We were always fascinated by the beauty of different textiles. When you see such a detailed picture of a structure of some amazing fabric, you can definitely understand the whole world of exploration and development behind its creation.

And you are just mesmerized by the beauty of it. So we started our THM MACROSHOTS editorial series, where we explore the complexity, depth, and beauty of different fabrics, textiles, materials, and hardware through the macro lens.

This time we were lucky enough to get our hands on and explore 2 rare pieces from HAVEN's FW22 collection.

The Canadian high-end retailer has already earned its reputation as a premium project with a specialised approach to brand selection and visual presentation. The team of HAVEN brand of the same name follows the same principles: meticulous attention to detail, use of time-tested silhouettes with modern design solutions, high-tech and quality fabrics, as well as impeccable branded visual presentation of their collections - all this puts the brand on the same playing field with products from the leaders in functional and technical clothing.

In our Macroshots review, we explored the Scope Jacket, made of GORE-TEX INFINIUM™ WINDSTOPPER® 3L Nylon with PrimaLoft® Scarab insulation, and the Interval Coat, made of GORE-TEX 3L Nylon.

In addition to the illustrations, HAVEN's Creative Director and Co-Founder Arthur Chmielewski shared with us a brief history of their clothing brand, the collaboration with GORE-TEX, their new Field Testing Program initiative and the future of HAVEN.

[We see HAVEN gaining a lot of ground recently with your new eponymous brand. What was the initial idea as a retailer to create your own brand with that technical focus, and what's the positioning of the brand on the market now?]

AC: When we started HAVEN in 2006, my brother Daniel and I always aspired to create our own HAVEN products. It was always in our plans but we just didn't have the expertise needed to do it properly in the early years of the company. It was about 4-5 years ago when the business was at a good place, where we felt comfortable shifting our focus and resources toward our own product development. The learning curve was steep, so we brought on a small design team to help bring our vision to life. It became a natural progression for us to take all of the combined knowledge we've accumulated over the years in brand development and manufacturing to start building our own products as a team with a point of view unique to our aesthetic, lifestyle, and environment.

We've been telling other brand stories for years and it was time for us to tell our own. Over the years we developed a very loyal community who supported us as we grew, and they continue to be customers who help support us globally to this day.

When most people think about technical or functional apparel, they often think of Outdoor brands. That's not us. Living in the Pacific Northwest it's natural for us to spend a lot of time doing outdoor activities, but realistically we're not climbing any mountains anytime soon. We spend most of our time commuting, traveling, or on the go. On the opposite end of the spectrum, "fashion" is cool and all, but it's not typically rooted in functionality, it's often not very purposeful. For anyone that knows us, we don't take things too seriously. During Paris Fashion Week you're more likely to find us at the pub with some pints of beer than trying to be in the mix. A lot of us on the team are getting older as well, and a few of us have kids, so the majority of the time we're just trying to navigate everyday life, trying to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible unscathed. Don't get me wrong, being in this industry we still like cool clothes, but we don't fuss about them, and we're not precious about how we treat them or wear them either. They have to be practical, comfortable, high quality, and make you look good and feel confident at the same time, but you shouldn't have to think too hard about it. We're rooted in lifestyle, and that is what differentiates us and what makes us who we are. We ourselves are the customer, and our aim was to create products that speak to us as the end user and make them to the best of our abilities. That's what we're trying to do.

From a utilitarian standpoint, living in Canada, in particular, Vancouver, causes us to face extreme weather conditions unique to our environment. It rains almost 50% of the year here, and we often face blistering cold double-digit sub-zero winters out east. This requires us to wear garments that are practical and often technical in nature.

So though we draw inspiration from performance outdoors apparel, military and workwear, we apply those same understandings that drive innovation and functional improvement to what we feel are relevant to what we wear day in and day out.

We make use of high-spec materials and construction techniques such as GORE-TEX, Primaloft, Polartec, and seam sealing, but we also make use of some of the world's oldest and finest natural materials and craftsmanship techniques such as Loro Piana, Merino Wools, Cashmeres, Suvin Cottons, Canadian Hand Knits and much more. These are all time-tested materials and techniques that have been around for ages, and they're all really good for their specific purpose. We are not bound to only use performance materials because that's just not how we dress. This intersection of performance technology and modern craftsmanship is the delicate balance that makes us unique and allows us the freedom to incorporate the sometimes polarizing aesthetics into one vision.

[With this season you introduce your GORE-TEX partnership, upping your game 'GUARANTEED TO KEEP YOU DRY' range. As we know, for brands to work with GORE-TEX officially it's kinda hard since the licensing is very strict, standards are high, etc. How difficult is it to start working with GORE-TEX nowadays, and why did you prefer it to other manufacturers?]

We've always considered GORE-TEX to be the pinnacle when it came to innovative technical materials. We've been users of their products for many years and are huge fans.

When we set out to develop our HAVEN brand they were at the top of the list of material suppliers that we wanted to work with. For their particular application, there was nobody else that came close to having the breadth of material offerings and expertise as them, so when the partnership was sealed, it helped pave the way for what the future of the brand could look like. I don't think that could have been done with any other partner in the industry.

It was a long process. We approached GORE-TEX almost four years ago when we began to develop the early foundations for our own HAVEN products, but we weren't quite ready yet in terms of volume and manufacturing capabilities. Their licensing process is very strict, so it took several years of back-and-forth discussions and planning. They consider us a brand equity partner as we have a keen understanding of the North American and Global lifestyle market. From a manufacturing standpoint, it also required us to locate and develop relationships with manufacturing facilities that also meet GORE-TEX's strict licensing criteria. Through this process, we're very fortunate to have met some great manufacturing partners in both Canada and Japan.

GORE-TEX as a company is constantly evolving and has a continuous forward-thinking approach to textile development whether that is by creating new materials with different user needs in mind, or just improving upon their supply chain to make their products more sustainable. We share similar values as them, and when the relationship finally came to be it was one of mutual respect, understanding, and admiration of each other's strengths as partners.

[GORE-TEX Infinium line is the new fabrics family which was first introduced in 2018 as the next step for the WINDSTOPPER fabrics. We see a lot of the pieces you offer with that fabric in your new collection. What benefits of this line do you see for your brand?]

The main driver in using GORE-TEX Infinium is that it provides us with a wide range of versatility in its use cases, something not always possible in the GORE-TEX 'Guaranteed To Keep You Dry' textile offerings. It gives a bigger toolbox to tap into, with offerings such as WINDSTOPPER Soft shells, Fleeces, and 3Layer and 2Layer textiles that can be applied to a variety of different types of styles, that don't necessarily need to be seam sealed to maximize their performance attributes. We often draw inspiration from sportswear, workwear, and military archetypes, so this allows us to showcase and explore the breadth and versatility of GORE-TEX performance technologies within a new context. From a practicality standpoint, you don't always need to have a fully seam-sealed jacket, you'll need that when you are getting hit with a downpour, but 90% of the time, when it's just drizzling out or just cold and windy Infinium WINDSTOPPER is often preferred by us.

GORE-TEX Infinium also has fewer manufacturing constraints and allows us much more design freedom. Our Infinium Windstopper garments don't need to be fully seam sealed, so this removes many of the design and manufacturing constraints that we'd face with our GORE-TEX 'Guaranteed to Keep you Dry' products. We make the vast majority of our GORE-TEX Infinium products in a factory that is located only five minutes from our design studio here in Vancouver, BC. This allows us to work closely with the factory throughout our entire development process and brings us very close to the product at all stages from prototyping at our studio, to working with pattern makers for sampling to the end product coming off of the production line.

Our GORE-TEX 'Guaranteed To Keep You Dry' fabrics are manufactured in a small-scale factory in Okayama, Japan so the development lead times stretch anywhere from 12-18 months in advance. Infinium allows us to iterate much more quickly.

With whatever materials we end up using, we focus on creating the highest quality products we can for our customers, and we want those products to be able to withstand the test of time.

[One of the highlights of this drop is the Spectre Jacket & Interval Coat made of GORE-TEX 3L 70D Pro shell. Amazing construction and the highest fabrics specs, but there is a continually asked question from the audience: do we actually need those high-performance expensive fabrics for daily use? What's your take on this?]

From our years of experience handling a variety of different GORE-TEX products, our team has always felt that GORE-TEX Pro is the ultimate in protection and durability. Given the opportunity, we strive to use the highest quality ingredients in order to create our garments. We also naturally gravitate towards the tough and robust hand feel of GORE-TEX Pro, it gives you that feeling that you are wearing something indestructible.

The use of GORE-TEX Pro can also be a bit subjective to some and it often can go into a debate. Internally we often use the analogy of a Land Rover as an example. You won't necessarily be using all the off-road capabilities all the time, but predominantly for everyday commuting, but knowing you have the capabilities if you need them provides you peace of mind. When you are faced with an adverse situation in the most extreme conditions you are not constrained to think twice, you just go. Your clothing should act in a similar manner, it should remove all constraints allowing you to do whatever you desire, whenever you want, to the best of your abilities while being as comfortable as possible. In the end, we make clothing for everyday use, so whatever you put on to walk out the door, should make you feel confident in how you look, but also in your ability to tackle your day head-on with whatever the world might throw at you.