OROS today announced a series of Series A financings that it will use to “usher in a new era” for insulated outerwear.

With an infusion of over $ 14 million, OROS today launched an unprecedented innovation in technical outerwear it will hit market in 2022. While details of the new material remain unclear, the Portland-based outerwear brand has hinted that it aims to reduce the bulk of clothing in cold weather without sacrificing warmth.

” Since the first day, OROS has strived to transform insulating garments, using only the best materials and technologies – some of which were developed with exclusive access to NASA’s intellectual property and have been used for their most demanding applications in space ” , said OROS Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Product, Jeff Nash.

“I’ve been in the industry for decades and OROS does things completely differently. I firmly believe that we are on the cusp of something innovative: to recreate the category of insulation products for the industry.

OROS entered the outdoor scene in 2015 when it patented its SOLARCORE insulation, which used a novel material called airgel. Today, several outdoor brands use airgel in everything from parkas and shoes to laptop cases and more.

Today’s announcement seems to portend OROS’s next iteration of this technology. In a press release, the brand said the Series A funding – led by Elizabeth Street Ventures and Enlightenment Capital – would help it develop “industry-first insulation technology to transform advanced thermal materials into technical fabrics “.

OROS also said it would create “contoured silhouettes” to replace the “bulky layers typically associated with the warmest outerwear” that work in sub-zero temperatures.

The brand also announced that in conjunction with the new material, it will build a new state-of-the-art factory in the United States, outside of Boston. OROS has stated that it needs this new manufacturing facility to build custom machinery, equipment and engineering processes, all because this proprietary technology has never been manufactured in this particular form before.

OROS noted that the facility will convert recycled fibers into “new thermal performance fibers” and create garments with 3D knitting.

Stay tuned to GearJunkie, as we’ll be among the first to test and report on this new technology when more information becomes available.

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