Heat Reactive – An interview to Paola Rimondi

Hello Paola, first of all could you tell us something about yourself and what you do in Stone?

I've been working for a long time in the company and after several tasks, I started following fabric research and quality, more than 15 years ago, together with the product office. For us it is very important to combine research and quality, for sometimes choices made on a mere stylistic basis do not apply to production. My task is to develop the research, but also to evaluate the risks and the right application of materials.

Let's talk about Heat Reactive. When was it first introduced on the market?

Between 1988 and 1990, together with a Japanese company, we started working on a thermo-sensitive coating for fabrics: reacting to cold (Ice Jacket) and to heat (Heat Reactive).

So from a technical perspective it's a thermo-sensitive coating. How does it work exactly?

These coatings contain micro-encapsulated agents, whose molecules happen to rotate according to temperature variation. This modifies the light flow, affecting the colour of the fabric.

27° Celsius is the threshold for colour change. Was it your choice? How so?

The temperature variation can be chosen. We opted for 27° Celsius for Summer clothes (Heat Reactive) and 15° Celsius for winter garments (Ice Jacket).

Has this technology imposed any limitation to the style office? (I.e. the technology can be applied only with a certain colour, or the coating can be made only on a given fabric…)

There could be limitations, but so far we have achieved what we wished.

Is it a technology entirely developed by you, or have you started from something pre-existing, in order to achieve the final result?

Today we are reinterpreting a fabric from our archive, updated to present demands, produced by an Italian supplier.

How did the Heat Reactive technology meet the Stone garment? Was it a request of the style office, or on the other hand, the production office suggested the use of this technology?

We have a massive archive of garments and fabrics, many of which are an exclusive of ours. There we take inspiration for new ideas or ideas to rethink and update some of our cult pieces.

Is it a delicate garment? Does it require some special washing instructions?

Yes, these pieces are delicate and are accompanied by the right care instructions, but the colour-changing feature has been and still is time resistant.

Thank you very much for your time.
Enjoy your work.