My old friend Abe Burmeister and his business partner Tyler lauched their line of high tech bikewear this month. Outlier: Tailored Performance Clothing for Cycling in the City. Their first product is the OG Pant 4Season Black Lotus What makes them special?

The base 4Season fabric is a blend made in Switzerland by Schoeller Textiles. A durable tech fabric with a great handfeel worthy of our old school New York garment district construction. It stretches with you as you ride your bike, but drapes like a pro as you walk indoors. It’s abrasion resistant and wicks moisture away from your body. In light rain, it’s water resistant and raindrops bead up and roll away. In a downpour? Well… nothings perfect. It’ll saturate eventually. But once you are in the clear, it’ll dry out in no time (10-20, usually.)

As for the Lotus, that’s our name for what the Schoeller people call “nanosphere” or “self-cleaning”. It’s a nano tech fabric treatment modeled after the surface of a lotus leaf, no lie. What that means is that the surface is a fractal with no repeating surface structure upon which oil or stains can bond. We’ve been known to pour coffee and red wine straight onto our pants. Usually it just rolls off. Occasionally a bit might actually dry down, but it too will roll right off if you splash some water over it.

We aren’t too comfortable with that phrase “self-cleaning” but this is some pretty nice fabric. It wears harder and needs way less cleaning than your average fabric. It’s extremely comfortable, resists wrinkles, fading and odors too (just a bonus). In other words, a seriously versatile fabric for all 4 seasons.

To top it off, it’s made to the bluesign environmental standards of Switzerland. The fabric is woven and dyed in a manner which minimizes waste, reduces emissions and avoids the toxic chemicals common in much of the textile industry. In other words, it’s a start, and we at Outlier are committed to pushing our suppliers to do even more and rewarding those that follow through.