For regenerative materials to become industry standard, collaboration is essential and the future of biomaterials depends on industry-wide support, investment and integration into real world products. Starting with a concept garment, the aim of PONDA and BERGHAUS is not to make small changes but to reshape the way textiles are made through a model that works with nature not against it.
The Ponda x Berghaus concept piece demonstrates how regenerative materials can be integrated into performance outerwear without compromising function. The women’s specific jacket is insulated with Ponda’s regenerative BioPuff® and BioPuff® Wadding, offering a versatile approach to warmth.
Designed with removable components, the jacket allows the wearer to adjust insulation levels based on activity and climate. The modular system also enables a choice between loose fill or wadding, giving flexibility to the garment’s appearance and functionality.
The jacket contains BioPuff that was sourced and processed entirely in Europe. By incorporating regenerative biomaterials at this scale, it showcases how functional, adaptable and responsible outerwear can be made.
Key characteristics of the jacket include:
Thermal balancing – insulation placement is strategically designed using female thermal imaging. The insulation covers the core to retain warmth while incorporating a ventilated, non-insulated lower back for cooling.
Multi-functionality – the garment adapts to changing weather conditions with removable insulation. It can function as a windproof layer or an insulating jacket with options for a mid-weight wadded insert or a loose-fill high-insulation insert.
Female-first design – engineered with a female-first approach, this garment is tailored for the female form and to deliver optimal functionality. A single shoulder seam allows overlapping panels to move freely, enhancing comfort and mobility.
Regenerative materials
Ponda is a biomaterials company that develops novel textiles from truly regenerative fibres. Ponda connects the regeneration of precious ecosystems to the production of responsible materials for the textile industry. BioPuff is a next-generation insulation which reduces reliance on feather and synthetic fills and is created by extracting fibres from plants that aid wetland regeneration.
BioPuff provides a measurable reduction in environmental impact as shown by its life cycle assessment (LCA):
- 3.4kg CO₂ eq per kg of BioPuff – 88% lower than goose down and 19% lower than polyester fibre.
- 0.4m³ water use per kg, utilising naturally occurring wetland crops rather than irrigation.
- Full traceability from wetland to textile.
In addition, this wetland-regenerating supply chain creates further benefits by increasing biodiversity, cleaning water and building climate resilience into farms.
Wetlands: A super-carbon store
The world’s largest terrestrial carbon store is held in wetlands – specifically, in peat. Over millennia, this has led to wetlands holding twice as much carbon as all the trees in the world, combined – 600 billion tonnes of carbon.
Unfortunately, wetlands have been drained around the world, releasing nearly two gigatonnes of CO₂ every year – more emissions than the entire fashion industry. This is primarily for farming as the peaty soils can produce highly productive land.
However, by draining the water from a wetland, the carbon-rich land is exposed to the atmosphere, enabling the soils to quite literally dissolve away. The only way to effectively stop these emissions is to ‘re-wet’ the wetlands and lock the carbon back into the ground.
Fashion-Enter
The Ponda x Berghaus concept garment was made at Fashion-Enter Ltd (FEL), an award-winning social enterprise in London. FEL is a centre of ethical garment manufacturing with a leading status in the Fast Forward audit.
FEL opened its Fashion Technology Academy in 2015 with support from GLA and Haringey Council. It was the first academy in the country that is supported by government to improve technical garment manufacture.
Berghaus and BioPuff
Following this first successful collaboration with Ponda, Berghaus is preparing to introduce BioPuff into a limited range of its performance insulation apparel in autumn/winter 2025.
As well as providing consumers with an opportunity to learn more about this regenerative material, the trial production run will allow Berghaus to work with Ponda to forge some synergies between supply chains and understand how to scale up the partnership at a commercial level.
The objective is to mitigate any logistical or financial challenges that might prevent Berghaus from working towards replacing more synthetic insulation filling with BioPuff in the longer term. The intention is to increase the Berghaus range of BioPuff options, season on season.