This series is a fictional podcast show in which writer Hagiwara (who met three people, Nishioka, Yoshida, and Haruka, on #WednesdayBudouzakaRen) delves into various topics related to milestones.

These days, the chilly morning and evening air gives off a hint of autumn. It's the perfect season for running. It seems that there will be some items released that are just right for this coming season.

・Innovative combination

Hagiwara (hereinafter, Hagi): So, what will you be teaching us this month?

Nishioka (hereinafter, Nishi): These are the Heatwave Titanium Hoody and Pants !

Hagi: Is it okay to say it's a padded outerwear? Or should I call it synthetic down?

Yoshida (hereafter Yoshi): I don't think people talk about synthetic down these days (laughs). I definitely did back in the day. I think padded outerwear is fine.

Omori (hereinafter Haruka): Can you tell it's padded?

Nishi: I can't tell from the padding.

Yoshi: Well, it's a warm thing (laughs).

Hagi: So, please tell me the difference between down and padding.

Yoshi: First of all, down is the feathers of geese and other animals. The reason down is warm is because it can trap a lot of air between the feathers. In order to achieve the warmth of natural down, a layer of air is created using polyester cotton, which is what we call padding.

Yoshi: There are a lot of different padding materials out there these days, like Thinsulate and Thermolite. The one we used this time is something called Climashield® APEX. It's a sheet of cotton like this.

Hagi: I think I saw it in the school nurse's office a long time ago.

Haruka: That's natural medical cotton wool (laughs).

Yoshi: I was really in love with this ClimaShield cotton. I once imported some outerwear from overseas, and it was so much warmer than other padding. It was also so light.

Hagi: Yes, I did! I had the impression that synthetic fiber padding was heavier and bulkier than down feathers and not as warm, but I remember when I tried Yoshi's it was incredibly light.

Yoshi: From there, I started researching, and right after I joined milestone, I said to Nishioka, "Let's make winter clothing using this," and we found a place that handled this material and made a sample. However, at that time, Nishioka said that outerwear that was just made from brand-name cotton "was a little weak," so it was shelved.

Nishi: I thought it would be difficult unless we had some kind of visible innovation of our own. However, I wore the sample all winter long (laughs).

Yoshi: Nishioka said it would be impossible to commercialize it, so he put it on hold, but then said, "Yoshi, this is really good, I want to commercialize it as soon as possible" (laughs). I thought it was a difficult homework assignment, like a trick.

Haruka: I guess what's going on is that there's no point in milestone doing it, and it has to be unique.

Yoshi: After three years, I had a new discovery. Just like the silver emergency sheets that reflect heat to keep you warm, a new technology has emerged that uses titanium to reflect the heat emitted from the body. I had a jacket from another company, and I thought that if I combined it with Clima Shield, I might be able to create something revolutionary.

Nishi: I was thinking about adding a twist to the design, and I thought, "If I combine this new technology called titanium sputtering, it'll work!"

Yoshi: After doing some research and asking around, I found a place that handled that fabric, and after making samples and going through a process of trial and error, it took three years to come up with the product.

Hagi: Titanium sputtering is a fairly recent technology, isn't it?

Yoshi: That's right. There are some companies that combine titanium sputtering with padding. There are also companies that use Climashield® APEX to make padded outerwear. However, we are the only ones that combine titanium sputtering with Climashield® APEX at the moment.

Hagi: Doesn't that titanium ever peel off?

Yoshi: I was curious about that too, so I had the fabric manufacturer test it at a third-party institution. When they test for peeling and abrasion resistance, they usually give you a grade, but they said, "This time, it didn't get a grade." I thought that meant it was weak, but it turned out that it didn't get a grade because it wouldn't peel no matter how much they rubbed it.

Haruka: It's not stuck with adhesive, but chemically, so it won't come off.

Yoshi: We haven't tried wearing them all winter yet, but we want to make sure they don't actually peel off.

Nishi: I have all the ingredients, so now it's just a matter of how to cook them.

Haruka: Should I have Japanese food, Western food, or Chinese food?

Nishi: It's also difficult to decide how to prepare it.

Yoshi: When we made the UP-SWING Rain Hoody, we also made it for trail running. That's why it doesn't have side pockets and we were able to go all out by deciding on its intended use.

Hagi: If you could use anything, it would end up being half-baked.

Yoshi: There aren't many situations where you'd wear padded outerwear for trail running, right? (laughs) So I got opinions from specialist stores and even considered making it for climbing snowy mountains. There were many twists and turns, but going back to the basics, I decided that this should be something to use when trail running. So, if you ask me what it's for, I'd say I want it to be used before the start or after the finish of a trail running race, or by people providing support at aid stations. But of course, it's an item that can be used for mountain climbing, hiking, and other activities as well.

　

・Macrabble

Haruka: There are lots of other clever features too. The double zipper makes it easy to regulate your body temperature, there are thumbholes in the sleeves, and the inside of the pockets are made of tricot material to keep the backs of your hands warm.

Haruka: What's more, the pocket can be turned inside out to become packable and also serve as a soft pillow.

Nishi: It's Macrabble.

Hagi: What do you mean only the left pocket is packable?

Yoshi: The zipper is only on the left side.

Hagi: I see, that's what it means (laughs). A zipper.

Haruka: There is a drawstring at the hem so you can tighten it to keep out the cold air.

Nishi: We also paid particular attention to the shape. We didn't want the cord to stick out. We wanted to avoid it getting caught in the bushes if we went into them, so we made sure it was tucked inside so it wouldn't be visible.

Haruka: We also put a lot of effort into the pants. The zipper at the hem is not directly at the back or to the side, but slightly off to the side. We made the zipper quite long so that you could put them on without taking off your shoes. At first, the zipper went from the waist to the hem.

Yoshi: So that you can take off your pants while wearing crampons. But while it's necessary if you're using it exclusively for snowy mountains, we decided it wasn't necessary, so we rejected it. Also, the fabric on the outside around the buttocks is made to be resistant to friction, so if it's weak to friction when sitting on a rock, holes will appear and the cotton will come out.

Haruka: The area around the buttocks is the most likely place for holes to appear in down pants.

Yoshi: There are also side pockets. The pockets are lined with the same tricot material as the jacket. There is a smartphone pocket on the waist, which is packable.

Haruka: Also, the back of the waist is higher.

Yoshi: Cold weather clothing is worn over something else, and it's cold if your butt is exposed, so we adjust the pattern to make it different in the front and back.

Nishi: There was also the issue of where to place the titanium sputtering material. There was talk of not using a hood, right?

Yoshi: Yes, there were. Some people were of the opinion that it would be difficult to wear in the city if the shiny spacesuit-like design was visible. But on the other hand, since it's the item's most distinctive feature, we decided to show it off. We wanted to assert our originality.

Haruka: The arms are titanium sputtered all the way up to the elbows, but the wrists have been left out.

Yoshi: Because I want to warm the core of my body. The truth is, the price of titanium sputtering fabric is really high.

Haruka: For the pants, the titanium part is limited to between the waist and mid-thigh.

・Difficulties due to the three-dimensional nature

Nishi: It's a minor point, but I had a lot of trouble with my pants pockets.

Yoshi: It depends on whether the padding is embraced by the outer fabric or the lining.

Nishi: At first, I had it wrapped around the lining, but I thought the thin pockets might make it cold. I changed it to a cotton outer layer like the jacket, but it ended up being too tight. So I went back to the original and added a knitted material instead.

Hagi: It couldn't be the same as the jacket.

Nishi: The jacket has cotton in the front, so it feels fine, but when I tried to do the same with the pants, it looked strange (laughs). I really learned something from this.

Yoshi: The silhouette was also changed.

Nishi: The first sample of pants was a little wide, so I suggested that they be narrowed a bit, but they ended up being really slim (laughs). Trail runners have thick calves so they won't fit in them. So I went back to the original.

Yoshi: It looks like leather pants (laughs).

Hagi: The silhouette of the finished pants is beautiful. I've always thought I needed down pants, but I hadn't found any that I really wanted as clothing, so I didn't own any. Most of them are kind of fluffy, aren't they? (laughs)

Yoshi: It makes me look like the Michelin Man (laughs).

Hagi: They're a tool for keeping warm, so as long as they're warm, that's fine, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy them. In that sense, I thought the silhouette of the pants was good.

Nishi: Also, this time we had a particularly hard time with the shape of the hood.

Haruka: The head shape has become square, so we tried to make it more rounded.

Nishi: When I put the hood on and tightened the elastic, the shape of my head didn't look nice. I had to keep adjusting it until the very end.

Yoshi: At first I tried to tie it in the front, but then the string would always come out.

Haruka: The catfish-like whiskers are a nuisance. If you narrow it down, the part of your face that's visible becomes smaller, which is good, but it also covers your eyes and makes it difficult to see in front of you.

Yoshi: I wanted to somehow solve this problem, so I tried tightening it at the back, but then it created a gap on the side of your face, and cold air would get in. In the end, I decided to make it so that it fits a little closer to your face and then tightens at the back, rather than going straight back from the forehead line.

Nishi: It was quite difficult to make it look natural.

Hagi: It seems difficult because a hood is round, but it seems even more difficult than a rain hood because of the thickness of the padding.

Nishi: Whether it's a prototype or anything else, it's easier to talk about it once you have a concrete shape and can see it in 3D. We really struggled with the shape of the hood, so we had set a goal of releasing it in early November, but at one point we thought it might not be possible this year.

Yoshi: Our business partners were very patient and put up with us. Our sales staff even sewed the items themselves and sent them to us. The revision history for the specifications was quite long. But in fact, even up until now, items that have undergone multiple revisions have ended up being well received by customers.

・Conveying "heat"

Nishi: I always say that milestone's apparel items are named after music.

Yoshi: I asked Nishioka if there were any artist names that make you think "that sounds warm" just by hearing them.

Nishi: The first thing that comes to mind is my favorite artist, Heatwave. They were an amazing band from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s.

Yoshi: That's a good idea!

Nishi: It was an instant decision. We were thinking of going with the Heatwave Hoodie, but Yoshida-san wanted people to know it was titanium, so we decided to call it the Heatwave "TI" Hoodie. TI alone is hard to understand, so we decided to just use the full name "Titanium." That's how we ended up with the Heatwave Titanium Hoody and Heatwave Titanium Pants.

Yoshi: It's a little long though.

Nishi: I think it's important to include the product's features in the name, even if it's long, so people know about it. So, shall we listen?

Haruka: So stylish! What genre is this?

Nishi: They're more of an AOR or multinational funk band from Europe. Check out their music below.

Yoshi: I hope that waves of warmth will spread like this and enrich your outdoor life.

Nishi: Speaking of price, there are outerwear items out there that cost 50,000 or 60,000 yen, but when I think about it from the user's perspective, I feel like I would buy something up to 40,000 yen including tax, so I tried to keep it within that range. I also managed to keep the pants price below 30,000 yen. It's scary to create a product in a new genre, and it's a seasonal item that won't sell after March, and it's the most expensive item in milestone's history. The future of the company is at stake. But I still wanted to try it. I want to challenge myself in everything.

Hagi: So that's why you really wanted to release it in early November. Did you also shoot a promotional video?

Yoshi: On the way to Hokkaido in August.

Check out the promotional video at this link!

Haruka: While fishing.

Nishi: We were actually planning to shoot in Kyushu, but it was too hot, so we quickly moved to Hokkaido. Hokkaido was hot too, though (laughs).

Hagi: Did Haruka-chan get involved midway through this project?

Haruka: I was able to give a lot of feedback and it was very moving to actually be able to use the items during the employee training in the Northern Alps in July.

Nishi: It was about 36 or 37 degrees Celsius down below. It was raining and cold up in the mountains, so it was very useful.

Haruka: I camped at Kurobe Goro Hut, but instead of bringing a sleeping bag, I wore this and got inside the sleeping bag cover. I didn't feel cold and slept well. I also wore it at the campsite.

Yoshi: It's roughly equivalent to the cost of a summer sleeping bag. I was glad I was able to try it out in a cold place before it was released and confirm that it was warm. I think the temperature was around 10 degrees.

Haruka: It's already cold at this time of year, so you need to layer appropriately depending on the temperature. All three of us were wearing three different colors.

Nishi: It's the three-color theory I mentioned last month (laughs). Black is a sure thing. Chrome black. The whitish gray is mist gray. The other color is a golden yellow that we named amber gold.

Yoshi: Mist gray is popular at specialty stores.

Nishi: I said I wanted to make pants in three colors, but Yoshida-san stopped me.

Yoshi: I don't think there's anyone who wears matching amber gold tops and bottoms, right?

Nishi: You don't have to match, just coordinate them. Black on top, gold on bottom, for example.

Yoshi: I guess only Hanshin fans would say that.

Nishi: He's dissing Hanshin fans.

Yoshi: I'm not dissing you (laughs).

Nishi: As a result, my pants are only available in black. That's about it for this month. Goodbye.

Yoshi: Goodbye.

Haruka/Hagi: Goodbye.

This time, we were introduced to a padded winter outerwear that incorporates new technology. The appealing design makes it seem like it could be used not only in the mountains but also in the city without looking out of place. The new challenge of creating a three-dimensional garment while taking into account the thickness of the padding was difficult, but it showed the passion for manufacturing that led to the creation of something innovative. We hope that passion was conveyed.

Luggage tends to be bulky in winter, so it's nice to be able to pack it compactly when leaving it at the finish line of a marathon or stuffing it into a coin locker at the station.

When the weather gets colder, I'd like to test the effectiveness of the combination of padding and titanium on a snowy mountain hike.

See you next month.

Text and composition: Ken Hagiwara