From the city streets to the quieter corners of the globe, we are product people creating high performance outerwear for all weathers, every setting and any wardrobe choice.
REASON FOR BEING
Originating from some of the UK’s rainiest city streets in Glasgow and Manchester, the brand was born from the desire for a product that we ourselves needed but couldn’t find. We are women playing out our lives for work and leisure under our beautiful and changeable British skies – for this, we wanted serious rainwear every day, an aesthetic for every setting (not just for climbing a hill) and cuts and fabrics which were comfortable and reflected who we were. As we continually strive to reduce waste and our impact on the planet, clothing needs to modify. Working for other global performance apparel brands for many years, we could see that clothing no longer needed to extend or segment our wardrobes for different lifestyle activities; they could work harder and do more using a lot less. This excites us here at Protected Species, creating truly fit for purpose products that transcend setting and activity by blending technology with aesthetic perfectly.
THE TEAM
From concept through to manufacture the brand is delivered by women who have been creating technical clothing for many years. Rebecca started her journey in performance clothing design and manufacture at The London College of Fashion where she completed her degree. From there her path saw her creating performance collections for global sports and outdoor brands and some of the top athletes in their field.
“I’m an active person with a love of the countryside but a lot of my time is spent commuting or travelling across cities, or sometimes countries, for work and pleasure and I needed rainwear which I felt good wearing in all these settings. I wanted the choice of shapes, colours and comfort in rainwear in the same way I would choose the rest of my wardrobe..so the journey began”.
MANUFACTURING DIFFERENTLY
It took two years to develop the vision to craft fabrics with the highest waterproof and breathability performance ratings into tailored, timeless designs and it couldn’t have been achieved without the right partners. The boutique factory that manufactures the Protected Species collection is owned by Carrie and without her the brand wouldn’t exist. Her expertise and genuine understanding, knowledge and love for this collection is essential as Rebecca and Carrie work tirelessly together to craft feminine shapes and trial new product features using a small specialised team who are experts in their field.
OUR SUSTAINABLE MILL
The innovative mill producing the fabrics for Protected Species is managed by Greta and is Oekotex certified which means every product is tested to ensure it is free from harmful chemicals and safe to wear. Her business is also blue sign certified – a standard received after a rigorous assessment of the mill’s complete supply chain. They test for hazardous chemicals and ensure strict adherence to stringent air, water and pollution control. And, they go further in their commitment for a greener future by publicly declaring their own carbon footprint.
“The name Protected Species is rooted in the definition of a protected or endangered species defined as being at risk due to the changing environment in which they live. Our journey has just begun, but our focus is on creating a different type of weather protective system for women, one which adapts and is suited to the changing environment we now live in, a woman’s lifestyle and the weather conditions”
THE COLLECTION
The collection is purposefully small. Each piece having a reason for being and produced only in small batches. With a timeless and season less design direction, our performance collection has been conceived to fuse function with desire to deliver extreme versatility and longevity. We strive to be the antithesis of fast fashion which comes and goes creating unnecessary waste to the planet, rather, crafting pieces which align with your wardrobe and have a purpose for being there – across the seasons and for many years to come.
OUR JOURNEY
As a small team growing our business organically, we do things slowly carefully listening and considering feed-back from our highly enthusiastic and loyal consumer base. Our collection of three women’s cycling jackets created in collaboration with Brompton Bikes captured our specialism in product development. Our products’ purposes aligned well and a fusion of laser cut technology, urban city style and cycling specific requirements were carefully blended into a range of waterproof cycling jackets for the modern female cycling commuter. Looking to the future we are working on new product types which sit with our outerwear pieces harmoniously. Always functional to perform in the outdoors and always using our signature colours, comfort credentials and design features to ensure that every piece launched can traverse every setting and lifestyle activity without compromise.
“Carrie’s highly skilled team consists largely of friends and family who live close to the factory, each of whom can complete the make up of a jacket from start to finish to an exquisite quality standard. This is unusual in today’s working practices and the bespoke aspirational quality this delivers has proven to be visible to our customers and long lasting. Our manufacturing partners are a part of our brand and without them we couldn’t do what we do”
Welcome to Performance Rainwear for Women
Join us on our journey and receive a 10% introductory discount on your first purchase