PB: 0:05

Hello and welcome to another episode of the menswear style podcast. I'm your host Pete Brooker and today on the show I am talking to the co founder of hyper natural Chris Colby. And a little bit about hyper natural a pioneer the future of high quality eco luxury products made with innovative materials of nature, renewable and biodegradable sources. Hyper natural has always been inspired by the genius of nature, and combining natural solutions with modern luxury and sustainability. They know the future of fashion and materials is not in polyester or petrochemicals, it is in nature. And here to talk more about hyper natural is the co founder, Chris Kobe.

Unknown: 0:46

Sure, so you know, hyper naturals, this new brand that is actually launching in about two weeks. So we're brand new. But it's really what we think is the future of apparel, which is this eco luxury. And we've really kind of created a proprietary fabric that's become a brand. And it really combines natural solutions with modern luxury and sustainability. And that combination we feel is where the world needs to go. And we've been able to over over a number of years develop this special fabric that we think really shows that the genius of nature,

PB: 1:25

right? I'm I'm very eager to drill down on the fabric. But so this is launching on March the third as we speak, and people can check it out on the website, hyper natural style.com. But perhaps you can talk about I know you self funded this with your co founder. Why was it that you decided to not seek outside investment for this brand?

Unknown: 1:49

Well, you know, I've been in the industry for over 30 Some years and been in retail but in product work for big brands like Ralph Lauren and in Urban Outfitters, but I've also started brands like original Penguin, and so just been an industry for a long time and sort of really wanted to do something for myself. And in some ways, the things that I know our industry really needs. And so it's a little bit of my form of repentance, I guess, of coming back with a really sustainable product that can can really change our industry, maybe inspire industry. And I really wanted to self funded mainly because this allows us to have control to do it the right way. And so you know, just having the experience have done this for other big companies is you know, the pitfalls of having too many people involved too soon. We're trying to avoid,

PB: 2:40

right, and I guess this gives you and your co founder autonomy over the brand. Have you seen it go wrong somewhere else? I mean, I don't want you to name and shame but other companies and other brands that you might have looked at where they've had investment to start out with and it just hasn't panned out well for them.

Unknown: 2:56

Yeah, well, I think that you know, the more money you have behind you the more pressure there ways to grow, and to grow maybe unsustainably. And so what we really want to do is kind of set the business up and the brand to grow naturally in terms of what it can be. And then as we see opportunity, potentially bring more partners in that really, you know, with the right expectations.

PB: 3:21

And whilst you were working for other companies, did you always have it in mind to start something else? Did you always have like a little thought bubble that, oh, I could do this over here. And I can do it slightly differently?

Unknown: 3:33

Yeah, I spent 30 years more or less doing that just starting businesses and

PB: 3:38

being constantly distracted.

Unknown: 3:41

Well, I'm kind of, I've always had a lot of ideas, a lot of visions, and they've had other bigger companies to bring it to life with and for their benefit. But I've always felt like I could do it for myself. And so just kind of waiting for the right moment. And this became it in terms of starting something I really feel the industry in the world really needs right now. And I'm just able to use all my experience from the past and my network to really do something, I think they can have a lot of impact.

PB: 4:07

Right? And what would you say it is specifically from any of your other jobs that you managed to go right, I can take that and plug it in to hyper natural?

Unknown: 4:21

Well, you know, what I've learned is, it's really easy to try to do too much. And so the biggest thing experience has taught me in the past is really how to simplify and really get down to the essence of what matters most. And I think that's the nature of our industry starting to reward more and more people with a really strong point of view, to have an innovative product, they do, you know, one thing incredibly well, versus trying to do everything. And I think you know, I've worked for a lot of places and been guilty to myself of just trying to do too much. And so I you know, years ago I read Yvonne Gerards book, Let my people go sir Train. And one of my favourite quotes from Yvonne was, the more you know, the less you need. And I really do think that applies a lot to our industry. And so you know, with hyper natural, we're taking the approach of, you know, let's just have, the less be less wasteful in our approach, like, let's just make the things that we think matter, not a whole bunch of other filler type of product, let's have more quality, and maybe less quantity, right? And let's, you know, let's tell stories that make people inspired to want to go further and do more with what we're doing, versus try to, you know, trick people into buying things that maybe they don't need, right. And so I think this is, these are the things that I hope, you know, you know, experiences taught me that we can bring into a new brand day one, in some ways that we've just learned from all these other great brands over the last, you know, three or four decades.

PB: 5:55

Interesting. I was actually just scribbling the title of that book, like Scarah manga would do getting a wine recommendation from bond, let the people go surfing. I must add that to my audible list.

Unknown: 6:10

Thanks, classic.

PB: 6:11

Yeah, I'll check that out. For sure. Well, I mean, I agree, I looked at the press pack that you guys sent over. And I often see brands that start off launching with a whole load of products, because they perhaps don't know how to rein it in, or they just want to overreach and tick all the boxes straight away, rather than get one thing, right, and then build from there. And I'm always on on your side of the fence. Chris with this in terms of if you can get one thing, right, and then learn how to expand on that rather than just throw spaghetti at the wall, hope something lands and then just go back and latch on to that because it just feels like there's a lot of ways that sliding down the kitchen tiles outside of that. Yes. But maybe you can talk about the fabric. I'm keen to get into that. So this took about two years worth of research and development. So talk about the that journey, please. Sure.

Unknown: 7:07

So, you know, when we really started out during COVID, having a little bit of time to sort of think about, you know, if we were to make the best of something, what would that be? And we did a little bit of research my partner I and you know, we kind of come from the world of Ralph Lauren and J. Crew. And we've worked you know, we started this brand original penguin about 20 years ago. And so we knew a lot about polo shirts, and we knew a lot of that, you know, everybody wears them.

PB: 7:34

Did you start original penguin? So to run over you, Chris, did you? Did you start that?

Unknown: 7:38

I did. Yeah.

PB: 7:40

No, that I mean, that is one again. really rely on your competitive I love that brand. I've got loads of the Polos. So sorry, carry

Unknown: 7:48

on. No, yeah. So you know, just we invite my partner, I we just we just know polos and but we also, you know, you know, because everybody owns and they're kind of ubiquitous. And there's this kind of thing that people almost don't really put a lot of effort into. But it's like a four and a half billion dollar business, globally, just polo shirts, and they've been wearing them, you know, forever if you think about like the history of the shirt. And so we just thought like, if we made a really the best one, what would we do and we kind of came down to it would be about the materials and in really coming up with this material, but it would have to be sustainable. And the more we dug into it, we got really obsessed with the potential of nature and what nature can actually do to create performance in materials. And we started this journey, and it took a while but we realised there's stuff we could do that would touch your skin, it would actually feel a certain way or have like a potential Wellness Benefit for you. And that led us down this path of okay can make something really commercially viable, but also sustainable and awesome. We'd have to really put some things together that don't exist today. And then we landed on, you know, let's just take the best cotton in the world which was is supima cotton, the top 1% of cotton in the world. And let's blend it with regenerative materials or waste materials to try to create something that you know let's call it a cocktail that doesn't exist. And and so we ended up coming down to we took jadestone from mining waste in Taiwan. And we combine that with chitin in which is crab shells pulverised down into a powder and we put it into this brew and we created a yarn that actually has these proprietary benefits of cooling your skin which is the jadestone naturally and the Chipman is anti odour and so you could really get this like cooling anti odour effect from what is effectively mining waste and food waste. And so we combine that yarn with supima cotton which is super soft and luxurious and strong. Oh, and we added in 100%, recycled spandex. And we got this like super knit that that has this really cool touch, naturally performing thing. And best of all has no polyester has no petrochemicals, which is mostly what performance is today, it's mostly synthetic materials coated in chemicals, or it's just a regular cotton shirt that doesn't really do anything. So we've kind of created this in between, with hyper natural that brings natural performance and luxury together into one. One fabrication.

PB: 10:37

How do you know to go about finding jade stone and the shells of the crabs? How do you know that this fusion is going to come anywhere close to what it is that you want to get out of the end?

Unknown: 10:49

Well, in our journey, we realised that there's a lot of there's kind of what was a bio materials revolution going on right now. And a lot of it's in laboratories and things that you just don't see. But there's a lot of really interesting work going on that that are putting things together that are more sustainable, but natural, or more sustainable without using synthetic chemicals and materials. And ultimately, it's about having something that is more natural, more biodegradable. But also, you know, it's better, you know, it can be a better product. And most people don't think of sustainable products as being better or awesome. And we want him to kind of flip that on the head is that we actually made it better through nature. And so we really, we think about it as nature can do a lot of amazing things if you work with it. And I think that's kind of the ethos striper natural. It's the only thing we do. And it led to this fabric development that really just gives people what they want keeps cool. You don't have any odour. It's super soft and comfortable and luxurious. But it's also happens to be sustainable.

PB: 12:00

And do you have to paint in that fabric? Or can you patent that?

Unknown: 12:05

We have we have proprietary rights to it. No one else can do it at the moment technically, and part of one of our partners is the is the mill that has actually helped us develop the fibre. So we're kind of we're locked in on that level. But yeah, we can patent it, but it will take It'll take just takes time. It's it's a good couple three year process.

PB: 12:27

And a process that basically is a lot of red tape and lawyers, I imagine there's nothing sexy about that process.

Unknown: 12:34

Well, the more important thing is getting into the market and develop it into something that is commercially viable that people want. And that will allow us to, you know, to really, you know, brand it and build it into other things, we have a number of other things we're looking to do along these lines of just taking natural materials and creating yarns that don't exist today. And they and they can do potentially some very interesting things.

PB: 13:01

Well, for people that might be watching us on the YouTube channel, I'm just bringing up a couple of slides to give some context to what Chris is talking about here some of the Polos first. Can I ask we talked about the fabric, did you do anything different for the cut of the Polos? With regards to these designs.

Unknown: 13:19

Our general approach is, in the spirit of simplicity is we created four styles. Two of them are classic fit, and two of them are a slim fit. We have two fabrics. One BK one Jersey, and one fabric story. So the fabrics are is the same for everything we make it so it kind of comes down to we can fit a lot of people on different size and fit preference, even style preference so that you can we can fit a you know, a wide range of people all with the same, you know, natural performance fabric story, and that's where it's an exclusive brand. But at the same time, if you really look at our shirts, we put a lot of detail into them that you wouldn't normally expect in a polo shirt. So if you were to flip it inside out, you'd see there's a class cleaning pocket on the inside. It also no there's no labels, there's no tags at all in the garment. The trims we use are all natural. There's no plastic whatsoever used on the product. The buttons are mother of pearl, which you know, also natural. The packaging is all natural. There's are recyclable materials. So we a lot of the devils in the details. And so we kind of we kind of tell people the polo shirts or Trojan horse you just you're getting a lot more than you might expect.

PB: 14:41

So of course, you see you can there's a pocket on the inside and you can work the glass now can i I'm imagining my girlfriend's lipstick on my coffee mugs that are just ubiquitous in my house. Is that can I use that or is it just not going to be too can be too overkill for that? Yeah, it's

Unknown: 14:58

you were just there's a little A triangle when you flip up the front hand, and inside there, you can slip your class in there. And just this, give it a quick clean. So this, you know, little thing that you might discover after you bought it. There's a little QR code in there that you know, we'll use to explain, or to know, a little more online. But, you know, these are just, you know, they're just little details just to let you know that we put a lot of thought and care into the into into this garment beyond the sustainable fabric.

PB: 15:28

I love that I used to run an independent fashion shop just outside of Cambridgeshire. And I'd always plug this brand, I'm going back about 20 years, so forgive me the name of the brands escaped me. But what I really loved about their particular T shirts was that you could tell the consumer or the customers, you've flip up the hem, and there would be the story of the brand. Like on the inside, it would just be Yeah. And it would just be so cool. I imagine it must have cost them in an necessarily penny to get to that that stage. But I as soon as people saw that, they would actually buy it because they knew also it would be a personal garment for them that nobody else had had. But when they're in the pubs they could also lift up the shirt. And if they got a six pack or a cool tattoo, Oh, yeah. Oh, I have a tattoo as well. Thanks for that.

Unknown: 16:15

Yeah, that was it. Now it's a QR code. So

PB: 16:18

now it's just getting your phone and scan me I love it. Well, I'm also talking about the like, the narrative of the brand. Do you have to go down to the retailers? And you're gonna be in Nordstrom and Fred Segal amongst a few others? Do you have to go down and kind of school the, the reps down there on how to sell hyper natural and what the fabric is all about?

Unknown: 16:45

Yeah, absolutely. Because I think, you know, we want everyone to understand, like, what's really different about it. And so beyond the sustainability, that there's a lot of benefits in there for the customer, there's a lot of things to be excited about most, most men want to stay cool. And they don't want to smell right. Everybody can generally agree. Those are good things. And so how do you get the people to experience the product, how to get people to talk about the story of like, you know, what jadestone and crab shells can do for you. And the fact that half this garment comes from effectively waste that's been regenerated into a luxury product, that story is, you know, has to be passed often from person to person. And so we're just trying to get people to be able to share that story. In the context of the product often in the store. We also, you know, we tell people like the last like, well, what's with the What's with the bird, you know, on the shirt, like, you know, it's, you know, the whole, the whole idea is that, you know, the magpies kind of it's not a logo, we kind of consider a totem. And it's like our spirit animal. And magpies as you might know, are one of the most intelligent creatures in the natural world. They you know, a flock of magpies is called a mischief. There's this way, it's interesting, you know, it totem of nature, that really is the genius of nature. And so we kind of, we want to bring more attention to that idea of the gene, the genius of nature and work with nature. And so we chose the magpie, for that reason, but it's also a little bit of a disruptive bird. It likes to cause a little trouble. And so we kind of see ourselves in the fashion industry doing that as well, because the industry does need to wake up, and it does need to get motivated. And ultimately, we want people to buy sustainable products because they're awesome and innovative. Not just because it's the right thing to do.

PB: 18:42

Yeah, magpies can come in through the window and Nick off with your silver bracelet if you look at that. So do magpies dress up their nests to lure other prospective suitors is that how is that why they're doing it like picking up bits of tin foil? Is that what they're doing? Yeah,

Unknown: 18:59

then tourists are doing a lot of things. But they're, they're, you know, the cheeky cheeky birds, they you know, but they do the they do things like the funerals for for their, their deceased, they do these things that are unexpectedly cool. And I think that's, you know, where we're coming from is, you know, don't sleep on nature, nature can do a lot more if you work with it.

PB: 19:22

Yeah, I didn't know that did funerals. How does that work?

Unknown: 19:26

You know, I don't know you have to watch these. I'm not a vert expert. But I will tell you that, you know, this whole brand started with just the awe of what is possible if we just open our eyes. I

PB: 19:38

love that. Well, I love the brand as well. And I encourage everybody to check it out. It's hyper natural style. That's the website. Chris, are you behind the Instagram channel and the social channels if people drop you a note, will you be behind that?

Unknown: 19:52

Absolutely. Yeah. There's just a few of us here. So if you reach out to us, you'll probably get us.

PB: 19:58

Great, awesome and We'll leave all the show notes over at Menswear. style.co.uk But Chris, in the meantime, really enjoy talking to you. Thanks for jumping on and best of luck with the brand. Appreciate the time, Peter. Great. I meant to say jade stone and the crab shells sounds like a great artist that Phil Spector would have produced back in the 60s. Yeah, it's got records.

Unknown: 20:24

Yeah, yeah, like it's like some like witch's brew, right.

PB: 20:38

You've been listening to the menswear style podcast, be sure to head over to menswear style.co.uk For more menswear content and email info at menswear style.co.uk If you'd like to be a future guest on the show. Finally, please help support the show by leaving a review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to this podcast. Until next time,