A classic trickle-down effect. Although definitely not a trickle in.

We were proud to win the Sustainability Award last year for Seawastex. Having put so much work into the recycled face fabrics, membranes and processes behind it, we wanted to start using it more widely. The more we use, the more discarded fishing nets are recovered and recycled into useful material. Something of a win-win.

The Vertigo was an obvious place to go next. It’s been a mainstay of the Palm range for years: a straightforward, everyday whitewater jacket designed to keep you dry without breaking the bank. Bringing Seawastex to the Vertigo takes the material from our higher-end gear into a jacket used by a much wider range of paddlers.

Rather than just changing the fabric, we took the opportunity to rethink a few other things we’d learnt over years of selling the jacket.
Neoprene seals have come a long way and now offer a genuine alternative to latex, particularly for comfort and ease of use. So we brought them to both the neck and wrists. We kept the twin waist for spraydeck compatibility, but tidied the outer and reduced the weight of the inner so the jacket works better across a wider range of paddling.

Finally, some new colours. Bold red for visibility, or Pine for the full outdoorsy look.

The result is still very much a Vertigo. An accessible, everyday whitewater jacket that does what it needs to do, now made with the same Seawastex recycled fabric technology as our highest-performance gear.

For us, getting better materials into more of the gear we make is the next step.