Faherty partners with Huckberry for poncho

This fall Faherty has joined forces with Huckberry to produce their Exclusive Zuma Haze Tech Poncho in a Chankillo Horizon. CEO Mike Faherty has been longtime friends with Andy Forch, one of Huckberry's founders, and thought it was the perfect time to collaborate with the brand.

Priced at 248 dollars, ​the styling is based on late 70s/early-80s outdoor technical clothing, with a pattern layout that is a mix of Southwestern saltillo, overlaid with a primitive Navajo-style motif. It's not your average poncho though, but, rather, done with Faherty's signature swim fabric, which was no easy picnic for Mike to create.

"It was a long journey. Prior to founding Faherty I spent almost a decade working on RRL and really tried to be a sponge and learn as much as possible about the fabric development process," he said. "I made the decision about 6 years ago to launch Faherty and focus on sustainable fabrics. I spent a bunch of time researching the possibilities with recycled materials and the technology that allowed plastic bottles to be turned into yarn. After about a year and a half of testing, we developed a blend of recycled polyester (derived from plastic bottles) with cotton and lycra. The recycled polyester is extremely quick drying and lightweight, while the cotton adds softness and the lycra adds a stretch performance component."

For Mike, the collaboration was all about the vintage. For style inspiration, he went through an archive of outerwear designs and studied 1970s pullover from old outdoor brands, which were inspired my military anoraks.

Mike was motivated to do a poncho because he's been obsessed with the baja poncho since he was a little kid. He wanted to create one that was suitable for all the elements from rain to snow.

As for his target customer for this piece, Mike said, "We aimed to create something that would appeal to the Huckberry guy, but was different than anything else he owned. It's such a unique piece, so it's for a guy that appreciates something that's a bit more novelty. He may live in jeans and a tee, but wants something new to throw on over it. It's also a guy that really appreciates quality and pieces that can live in his closet for a long time."

photo:courtesy of Faherty