Obermeyer Coco Jacket (Photo: Obermeyer)
Sometimes, performance and style don’t always match on the slopes. They do with the Obermeyer Coco Jacket. The 100 percent Cocona polyester fabric, interior stretch panels, inner cuffs with thumbholes and other features made me wish I could wear this jacket every day. If you’ve been looking for a great-performing ski pant that fits perfectly, try out the Obermeyer London Pant. Made with MicroTec 100 percent polyester twill with HydroBlock, they’ll keep the snow out, whether you’re skiing, snowboarding or just hiking. Heavy-duty zippers, reinforced hems and an adjustable webbing belt add to the useful features. Obermeyer Coco Jacket, $399.50 from www.obermeyer.com. Obermeyer London Pant, $159.50 from www.obermeyer.com.

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http://bicyclinghub.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-technology-makes-pearl-izumis-2011.html

Brad Poorman • President, Cocona, Inc.

Mr. Poorman has 22 years of technical textile marketing, sales and product development experience. His career has provided value-added clothing technologies that have comfort and protective benefits to consumer, industrial, home and military markets.

Previous to Cocona®, Mr. Poorman was the Managing Director of Outlast Technologies, Inc., a firm focused on the licensing and marketing of microencapsulated phase change materials. In addition to responsibilities for global marketing and sales, Poorman executed a joint venture with DuPont Textiles and served on the board of Outlast Europe.

Prior to Outlast, Mr. Poorman was the Vice President of BHA Technologies, the manufacturer and marketer of Event™ fabrics, a new ePTFE, waterproof breathable membrane. He led the successful market introduction of this significant competitor to Gore-Tex™.

Mr. Poorman previously held positions of Vice President at the Warrington Group, Vice President at Physician Support Systems and product specialist/business leader at W. L. Gore and Associates.

Mr. Poorman is architecting the commercialization of Cocona’s technology into the most strategically important markets for generating sales and profit. He is also a member of the Board of Managers of Cocona, Inc.

Jim Hind • Vice President

Mr Hind has over 30 years in the textile business. After graduating from Washington and Lee University in 1980 he became a Plant Manager at Wrangler Jeans in El Paso. With over 250 employees the plant consistently ranked in the top 5 of 120 plants worldwide. In 1985 Hind started his own factory in El Paso and Mexico. The plants manufactured jeans, khakis, woven and knit shirts for brands such as Gap, Farah, Eddie Bauer, Jantzen until 2002.
Mr Hind has been with Cocona since 2005. Fluent in Spanish, he manages Latin and South America in addition to the Military/ Law Enforcement/First Responder category.

John D. Mitchell • Senior Vice President, Apparel

Mr. Mitchell has over 21 years of experience in the manufacture, quality control, and sales of technical performance fabrics. He has worked extensively with retailers, apparel manufacturers, and foreign and domestic textile mills.

Prior to joining Cocona, Inc., Mr. Mitchell was a private consultant to the apparel industry and focused on bringing new technologies to apparel manufacturers.

Previously, Mr. Mitchell was Vice President of Business Development for Outlast™ Technologies, Inc. where he developed sales in apparel and footwear applications of the Outlast™ technology. In addition to building the Outlast business with technical outdoor brands, he also developed Outlast sales with apparel manufacturers serving the mainstream department store channel.

Mr. Mitchell was Vice President of Sales for Technical Fabrics at Dyersburg Fabrics, where he established the northwest sales office and built business relationships with branded performance apparel makers such as Columbia Sportswear, Eddie Bauer, Nike, REI, The North Face, and Patagonia. After a number of years in the engineering field, Mr. Mitchell began his career in textiles with production management, quality control and sales positions at Malden Mills Industries, the makers of Polartec® Technical fabrics.

At Cocona, Inc., Mr. Mitchell is responsible for managing sales relationships pertaining to Cocona® fabrics, product development, and strategy in performance apparel and footwear.

Philip Haugaard • Managing Director, Europe

From 2001 until 2006, Mr. Haugaard was employed by BHA Technologies Inc. at their subsidiary in Switzerland. There, he was responsible for developing and producing ePTFE waterproof breathable membranes for various applications for apparel and footwear laminates. He directed the establishment of several production plants in support of the BHA business. Mr. Haugaard was also responsible for the sales and marketing of the eVent™ brand throughout Europe.

Mr. Haugaard joined in November, 2006 and is responsible for developing the business in European markets. He directs several regional sales managers and speaks English, German, Danish, Swedish and Italian languages.

Duncan Edwards • Legal

Following five years as an on-mountain product evaluation specialist for the ski industry at Mammoth Mountain, California, Mr. Edwards started his legal career as an Associate with the law firm of Kim, Shin & Yu in Seoul, Korea, specializing in international business transactions. From the Far East he moved to the Gore-Tex ® fabrics division of W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. and instituted a worldwide trademark and manufacturing licensing and certification program and then led the Gore skiwear business. Mr. Edwards served as corporate counsel for the U.S. Ski Team in 1991 and 1992 and in 1993 he joined an international trade consultancy in Park City, UT specializing in worldwide intermodal transit.

In 2001 he joined Outlast Technologies, Inc. in Boulder, CO as corporate counsel and VP of Asia operations, where he continued his licensing and intellectual property rights practice. Mr. Edwards joined Cocona Inc. Technologies LLC in April of 2007 as corporate counsel and to lead its Asian sales and manufacturing efforts. Mr. Edwards holds a B.A. and J.D. from the University of San Diego.

At Cocona Inc., Mr. Edwards is responsible for overseeing all Cocona Inc.’s legal agreements, as well as managing the Company’s business in Asian markets.

Alan Lekan • VP of Product Development, Cocona, Inc.

Mr. Lekan has over 20 years of technical apparel engineering and experience working at Dupont, Gore-Tex® Fabrics, Outlast Technologies, and most recently was the Director of Sustainability at New Balance Footwear. He is the VP of Product Development at Cocona.

Dr. Gregory W. Haggquist • Founder and Chief Science Officer

Dr. Haggquist has over 20 years of experience in research and development. His research experience includes composite materials and the interaction of light with polymer materials.

Dr. Haggquist has been involved in the development of a wide range of products including UV absorbing car wax, UV absorbing protection for fabrics, high-energy lasers, high-energy capacitors, master batch modification, and fabric treatments.

Additionally, Dr. Haggquist has utilized molecular modeling and spectroscopic methods in the development of polymer films for use in capacitors. Most recently, at Lexmark International, he developed photoconductor drums for laser printers.

At Cocona, Inc., Dr. Haggquist has developed two critical technologies that keep particles active throughout the manufacturing process to improve the performance of fabrics, films and yarn.

Dr. Haggquist is responsible for all research, development and product certification at Cocona, Inc. This includes constantly evolving and improving the efficacy of the Company’s technology. Dr. Haggquist is also focused on growing and managing the company’s portfolio of intellectual property.

Our Trendsetter Program uses true outdoor adventurers to test our technologies on the streets, the slopes, the links, the water, the rocks, and the trails. This real-world laboratory shows us exactly how our products perform when the conditions are uncontrolled and unpredictable. Their feedback helps us refine our technologies so they will perform beyond expectations when the adventure is not a trial run.

International Textile Group, Inc. was organized in March 2004 by Wilbur L. Ross to combine the assets of Burlington Industries and Cone Mills. ITG is a diverse, innovative provider of global textile solutions and distinguished market brands to apparel and interior furnishing customers worldwide. ITG operates four business units: Cone Denim, Burlington Worldwide, Burlington House and Carlisle Finishing. Burlington WorldWide provides high style, high-performance solutions for leading brands of menswear, womenswear, activewear, cotton casuals, tailored, uniform and barrier products. Fabric offerings include blended and performance synthetics, worsted wool, cottons and cotton-blends bringing exciting new styles to global apparel markets.

United Knitting

United Knitting is a world leader in the production of performance stretch fabrics. Since its inception in 1984, UK has focused its vertical resources in developing technologically innovative fabric systems. Today, United Knitting continues to produce high performance technical fabrics for leading brands in high profile markets including the Outdoor, Fitness, Team Sports, Military, Workwear and Protective Markets.
Located in Tennessee, the company maintains modern state-of-the-art knitting, dyeing and finishing facilities that service our partner customers. Consistency, flexibility and conformity to requirements are our top priority in developing high quality, innovative fabrics with an emphasis on sustainability.

Tiong Liong ( footwear products)

Tiong Liong Industrial Co., Ltd. was found in 1976. At that time, the footwear industry in Taiwan was in a recession under the impact of the second worldwide energy crisis. Thanks to the full support of our customers, dedicated teamwork from all employees, Tiong Liong has grown steadily from a small-scale laminating factory into an organized corporation with many subsidiaries such as textile manufacturing, dyeing, Hi-tech coating and lamination etc.
In response to the developing trend of the global market, the structure of a vertically integrated corporation and the expansion of our customer service in all aspects, we have taken the initiative to invest in the establishment of all kinds of finished product factories in recent years. These factories produce and manufacture base for 3C products, stationary products and information technology products, personal health care merchandises and medical dressing. We expect to provide a full and complete service for our customers.

Chia Her Industrial Co.

Chia Her is an R&D oriented and vertically integrated textile manufacturer that specializes in wool spinning, cotton spinning, twisting, weaving, dyeing, finishing, printing, coating, laminating and special finishing. Chia Heir develops and supplies high value-added and innovative products to global leading brands in outdoor, sports, fashion, home and industrial materials. Their mission is to provide their customers with the finest quality products, very best services and reliable delivery at a competitive price.

New Wide

Emerged from New Wide Enterprises Co. Ltd., was established in 1975, and devoted to the manufacturing and research of various knitted fabrics. Driven by the strategy- “Quality, Innovation, Quick Response”, New Wide constantly shows strong growth and global approach to meet market demands. With 35 years of effort, New Wide Group has turned into an international enterprise with three business divisions.
Our worldwide set-up includes overseas knitting and dyeing factories in China, and earned the award of “Fabrics China Pioneer Plant – Knitted Fabric for Sports & Casual Wear.” Recently, we set up A “New Wide Textile R&D Institute” and Design-Marketing Dept. in Changzhou. The branch offices/factories in Hong Kong, Kunshan, Shanghai, and Beijing enhance the global logistics and reinforce the flexibility of our management system.

Yeh Group

To top-quality brands selling sports, outdoor and intimate apparel, the Yeh Group is a worldwide supplier of innovative fabrics and finished garments that use the latest technologies in custom performance fabrics and the most conservation-minded processes. Established in 1988, the Yeh Group headquarters near Bangkok, Thailand occupy 40 acres and has an annual capacity of 48 million yards. The Yeh Group is composed of several wholly-owned business units at the same facility. We are organized for flexibility and accountability in producing fabrics and finished garments.

Coville

For more than 25 years, the apparel industry has recognized Coville as a pioneer in the design, marketing and conversion of specialty knitted fabrics. Coville’s inventive focus has led to many ground-breaking apparel concepts for both fashion sportswear and technical performance garments.
As one of the firsts to introduce ideas such as anti microbial and moisture management, Coville tackles the 21st century by mixing the highly desired properties of performance fabrics with the unique designs you’ve come to expect from us.

Tong Siang

Warp knits, circular knits, dyeing and finishing
 Penn Asia – warp knits and circular knits with Spandex
 Digital Print Asia – digital printed fabrics
 Esto Asia – laminates

Thai Eastern

Harmony

Texfina

These active particles with an enormous surface area increase the surface area by at least 10 times compared to normal yarns. Secondly, these active particles efficiently capture energy released by the wearer’s body and use that energy to convert the liquid to vapor aiding in the drying process. Each of these tiny particles can be considered water evaporator accelerators, they act like lava rocks which cause liquid to be converted to vapor.

There are two main physical reasons why these particles are efficient energy capture devices; first they have high infrared (IR) molar absorptivity (a measure of how strong a chemical species absorbs light at a specific wavelength), and second they have a low specific heat capacity (the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a chemical species). The enhanced drying rates can be confirmed by testing the fabrics using the hot plate drying rate test method.

Cocona products add unique properties to yarns and films aiding in keeping the wearer comfortable by keeping them dry and drying the fast once they become wet.

We are on a trek to think differently about the elements of performance—in our products and in our company. We have a fresh take on what we need to bring to our industry, to our partners, and to the people who put their trust in our technologies when they are out adventuring. Our bold thinking will introduce consistent innovation to the outdoor apparel marketplace. Our collaboration will build the brands of our premiere apparel partners. Our expertise will equip the adventurer to stay out longer in the passionate pursuit of the outdoors.

COCONA® TECHNOLOGIES ENHANCE THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE PRODUCTS