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Exploring Innovation
Innovation in the Alps
Winter is icecold. Competion isn’t in hibernation. Fortunately our strength is the freezing cold. Exploring innovation polychromelab moved to Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis. Here we prepare our jackets for the iciness in two ways.
In the Alpine Proof Outdoor Lab on 2000 meters we’re sometimes feeling like the next ice age is coming up. We have state-of-the-art testing dummies for proofing our products against the freezing cold. This is innovation in the Alps. Read more on this in the post “Icy Innovation“.
Up against wind and weather, heat and cold, high UV radiation and frost isn’t enough for our approval. Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis offers a wide playground. On ski tours we’re testing our winterjackets for stretchability, at free ride skiing for insulation, at climbing for sturdiness and in town for lifestyle suitability. The team of Blog Tyrol shows what you can experience up here in 24 hours.
Innovation is our advantage. Against competition from large companies we proof polychromelab’s jackets for outdoor suitability like you really need it in the Alps.
Video: Inside Alpine Proof Outdoor Lab
Video of the Opening of World’s Highest Outdoor Lab
Location Agency Tyrol and pro.media Agency visited the highest research lab of the world. At the opening all who were involved were there: officials from Tyrol and Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, the University of Innsbruck and polychromelab as operator of Alpine Proof Outdoor Lab. In this video our research project is explained.
World’s highest research plateau for outdoor apparel from polychromelab on Youtube. Copyright: Standortagentur Tirol and pro.media
What Alpine Proof Outdoor Lab does research on and especially how we do that, you’ll learn here.
And here you’ll find the German press release from pro.media Agency.
Freeride Winterjackets – Downhill
Alpine Proof Lab: Downhill Freeride Winterjackets
Part 1: This is how a testing day in Alpine Proof Outdoor Lab starts.
When all data is collected, winterjackets are examined carefully, and sensors and cameras are working properly, the second part of a day testing winterjackets starts. We put on our freeride skis and winterjackets. By freeride winterjackets testing we have some great advantages: a) a lot of fun at downhill skiing, b) great insight data into the functionality of jackets, and c) even more fun when snow conditions are great.
Conditions were not the this day, but the level of difficulty was really high: From Mount Schönjoch via the southern flank of Schadenstock at -13 degrees downhill. At these freezing temperatures you can find out whether a winterjacket is windproof or not, because at this steep face one reaches a high pace.
Arriving at the valley station we look back towards the Alpine Proof Outdoor Lab on 2436 meters. This is the route we’ve taken. Everything was superb!
More on the topic freeride skiing and winterjackets you’ll find in Tyrol Blog here.
Windtest Winterjackets in Outdoor Lab
Testing Winterjackets in Extreme Windspeed at Alpine Proof
The market never sleeps. It also never is full. One has to adapt to stay competitive. Every day there’re new innovations. Every innovation creates new target markets itself and hence influences the customer’s demands. For example, windproof winterjackets.
Luckily refining products is something we really like. We forgo some hours of sleep and watch the winterjackets at the windtest in the Alpine Proof outdoor lab, fortunately at home in front of our laptops via webcams. Here the video of the windtest
You can take windspeed from the graphic below to see what conditions the winterjackets have to stand up to. Normally one never has to feel windspeeds of 95 km/h and higher at regular outdoor activities, but it’s nice to know that in case the jacket can stand the wind, while the wear hardly can stay on his feet.
polychromelab concept store
Testing Outdoor Apparel Behind our House
Alpine Proof Behind our House – Testing Outdoor Apparel
Polychromelab found their new site in Serfaus.Fiss.Ladis, because in next to no time we get from the shop up to the exposed high altitude alpine lab for testing outdoor apparel. At the official opening of Alpine Proof outdoor lab Location Agency Tyrol was a guest. Here’s the German press release.
Behind our house we start. It takes a few minutes to get to Fiss’ mountain railways to Schönjoch and soon after we reach our high altitude alpine lab on 2436 meters. At this time of the year temperatures are freezing. Up here snow and wind wear off outdoor apparel. At the moment we’re testing bivouac bags made of two different types of fabric. The manufacturer wants to know, which model is more breathable.
Up here we learn about this easily. We attach sensors inside the bivouac bags to measure the inner temperature. At the tower for blusting avalanches right next to Alpine Proof outdoor lab we have a meteo station. Gerhard Rietzler made a very great job installing this: to get significant values testing outdoor apparel we compare data from inside the bivouac bags with those of the meteo station. This way we can read which fabric is more breathable.
This is how we run first outdoor apparel test right behind our house. It’s simply wonderful up here.
We sell outdoor apparel tested in the Alpine Proof outdoor lab in our polychromelab concept store here.
Continue with part 2: Testing winterjackets at freeride skiing.
Opening Alpine Proof – Future of Outdoor Apparel
The Future of Outdoor Apparel at Alpine Proof Outdoor Lab
Yesterday was the day. Early in the morning we were quite nervous and after weeks of planing we couldn’t wait for the event: We celebrated the opening of polychromelab’s Alpine Proof outdoor lab in Serfaus.Fiss.Ladis – festively in the presence of supporters, partners and enthusiasts.
Our guests were Harald Gohm from Location Agency Tyrol, Benny Pregenzer managing director from Fiss-Ladis Mountain Railways, Franz Tschiederer managing director from tourism association Serfaus.Fiss.Ladis, Markus Pale major of Fiss and Thomas Bechthold professor at Textile Physics Dornbirn. Their statements explained what Alpine Proof is and what the collaboration between economy and sciences means to the region of Serfaus.Fiss.Ladis and the future of outdoor apparel. Michele Stinco rounded out the opening with some practice examples.
More on this you’ll find in Pro.media agency’s press release here: Opening Alpine Proof Outdoor Lab
Smitten with Amazement on 2436 Meters
At the valley station of Schönjochbahn in Fiss we met at 10:00. We get to 2436 meters in the cars of Schönjochbahn. Up here we enjoyed a bright blue sky and an amazing view. Walking just a few meters next to the skiing slope we reached the Alpine Proof research platform jutting out over the ridge. At the edge we felt freezing wind, some meters in the back it was better.
Stunned the group listened to the speeches and even attracted some interested tourists. After the presentation Michele Stinco explained some stations of our research platform. We concluded the morning in Bergdiamant restaurant on Schönjoch.
For us it was a great chance to present project Alpine Proof to a broader audience: this unique site in Serfaus.Fiss.Ladis is something you can’t buy with money. We will see how we can write the history of outdoor apparel here on 2436 meters.
Fred Einkemmer photographes the opening:
