We spoke with Hurley VP of Innovation Bruce Moore at Outdoor Retailer about Hurley’s new Phantom Protect jacket line, which is part of Hurley’s Protect functional outerwear series.
Its pinnacle jacket in the new line was displayed all over at the Outdoor Retailer Show and attracting a lot of eyes.
The Phantom Protect slicker, inspired by a Coast Guard jacket, ties back to boardshorts
Bruce said right now there is a lot of entry snow outerwear and quick fashion pieces in the market, and the Protect line is Hurley’s answer to creating premium outerwear for surfers.
It’s not built for snowboarding. It’s designed more to keep surfers dry and warm while travelling through different elements, he said.
It also draws on the success of Hurley’s Phantom Boardshorts to tell a winter story from Hurley.
The two main pieces in the Fall 2012 line are the Phantom Protect hoodie and The Phantom Protect slicker.
The Phantom Protect slicker features a three layer waterproof breathable fabric and construction, sealed and taped seams, and is “inspired by functional, utilitarian Coast Guard jackets,” said Moore. It retails for $400.
The Phantom Protect hoodieThe Phantom hoodie retails for $160 and uses an insulating, three-layer flame laminated foam composite inside, which is a technology developed by Nike.
Hurley also added features like stripes and drawstrings from the boardshorts line on the jackets.
“We wanted to take some success and momentum from summer (Phantom boardshorts) and keep telling out story through winter,” said Moore.
The line was debuting for Fall 2012 at Outdoor Retailer, and Moore said the Protect series already features a few other functional fleece layers and accessories as well.
Next year they will expand the Phantom line to include more technical jackets and a new storm shell.
Because of price, Moore said the jackets will mostly sell to core specialty shops. “We wanted to bring something that will drive kids back to specialty stores so they can get more premium product,” he said.
“We are seeing technical brands starting to be more popular so we feel there’s an appetite for premium functional product within our consumer.”
