Hurley Debuts New Performance Fabric
Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Hurley International called in the big guns when developing Phantom, its new high-performance boardshort fabric. The lightweight, super durable, quick-drying fabric was initially developed by a resource of Nike, Hurley’s parent company, for professional and Olympic swimmers.
“We felt boardshorts are over-built. They’re really heavy, and I don’t think anyone has ever worn out a boardshort,” said Bruce Moore, Hurley’s manager of wetsuits and innovation. “We approached the Phantom project from a performance angle.”
A team of designers, developers and athletes tooled with the fabric, the exact provenance and content of which is a closely guarded secret, to make it work for boardshort construction. The project had its challenges as the team was looking for the stretch qualities of a knit in a woven fabric.
“Typically with wovens with a high Lycra count, fabric can have a crepe-y feel and will hold sand and salt and become very heavy,” Moore explained. “Phantom feels and looks like a regular woven but has unbelievable stretch and doesn’t retain water.” The fabric boasts more than 80 percent stretch. Industry standard for a stretch-woven boardshort fabric is typically two to five percent, Moore said.
The result of all that stretch packed into a barely-there fabric is that surfers have complete freedom of movement and no extra weight dragging them down. “The main feedback from our athletes who tested Phantom is that they felt like they had nothing on,” Moore said—hence, the name.
Hurley designers developed two no-frills boardshort silhouettes, “Advantage” and “Black 32,” to showcase the Phantom fabric. The Advantage uses the Phantom fabric in all panels, and the Black 32 uses the Phantom Fabric in key flex panels. “We kept the features to a minimum, but construction had to be different because of the high stretch,” Moore explained. Available in limited quantities and in only two color ways, Advantage and Black 32 wholesale for $28 to $35 and will be marketed toward elite surfers through tight distribution channels. Huntington Surf & Sport and Jack’s Surf Shop in Huntington Beach, Calif., and Killer Dana in Dana Point, Calif., will carry the shorts when they debut for Spring 2007.
Hurley has high hopes for Phantom. “We’re the first brand to come to market with this fabric—and nobody else in the surf industry is using it,” Moore said. “We see it changing the entire boardsports industry.” For now, Hurley will limit its use of Phantom to two boardshorts, but the company hints that it will find other interesting uses for the fabric in the future.
—Erin Barajas
