Closer to What Matters: why awareness matters too
Our latest FW26 launch shares an important message.
By: Johanna Heimlicher
13.11.2026
At Odlo, reducing the impact of the products we make is an ongoing responsibility. We work on this through the choices we make around materials, how products are made and how long they last.
But we also believe we have another role to play: using our voice and our connection with the outdoor community to raise awareness about the places we love and the changes they are facing.
Our FW26 Hero Product Initiative, Closer to What Matters, is one way of doing that.
Created in collaboration with photographer Filip Zuan, the collection features Glatsch, his image of a frozen lake in the Engadin. It captures a striking contradiction in the outdoors: landscapes that appear immensely powerful can also be remarkably fragile.
A product is not climate action
We want to be clear about what this initiative is, and what it is not. Creating a limited-edition collection does not reduce our environmental impact. And buying a product is not, in itself, climate action. Our responsibility remains to work on the impact of what we make. Awareness does not replace that work. But we believe it can play a role alongside it. Products can carry stories. They are seen, worn and talked about. And that gives them the potential to start conversations that extend beyond the product itself.
From product to conversation
Imagine someone notices the print on a jacket and asks about it.
The answer begins with a frozen lake in the Engadin. But from there, the conversation can move to changing winters, to the fragility of Alpine environments and, perhaps, to organisations such as Protect Our Winters (POW) and their work mobilising the outdoor community around climate action.
Perhaps that conversation ends there.
Perhaps someone learns more about POW. Perhaps they talk about it with someone else. Perhaps, when they next have an opportunity to make their voice heard on climate policy, they remember why the issue matters to them.
We cannot claim where that conversation will lead. But we believe creating space for it has value.
That is also part of the thinking behind our Collective Voices approach: bringing different voices and perspectives into the conversation and using our platform to help them reach our outdoor community.
More than one kind of action
We need to keep working to reduce the impact of the products we make. At the same time, we can use our platform to help people connect with the bigger challenges facing the places where we move, explore and find freedom.
A collection cannot protect a glacier. A print cannot stop a winter from changing.
But it can make someone pause, ask a question and start a conversation.
And sometimes, paying closer attention to what matters is where change begins.