S. arm of Green Cross International. Napapijri continues to sponsor Copeland on expeditions to photograph and film endangered environments to support travel, research, and exploration to raise public awareness on environmental issues and eco-sustainability. The project seems a fine fit for Napapijri, with its polar heritage and environmentally friendly sportswear.

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri Brand Ambassador Sebastian Copeland
Brand Ambassador Sebastian Copeland

In 2009 Andrea Cannelloni became the President of Napapijri and opened its 50th store, in Lille, France. Later, in 2010 Japanese designer, Yoshinori Ono, designed a special clothing line for Napapijri which was designated as the ‘66° 33’ Special Project’ the numbers referred to the latitude of the Arctic Circle. Also at this time, the brand opened an online shop.

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri 66° 33 Special Project
Napapijri 66° 33 Special Project

In 2011 Napapijri designed a jacket costing €10 for the Democratic Wear campaign launched by the Coin department store chain in Italy. A percentage of the sales went to Green Cross Italy.

Also, in summer Napapijri launches, The Denim Project, a capsule collection consisting of five jeans and a “used” denim jacket style. Each one is different from the other thanks to the various fitting and treatments. Washing in fact range from 100% indigo, the handmade mending, the technique of stone washed to give the ffect of the jacket looking dirty. Also, the denim jacket, Aijal, uses the same manufacturing processes to give a vintage vibe that men, traveler, and researcher of unknown worlds who is full strong emotions, can interpret.

Brand Expansion

The Geographic and Authentic collections are launched and Napapijri opens its doors to the world by launching its first e-commerce website. 2012 was a landmark year as Napapijri opens its 100th store, in Stockholm, Sweden, as well as a flagship store in one of Asia’s most important fashion cities, Seoul.

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapjiri Store St. Anton, AustriaMame Fashion Dictionary: Napapjiri Store St. Anton, Austria
Store in St. Anton, Austria

In 2013 stores open in two of Europe’s favorite mountain destinations: Crans Montana (Switzerland) and St Anton (Austria). Later, in 2014, the brand partnered with BMW at the 9th Annual BMW xDrive Tour in France for winter terrain test drives, providing the BMW team with the apparel they needed to withstand the elements. The Napapijri® brand expanded its global presence with a new store opening in the heart of Vienna’s main shopping area. This brought a worldly view on style and innovation.

To build the Napapijri® Spring and Summer 2014 collection, the brand traveled from the forests of the Sierra de Urbasa plateau to the desert valley of Bardenas Reales. Mixing elements of its heritage with global travel insights, the brand developed an eloquent blend of cultured style and fresh fashion. In 2015 an official press release, the Napapijri brand is committed to animal welfare and stops the fur from the fall-winter 2015 collection. It will use high-quality synthetic fur of the brand Kanecaron.

Thermo-Fibre Technology

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri Thermo-Fibre Technology
Thermo-Fibre Technology Jacket

Napapijri embraces THERMO-FIBRE® product, an eco-friendly replacement for Fall/Winter collections. Composed of lightweight air-trapping microspheres that create a soft, quilted texture, ensuring superior, lab-tested thermal regulation and insulation also enables the new AERONS style. A versatile, attractive and easy-to-wear jacket, where softness, durability and protection meet a sleek, modern esthetic that suits urban pace just as well as life on the trail.

Collaborations

In 2016 Dutch artist, Heleen Blanken, collaborates with the brand to explore the tension between the urban and the wild in her new artwork. The artwork was centered around the tension between industrial destruction and the beauty of nature.

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri Collaboration with Heleen Blanken
Napapijri Collaboration with Heleen Blanken

In 2017, the London designer, Martine Rose, and Napapijri together create a capsule collection on the market. For their designs, they took inspiration from the nineties hip-hop scene. The line was contemporary, intelligent, and a total must-have. Thanks to the attention to detail and oversized pieces she has managed to preserve the uniqueness of the label and at the same time pressing her own stamp by injecting a healthy dose of color in the collection. That way, they will bring a little more contrast in the Napapijri world, which is known for its eternal dark tones of the brand. Collection mixes salopettes with yellow, blue or black oversized jackets, based on Napapijri’s curly fleece. The new dimension in thermal insulation.

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri Martine Rose Capsule Collection 2017
Napapijri Martine Rose Capsule Collection 2017

Current Situation

Today, Mariano Rajoy is the Brand President. The company will launch the Super light Parka for the 2017 Fall/Winter season utilizing there THERMO-FIBRE® in collaboration between Freudenberg Performance Materials Apparel to give a boost to the development of the fireball padding.

Mame Fashion Dictionary: Napapijri Super Light Parka 2017 Fall/Winter Season
Super Light Parka 2017 Fall/Winter Season

The various lines combine to make up two offerings, Napapijri Geographic and Napapijri Authentic. The frist is based on the concept of day-to-day garments for town use and leisure. While, the second highlights the natural origins of the brand and on high technical content and performance, developed to offer a flawless wear ability in all situations and weather conditions. The first example of this passion is the Skidoo jacket, a Napapijri icon that has been constantly revisited over the years, with new materials and colors every time in order to perpetuate the energy of an enduring style capable, above all, of telling a story.

Currently, Napapijri has has a wide distribution network with more than 600 multi-brand stores in Italy and partnerships around the world, controlled by 3 branches run from the USA, France, and Germany.

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