Not all outerwear is built for hardcore mountaineers or powder hounds. Uppervoid is carving out a different niche entirely – technical apparel for people who want style and innovation without looking like they’re stranded halfway up a glacier.
Founded in 2020 by entrepreneur and lifelong clothing obsessive Vis Bi, the brand isn’t the product of a traditional fashion-school education but of a deep-rooted love of apparel and years spent in one of the world’s most outdoors-driven environments.
“I grew up in Vancouver and was heavily into clothes – I probably had more than anyone I knew,” Vis says. “Alongside that, outdoor activities were pretty much forced on us as kids. On a typical weekend I could be snowboarding in the morning, hiking in the forest in the afternoon, then taking a dip in the lake. Outerwear was always around me.”
Yet Uppervoid isn’t interested in replicating the hyper-functional, adrenaline-first aesthetic that defines legacy outdoor labels. “We’re not a brand built around action sports,” he says. “Our customer wants a design aesthetic that feels new and exciting – something they can wear in those environments without needing to ‘perform’ in them. There’s a human need to be outdoors in its simplest form, and our product is for people who feel that pull.”
This position – contemporary, design-led, yet still technical – is Uppervoid’s point of difference. Vis is particularly motivated by the stagnation he sees in many established outdoor brands. “Some functional requirements of the past can now be traded,” he explains. “Take a luminous search-and-rescue jacket. With today’s GPS-enabled phones and watches, that requirement isn’t strictly necessary. The Uppervoid consumer appreciates design as a genuine point of differentiation.”
Innovation at the textile level is core to the brand. Ninety percent of Uppervoid’s fabrics are developed in partnership with its supply mills, beginning with a detailed specification document outlining every performance requirement before weaving begins. The approach has already yielded two patents – including modifications to a yarn machine to enable copper-based yarns – and a wave of unique product features. The first 100% cotton insect-repellent T-shirt, and footwear soles made from coffee grounds and sugar cane, are just two examples.
For Vis, innovation must be paired with education: “A lot of current recycling methods make little sense. We want customers to make the right decisions from the start – and to build a long-term relationship not just with the garment, but with the brand. We’re creating a borderless, forward-thinking community.”
Uppervoid’s circular model places textile technology and craftsmanship at the forefront, resulting in apparel that is versatile, sophisticated and decidedly modern. “We started with three hardshell jackets – Base Model, S Model and Pro Model – and we still use that logic for most of our products today,” Vis says.
For more see uppervoid.com
