TECHNOLOGY
Meet Columbia Sportswear’s New Polar-Bear-Inspired Omni-Heat Arctic
How biomimicry and studying polar bears led to a revolutionary new way to keep people warm
BY: NANCY BOUCHARD
Think about being as comfortable in harsh conditions as the polar bear. Early humans developed several essential survival skills, with staying warm being right up there with finding food and water. People relied on natural materials like animal hides, furs, and feathers to protect themselves from cold, rain, and snow. Since then, innovations in materials have helped modern humans stay warm, dry and comfortable without the help of our furry friends. But top materials scientists still look back to nature for ideas to make better performing products. The polar bear is unique in its ability to withstand blistering cold water, snow and ice, day after day. Maybe it knows something we don’t.
Columbia Sportswear has long learned from nature. By using the principles of biomimicry—the study of strategies and solutions utilized by animals, birds and even insects—Columbia Sportswear has made big strides that have revolutionized how people stay warm, dry and more comfortable.
For the latest innovation in warmth, where better to turn than due north to the Arctic Circle, the land of the majestic polar bear. With what is now known as Omni-Heat Arctic, Columbia scientists unlocked one of the majestic beast’s great secrets. How polar bear fur works and, more importantly for us, how that “Polar Bear Effect” can be applied to keeping humans warm.
Columbia Sportswear has long learned from nature. By using the principles of biomimicry—the study of strategies and solutions utilized by animals, birds and even insects—Columbia Sportswear has made big strides that have revolutionized how people stay warm, dry and more comfortable.
For the latest innovation in warmth, where better to turn than due north to the Arctic Circle, the land of the majestic polar bear. With what is now known as Omni-Heat Arctic, Columbia scientists unlocked one of the majestic beast’s great secrets. How polar bear fur works and, more importantly for us, how that “Polar Bear Effect” can be applied to keeping humans warm.
Why Polar Bear Fur?
Columbia’s VP of Innovation, Haskell Beckham, admits to always thinking about ways to make things better. He knows that better materials and designs lead to superior apparel for those who spend time in unpredictable winter environments, and that high-performance jackets and pants can make the difference between a great day and a miserable one. Often, the biggest challenge for cold-weather winter enthusiasts is maintaining warmth. Typically, insulation relies on body heat to work. However, if you're not active and generating enough heat, traditional insulation might not provide the thermal protection you need.
“The trick with developing new technologies is to keep an open mind,” explains Haskell Beckham, Columbia Sportswear’s VP of Innovation. “Discoveries are made when you keep being observant and paying attention. And I was curious about how polar bears stay warm.” The result of this curiosity? Columbia’s all-new polar bear-Inspired fleece and outerwear: Omni-Heat Arctic.
“The trick with developing new technologies is to keep an open mind,” explains Haskell Beckham, Columbia Sportswear’s VP of Innovation. “Discoveries are made when you keep being observant and paying attention. And I was curious about how polar bears stay warm.” The result of this curiosity? Columbia’s all-new polar bear-Inspired fleece and outerwear: Omni-Heat Arctic.
Stay Warm Like a Polar Bear
The concept of Omni-Heat Arctic seems simple, but it took a lot of research and out-of-the-box thinking. Essentially, polar-bear-inspired Omni-Heat Arctic involves new layered material constructions for outerwear and fleeces designed to collect solar energy and convert it to heat for keeping your body warm. Here’s how the idea evolved.
Talking with the Experts
Beckham had been reading about polar bear fur as a part of his commitment to biomimicry in product design. “There are some disagreements about how the fur actually insulates the polar bear and I wanted to know more,” he says. He went to the Oregon Zoo to speak with their polar bear keepers and got connected with a whole network of polar bear experts. To save polar bears, we need to know more about them. Columbia’s foray into polar bear science could only help to raise awareness of these truly amazing animals.
Beckham knew that in order to unlock the mystery of polar bear fur, a pelt was needed. “For our research, we needed a polar bear pelt,” says Beckham. “And as they are classified as a vulnerable species, that’s not a simple ask.” He ultimately reached out to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, the oldest museum in the state, with a collection of more than 16 million artifacts. Beckham contacted Burke’s Mammalogy Collections Manager. “He said they had a big pelt we could borrow. I drove up to Seattle, and when I got to the museum, a professor was teaching a class about arctic mammals, including the polar bear, and their adaptations for living in such a cold environment. I just walked in, sat down and listened.”
Beckham carefully transported the polar bear pelt back to Columbia Sportswear’s research and development labs in Portland, Oregon. There, using techniques his team has created to measure the interplay of heat from the body and the sun, Beckham focused on things like thermal gradients and net heat flux.
Beckham studied the polar bear pelt with a solar simulator and was able to measure the interplay between solar radiation, transmittance of solar energy through the fur, and skin temperature.
What he discovered is that the fur and skin work to keep the polar bear warm, but not entirely in the way that has been popularized and spread across the internet. “The entire pelt doesn’t work the way many seem to think,” explains Beckham. “There’s a portion of the fur that is translucent. Solar energy goes through it, and then heat is absorbed by the pigment in the bear’s skin. There it is trapped close to the body by the overlying fur, basically acting as a biological greenhouse.” It was that greenhouse effect that Beckham knew he needed to recreate.
Beckham knew that in order to unlock the mystery of polar bear fur, a pelt was needed. “For our research, we needed a polar bear pelt,” says Beckham. “And as they are classified as a vulnerable species, that’s not a simple ask.” He ultimately reached out to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, the oldest museum in the state, with a collection of more than 16 million artifacts. Beckham contacted Burke’s Mammalogy Collections Manager. “He said they had a big pelt we could borrow. I drove up to Seattle, and when I got to the museum, a professor was teaching a class about arctic mammals, including the polar bear, and their adaptations for living in such a cold environment. I just walked in, sat down and listened.”
Beckham carefully transported the polar bear pelt back to Columbia Sportswear’s research and development labs in Portland, Oregon. There, using techniques his team has created to measure the interplay of heat from the body and the sun, Beckham focused on things like thermal gradients and net heat flux.
Beckham studied the polar bear pelt with a solar simulator and was able to measure the interplay between solar radiation, transmittance of solar energy through the fur, and skin temperature.
What he discovered is that the fur and skin work to keep the polar bear warm, but not entirely in the way that has been popularized and spread across the internet. “The entire pelt doesn’t work the way many seem to think,” explains Beckham. “There’s a portion of the fur that is translucent. Solar energy goes through it, and then heat is absorbed by the pigment in the bear’s skin. There it is trapped close to the body by the overlying fur, basically acting as a biological greenhouse.” It was that greenhouse effect that Beckham knew he needed to recreate.
The Polar Bear Effect
Beckham’s R & D resulted in materials that would allow in heat from the sun and then protect that heat below the jacket’s insulative layer to keep a person warm in frigid temperature. Just like with the translucent layer of polar bear fur drawing in and conserving the warmth of the sun, Beckham’s new materials absorbed solar heat and stored it next to skin. Beckham termed this the “polar bear effect.” The new materials used in the polar-bear-inspired Omni-Heat Arctic included shell fabrics, insulation layers, and fleece layers that mimic the translucent properties of polar bear fur that were coupled with solar-energy-absorbing lining fabrics or pigmented fleece layers.
A traditional winter jacket has a shell fabric, insulation and a lining fabric. If it’s a black jacket, it will absorb warmth from the sun at the outermost layer, the shell fabric, but that warmth can be quickly lost into a cold environment. Omni-Heat Arctic is completely different, explains Beckham. The Omni-Heat Arctic shell fabric transmits solar energy—and warmth—through the insulation to a solar-energy-absorbing lining fabric. Heat generated from the body still plays a role in keeping the jacket warm, but as we all know, humans, like polar bears, are not always on the move. Sometimes you need to be still, whether you’re sitting on a ski lift, fishing in cold temperatures, hunting, bird watching or snowmobiling. Body heat is still captured with Omni-Heat Arctic’s technology but there’s the ground-breaking bonus of added solar heat. “We call this solar heat gain,” says Beckham. “It is bonus warmth and can make a big difference in times where traditional warmth and insulation won’t do the trick.”
By combining traditional warmth with solar heat gain, your body requires less energy to generate heat on its own. This technology enhances the experience for anyone in a cold environment and is particularly valuable for people at high altitudes who may struggle to meet their metabolic needs for warmth. "We can quantitatively measure how many calories your body saves because you're getting them from the sun," says Beckham. "This translates into more available energy for activities such as hiking, fishing, hunting, skiing, or climbing at high altitudes."
A traditional winter jacket has a shell fabric, insulation and a lining fabric. If it’s a black jacket, it will absorb warmth from the sun at the outermost layer, the shell fabric, but that warmth can be quickly lost into a cold environment. Omni-Heat Arctic is completely different, explains Beckham. The Omni-Heat Arctic shell fabric transmits solar energy—and warmth—through the insulation to a solar-energy-absorbing lining fabric. Heat generated from the body still plays a role in keeping the jacket warm, but as we all know, humans, like polar bears, are not always on the move. Sometimes you need to be still, whether you’re sitting on a ski lift, fishing in cold temperatures, hunting, bird watching or snowmobiling. Body heat is still captured with Omni-Heat Arctic’s technology but there’s the ground-breaking bonus of added solar heat. “We call this solar heat gain,” says Beckham. “It is bonus warmth and can make a big difference in times where traditional warmth and insulation won’t do the trick.”
By combining traditional warmth with solar heat gain, your body requires less energy to generate heat on its own. This technology enhances the experience for anyone in a cold environment and is particularly valuable for people at high altitudes who may struggle to meet their metabolic needs for warmth. "We can quantitatively measure how many calories your body saves because you're getting them from the sun," says Beckham. "This translates into more available energy for activities such as hiking, fishing, hunting, skiing, or climbing at high altitudes."
For your next adventure into cold temperatures, stay warm like a polar bear with Columbia’s Omni-Heat Arctic jackets.