June 29, 2022
What makes an athlete? The obvious answer would be what’s on the outside, like a well-sculpted body or the medals around your neck. But the drive comes from the inside. Being an athlete is about being focused, fearless, and always moving forward no matter the condition.
Dynafit has built its brand off this mindset since 1950, making innovative, durable, and lightweight boots for ski tour athletes and mountaineers. Their goal was to let the athletes focus on the task at hand, and not the equipment. In the ‘70s, Dynafit was cemented as a premier ski brand when legendary athletes Franz Klammer and Leonhard Stock rocked their boots to win Olympic Gold for downhill racing.
Today, Dynafit remains a brand built by athletes, for athletes. The Snow Leopard not only stands as the brand logo, it also symbolizes Dynafit’s values when it comes to mountain performance: speed, power, and endurance for all seasons, all conditions. Their athlete roster, The Dynafit Squad, plays a central role in influencing product development and feedback. Because of their passion and expertise, Dynafit continues to make high-performance gear so athletes can channel their inner Snow Leopard.
The athlete behind the brand is none other than Benedikt Böhm. The extreme ski mountaineer has been a part of the Dynafit Squad for nearly 20 years, setting speed records on downhill races in Muztagata and Gasherbrum II. Now as Dynafit’s general manager, Böhm understands it takes intelligent materials and innovative technology for maximum performance on the mountain. It’s for this reason that he’s been a long-time fan of Polartec fabrics.
The Dynafit and Polartec collaboration started nearly 10 years ago when Dynafit became an early adopter of Polartec® Alpha® active insulation. A fabric developed for US Special Forces and designed for start/stop conditions, Dynafit saw the value of a versatile, lightweight fabric engineered to thermoregulate. They were one of the first to see that Alpha was almost specifically made for the mountain lifestyle. When Dynafit first launched their iconic Mezzalama collection in the winter of 2014/15 for ambitious skimo athletes, they showed the world what peak performance can look like with Alpha.
“The invention of Polartec Alpha has been a milestone in the history of apparel for outdoor and mountain enthusiasts,” said Benedikt Böhm, Dynafit General Manager. “For me, Alpha is a real new category next to Hardshell, Down, and so on. The Mezzalama jacket or vest is always with me on my expeditions and projects; you can use it during your activities but of course before and after also.”
We featured this collection with Böhm as he wore the Alpha pieces for his race in the eponymous Trofeo Mezzalama, an event sponsored by Polartec and Dynafit in 2017.
Polartec® & Dynafit: Designing for Mezzalama w/ Polartec® Alpha®Polartec Vimeo
Designing for Mezzalama 2017
While the video above shows the 2017 edition of the Mezzalama, the collection returns to Dynafit’s line in updated fashion. This extremely lightweight, packable, and ultra-breathable selection of skimo apparel includes a jacket, vest, and a pair of overshorts & overpants made with Polartec® Alpha®. Our active insulation fabric protects from wind and moisture so you’re never too cold, and remains highly breathable so you’re never too warm. It brings maximum performance and quick-drying comfort on the mountain. And to meet Dynafit’s sustainability goals, Alpha is made with 100% recycled PET.
Also returning to the collection are Dynafit’s Transalper Hybrid Jacket and the Speed Polartec Hooded Jacket. The Transalper Hybrid brings Polartec Alpha to the summer mountaineering section of Dynafit’s collections, showing just how versatile this fabric really is.
The Speed Polartec Hooded jacket is part of Dynafit’s “Speed” section of their Ski Touring collection. This lightweight, versatile jacket uses Polartec® Power Grid™ for the right amount of warmth for athletic touring on cold days. The patented grid construction opens air channels for improved breathability, and its bi-component design wicks moisture away and moves it to the outside for evaporation. A perfect jacket that summarizes what Polartec and Dynafit have done for a decade, design premium pieces for mountain athletes.
“Performance and high quality are the main reasons we have chosen Polartec for this collection,” said Lara Marie Weiss and Sibylle Egele, Product Manager of apparel and Product Director of Softgoods, respectively. “As a performance brand, we are always looking for the best technical/functional materials that are also very light to guarantee the highest efficiency in the mountains.”
Check out Dynafit’s New Collection Here.
