West Marine Press Releases

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (JANUARY 19, 2010) – West Marine, the world’s largest retailer of boating supplies and accessories, is introducing innovative new foul weather gear by Henri Lloyd – the Blue Eco jacket and accompanying bibs.  Partnering with the Japanese company Teijin (specializing in developing environment-friendly products and services) and using ECO CIRCLE™ (Teijin’s revolutionary fiber-to-fiber recycling system) Henri Lloyd produced its first-ever entirely sustainable foul weather gear through its own Blue Eco “infinite-loop” recycling system.  The Blue Eco foul weather gear is available exclusively at West Marine. 

“Under the ‘infinite-loop’ system, customers can return worn-out Blue Eco products to Henri Lloyd for recycling” said Chuck Hawley, Vice President of Product Information, West Marine. “The gear is sent back to the factory to be recycled into raw material.  The raw material is then converted into new, highly durable polyester fibers and engineered into a fabric that is used to manufacture new Blue Eco products.”

The Blue Eco Foul Weather Gear is windproof and waterproof, lightweight and breathable and has all the high quality design features associated with Henri Lloyd technical garments. The Blue Eco Jacket is stylish and well-cut, yet functional with outstanding features including articulated elbows/underarms for excellent range of motion, adjustable cuffs, storm flap with drainage channel that covers a two-way non-corrosive zip and an adjustable hem, fleece-lined collar, inner security pocket and two large fleece-lined hand-warmer pockets. The rollaway, hi-vis hood is fully adjustable for width and height, with one-handed shockcord aperture adjusters. The design of the jacket offers room for generous layering, a breathable liner and outer DWR (Durable Water Repellent) finish to transport moisture to the outside to help stay dry.

The Blue Eco collection is manufactured in a large range of sizes from XS-XXL.

Customers can visit West Marine’s booth at the Miami International Boat Show, center pod lower level, or online via westmarine.com to learn more about this foul weather gear, or any of West Marine’s 50,000 other product offerings.

ABOUT WEST MARINE
West Marine, the country’s largest specialty retailer of boating supplies and accessories, has more than 300 company-operated stores located in 38 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and two franchised stores located in Turkey. Our call center and Internet channels offer customers approximately 50,000 products and the convenience of exchanging catalog and Internet purchases at our store locations.  Our Port Supply division is one of the largest wholesale distributors of marine equipment serving boat manufacturers, marine services, commercial vessel operators and government agencies.  For more information on West Marine's products and store locations, or to start shopping, visit www.westmarine.com or call 1-800-BOATING (1-800-262-8464).