Home → Blog → Resources → Made for the Mountains – 7MESH x Polygiene
Based in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, 7mesh is one of the most exciting outdoor apparel brands in the Americas. With an eye-catching pedigree (7mesh’s founders left Arc’teryx to start a company that did things differently), the brand designs and manufactures high-performance clothing that’s inspired by the adventurous life. Whether it’s practical cargo bibs for all-day biking adventures, trail shorts made for an end-of-day hot lap on your local trails, or lightweight but hardwearing hiking trousers, 7mesh apparel excels in all conditions and any terrain.
To top it off, 7mesh is also a valued Polygiene partner. So, to learn more about the brand, its designs, and its use of Polygiene technology, we sat down for a quick chat with 7mesh’s Marketing Director, Aidan Oliver.
7mesh is based in Squamish, in British Columbia, Canada. We love the area and its beauty, but there’s a dark side to its history. British Columbia is home to 34 distinct indigenous languages, all of which are endangered. This is a direct result of decades of government policy designed to erase indigenous cultures
Over the last century, anthropologists have worked closely with members of the Squamish Nation to document their spoken language. This has resulted in the development of a writing system, in which Squamish is written Sk̲wx̲wú7mesh. We adopted 7mesh to give thanks for our location, in recognition of the area’s true history, and to demonstrate our commitment to progressing indigenous issues in Canada. If you want to learn more about this aspect of what we do, I would recommend checking out our Aspiring Allies page.
Squamish is at the heart of everything we do. It’s a part of the country that receives the full spectrum of weather, from hot summers to wet, cold winters. The geography means you can go from sea level to 2000+ metres in the same day. And our products are designed to excel in this environment – they are made to perform in tough conditions and all weather, from Howe Sound all the way up to the glaciers.
We pride ourselves on doing things a little differently. We don’t follow the standard product design conventions, and we’re not beholden to any norms – we don’t want the way other people do things to determine our own process. Our team is driven to solve real-life problems, rather than create products for crowded categories where a need is already met. Perhaps most importantly, we have a real passion for what we do, and are in a position to combine that with hard-earned experience and expertise. All of this really shines through in the advanced fabrics we use.
Polygiene has made a name for itself and is highly respected in the performance textiles sector, so we were aware of them for a while before we integrated the technology into any products. The outdoor apparel industry can be a pretty small place at times, so there are a few connections between Polygiene and 7mesh employees. Currently, we use Polygiene StayFresh in our 7mesh Roam collection. It’s ideal for our long- and short-sleeve trail shirts.
Polygiene StayFresh’s odor protection is perfect for activewear used out on the mountain. It means you can hit up your favourite trails all day long, grab a drink with friends at the end of it all, and not worry about smelling. Then do it all over again the next day. Polygiene StayFresh makes our designs more versatile, practical and easy to maintain. With the Roam collection specifically, it also helped us solve a problem we had been obsessing over for a while – how to create a polyester tech tee that wicks sweat but stays fresh.
It was so easy! Polygiene coordinated with our fabric mill, and the mill took care of everything else. No fuss, no problems.
I think we both believe in making high-output activities more sustainable by creating durable products that stand the test of time. We need to be taking care of the outdoor environments we spend so much of our time in. And that means creating products that are built to last. Polygiene StayFresh enables mountain bikers to wash their 7mesh trail shirts less often, without having to worry about unpleasant smells. That means they last longer, 7mesh customers get more wear out of them, and we’re consuming and discarding less.
The Polygiene team would like to say a big thank you to Aidan for taking the time to speak with us. If you want to learn more about the brand’s Polygiene-treated apparel, check out the 7mesh Roam Collection.
Andreas Grevlind
Head of Digital Marketing & Brand
