eWool Heating Up
Alain Desmeules, founder and CEO of eWool, uses his knowledge of cold weather to design his products.
By Christopher Cogley
eWool’s line of heated clothing includes socks and vests, all designed to provide instant warmth.
Alain Desmeules, Founder and CEO of the premium heated garment company eWool, grew up in Canada. While many of us in the U.S. think we know cold, the cold he grew up in is a different kind of frigid. One that’s difficult for most of us to comprehend.
“My mom had to rub Vaseline on our faces to keep any of our exposed skin from getting frostbite,” he said. “That’s just how we lived. As Canadians, we go outside. Even when it’s that cold. It’s part of our way of life.”
That intimate knowledge of what it feels like to be that cold is one of the reasons why Desmeules felt the need to break into the heated garment industry after pursuing a successful career in engineering.
“My passion for heated clothing came about because I saw people suffering in the cold, and I knew it didn’t have to be that way,” he said. “When the concept of heated clothing became a reality in 2010, I knew that was going to be my mission – to help people who have to be in the cold to be safer and more comfortable.”
Desmeules founded eWool in 2013 and immediately started using his engineering background to improve the technology of the heated garment industry that was still in its infancy. For every technological breakthrough made, and each new patent filed, Desmeules had one primary objective – “The goal is to create a product that works so well that when you push a button, it immediately starts generating enough heat to protect you from the elements.”
This concept was especially important because the customers eWool was targeting weren’t the casual consumers on a weekend ski trip, but rather law enforcement and other professionals who spend hours in the bitter cold every day for six months or more of the year.
“When you’re that cold all day, it takes away your ability to function. And when you need to be at your best to perform and stay safe, you need something that’s convenient, efficient, and reliable. That’s what we’re trying to achieve,” Desmeules said. “So that with the push of a button, the environment they need to work in is no longer hostile, and they can stay safe.”
To make sure they were meeting that objective, eWool products have been tested in some of the harshest conditions possible from law enforcement departments across Canada to movie crews filming in frigid conditions and professional in Quebec where the eWool products can often mean the difference between hazardous conditions and comfortable ones.
Despite how it might seem, though, Desmeules is very clear on one particular point.
“We are not a garment company. We are a technology company.”
Ever since the company was founded, it was the technology of heated clothing that Desmeules and his team have worked to improve and perfect, not the clothing itself. After more than a decade of innovating and testing and innovating some more, eWool has perfected that technology to the point where it’s ready to take it to the next phase.
“Our goal now is to take that technology of heated clothing that we’ve perfected and partner with established garment companies to make it easier to get that technology out to more people who can benefit from it,” Desmeules said. “Instead of garment companies having to spend time and money trying to develop heated clothing technology on their own, they can take advantage of the countless hours of research and innovation we’ve done. We combine our strength with their strength and everyone benefits, especially the people who will use the product.”
Because of the success of eWool’s products throughout the last 10 years, there’s a loyal following of people who are already familiar with eWool and recognize it as a premium brand in heated clothing. This presents a unique cross-branding opportunities for garment companies who want to offer their existing customers another layer of protection against the cold.
One of the main reasons that Desmeules is eager to form these strategic partnerships is so eWool can continue to concentrate on what it does best.
“The purpose of our company is to push the technology to its limits. We want to make the technology function as it’s supposed to efficiently and effortlessly so that the technology itself disappears and you feel like you’re just wearing a regular garment.”
Smart phones. Smart cars. Smart homes. It stands to reason that smart clothing is next in line. And that’s exactly what eWool is working to make a reality. (ewool.com)
