Website: www.paramo.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/paramoclothing/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ParamoClothing
Páramo produces high performing, sustainable and ethically manufactured outdoor clothing for mountain professionals and outdoor enthusiasts. Using the innovative Nikwax Analogy® waterproof fabric system, Páramo provides unrivalled comfort and effective moisture management for a variety of outdoor activities in all weather conditions, without use of fragile membrane technologies or harmful PFC treatments.
Páramo have specialised in the use of Nikwax Analogy fabrics since the company’s foundation in 1992. The founder and owner of Nikwax®, Nick Brown, set up Páramo Directional Clothing. In the 1980s, disillusioned with the performance of conventional outdoor clothing, Nick designed an innovative fabric based upon the principles by which mammals stay dry and comfortable, as their fur pumps water away from the body faster than it is pushed in. The first Nikwax ‘directional’ fabrics were born.
Nick tested his fabrics in a vegetation zone high in the Colombian Andes, known as the Páramo, which experiences exceptional rainfall and cold temperatures. He realised he had found a system that enabled him to stay dry from both outside and inside, even when working very hard and regardless of temperature or humidity.
UK outdoor instructors and Search & Rescue Teams were the first to appreciate fully Páramo clothing. Today, such professionals remain the focus of Páramo development. By satisfying the requirements of mountain guides, members of Mountain Rescue Teams and expeditionary workforces such as the British Antarctic Survey, Páramo can ensure that all outdoor enthusiasts gain maximum benefit from new fabric developments and functional garment design.
In January 2016, Páramo became the first outdoor company to sign up to the Greenpeace Detox commitment, leading the outdoor industry in ensuring hazardous, persistent pollutants are excluded from textile production. As a result, in May 2016, Páramo was announced the winner of the ‘Bold Move’ category in the prestigious Guardian Sustainable Business Awards 2016, recognising the importance and impact of the British clothing company’s sign-up to the Detox Commitment.