Reima wins the ISPO Award and Scandinavian Outdoor Award for innovative kids’ jacket Osteri

Reima is a leading kids-only activewear brand based in Finland. The company has over 75 years’ experience of developing durable apparel for all weather. Reima is especially well known for its functional children’s wear. This year, Reima's innovative kids' winter jacket Osteri is a double winner.

The Osteri jacket is an excellent example of the Reima’s performance-oriented product development for kids’ full comfort outdoors. It helps keep kids warm and dry in changing winter weathers while its choice of materials is in unison with shifting the clothing industry towards more sustainable practices. No wonder the jacket has won over the hearts of two award juries who both base their decisions on functional, aesthetical, as well as environmental aspects.

Praise to Reima's sustainable choice of materials

The ISPO Award jury states: "It is encouraging to see that children's clothing is also increasingly being developed with a stronger focus on more sustainable materials. Reima makes a statement with its first bluesign® product winter jacket for kids."

"This children's jacket is the first bluesign product of the Finnish brand Reima. It is made of a combination of very interesting sustainable materials. The outer material is made of Seawool, a blend of recycled polyester and a recycled polyester that contains nano-sized powder from discarded oyster shells. A PU membrane makes the jacket waterproof and breathable. Warmth is provided by Fellex Ocean Ecofill, and so the jacket also helps keep the ocean and coasts clean. In addition, the jacket is comfortable to wear and has all the features that children need", said the Scandinavian Outdoor Award jury.

Sari Perttunen, Reima Chief Creative Officer, explains the thinking behind Reima's victorious jacket: “The Reima brand heritage is to let kids enjoy the great outdoors, feeling comfortable whatever the weather. Thus we aimed at creating a new outdoor product with inviting colors, a gender-neutral fit and sustainable design to cater for variating weathers. It was also important to cover the taste of kids in different ages; starting from 5 year old pre-schoolers up to 12 year old pre-teens.“

“We also wanted the Osteri jacket to be a pair for our previous ISPO Award winner, the waterproof Megapito winter boots, and so our choice of materials had two key drivers: versatility and sustainability. The waterproof, oyster-shell-containing main material as well as the easy-care Oceanfill insulation are both high-performance, yet rich in recycled material.“

Recycling empty containers of food and drink

The bluesign® approved fabric of the Osteri Jacket is 52% recycled polyester and 48% recycled Seawool® polyester. The latter contains nano-particles from discarded oyster shells that give the polyester fiber a wool-like, soft surface. In addition, the Seawool® fibers have better insulating properties compared to regular polyester and wool. A natural property of oyster shell is its low conductivity. Oyster shell powder gives the fibers anti-static and anti-bacterial properties, which inhibit odor. A PU membrane makes the fabric waterproof and breathable. The jacket is lined with bluesign® approved Fellex Ocean Ecofill insulation, which helps keep our oceans clean. Certified Ecofill fibers come from 100% plastic waste, mostly PET bottles, collected from coasts without organized waste management.

FUN FINNISH FACT:

They say the Finnish language is difficult to learn, but you probably already guessed that “Osteri” is Finnish for oyster!