Goldwin SS24 Is A Pinnacle Expression of High-Tech Minimalism

Since being founded in Toyama, Japan as a knitwear company in 1951, Goldwin has channeled the adventurous spirit and majestic beauty of the Tateyama mountain range in all it does — from creating the Japanese Olympic Team’s uniforms in 1964 to crafting some of the world’s most advanced alpine apparel (besides being a brand, it’s also a manufacturing company that holds the Japanese licenses for The North Face, Helly Hansen and others) and now, releasing its brand-new SS24 collection.

The brand’s near-75-year history is encapsulated elegantly through garments that are heavy on tech and light on logo treatments. These pieces prefer to let their quality speak instead of covering themselves with loud branding, a “show, don’t tell” approach rooted in the company’s heritage. “[Goldwin's design policy] is influenced by Japanese humanism, how we, the Japanese people think and act,” says Takuya Kinami, a Goldwin GM who’s been with the company since 2009. “There are plenty of special details for those who want to look for them, but they’re not placed front and center [like a logo would be] … we aim to look deeper and find appreciation in a product for how it’s worn.”

Across the SS24 line, this ethos is communicated through a veritable material medley. There are outdoor staples like GORE-TEX and Pertex, but also earth-conscious creations built from sustainable wool, bamboo fibers and even Kodenshi, a bespoke Japanese fiber that uses ultra-fine ceramic material into a nylon and polyurethane blend to help regulate a wearer’s body temperature. These materials are spread across three key design categories in the collection: outdoor, athletic and lifestyle, each displayed across an extensive lookbook shot by Kodai Ikemitsu and styled by Yuto Inagaki with creative assistance provided by Ryuji Nishikawa.

Goldwin created the outdoor segment of the collection to be versatile. The garments needed to work for any number of – from scaling the Tateyama Mountains in a blizzard, to commuting across the city on a rainy day. Most pieces in this segment of the collection make use of either Pertex’s water-resistant yet breathable ShieldAir technology (the breezy Pertex Shieldair Mountaineering Jacket) or GORE-TEX (the GORE-TEX Aqua Tect 3L Jacket), feature seamless patterns for ease of movement and utilize strategically-placed vents for breathability.

Meanwhile, the athletic segment of the collection is informed by the brand’s partnership with ultramarathoner Dylan Bowman. Trail runners and ultramarathoners have a unique set of requirements for their gear: it needs to strike the perfect balance between the lightweight performance and speed of standard running gear and the rugged, run-through-anything nature of hiking equipment. To this end, the athletic apparel in Goldwin SS24 makes use of lighweight outwear like the Zip-Up Floating Wind Shell Jacket, fast-drying T-shirts and Woven Utility Shorts that provide an indirect nod to Goldwin’s early days as a knitwear company.

The final piece of this three-headed performance-meets-casual Cerberus is the lifestyle offerings, which Goldwin uses to bring its ski technology into everyday life. Items like the GORE-TEX Blanker Coat offer a slightly more formal look without diminishing the free-spirited ethos that they’re based on, while jackets and pants like the Wool + Bamboo 2B jacket and Pertex Shieldair One Tuck pants offer a classic look that’s upgraded with plenty of performance technology. Though it bridges the gap between the streets and the trails, Kinami doesn’t view it as gorpcore. “We’re definitely aware of the gorpcore trend, but we don’t want to lean on it — we want to make sure that we’re a brand that overcomes the barrier between performance and fashion, targeting people who look deeper and appreciate a product for how it’s worn.”

“Our product development isn’t just for our own advancement as a brand,” he notes as the conversation draws to a close. “It’s to create garments for our customers that help them optimize their lifestyle.”

The Goldwin SS24 collection is available now via Goldwin’s webstore, as well as its network of global stockists.