This project was passed on to my via inline design - Maggie (the snow designer) and the forge made Hiromi a pair of custom bibs well before my time here. Turns out he shreds a lot in the winter and after repairing the bibs once last year (double taping the seams to ensure waterproofness). Timing was perfect, we just finished up a bi yearly innovation design review for the Board of Directors and I had a blank pallet for new projects. I dove right in.

• How do you approach building a piece like this?

I approach all my R&D projects the same - start with what you are solving for, look and study the constraints then start. I began by asking Hiromi a few questions in regards to the current bibs, what he liked about them, areas he saw improvement IE fit, how it performs/interact with the chair, pockets, what is he putting in them, a few more photos of the mono ski, specifically the angle his legs sit at when he rides.  (I sent a quick photo I pulled from the internet for him to referecne) Also I asked what inspired him to gather his aesthetics and design ideas.  See below for his comments as well as he sent back a load of photos with I’ll send your way.


I began with the angle of the knees on the mono ski, to me we had to rethink the shape of a pair of pants, designed not for walking, but rather sitting with high knees.  I copied that angle and taped it on my ruler to always keep that in mind. I found myself sitting with my knees up on my chair trying to mimic the position. When designing, I always put myself in the users mindset as much as possible. To me, the shape was where we had the biggest opportunity to impact the performance  and really tailor these pants to Hiromi end use.  I was stoked.


Shaping a garment around a body or mannequin using basic cotton muslin is called draping. It is used to really sculpt the material by pinning, cutting and slashing areas to shift the volume accordingly. I began by draping. The process from draping then going back and updating the pattern, cutting sewing another sample only to remark, pin out, move seams and repeat. The process is tedious, and to me the most challenging.  A few constraints always bring into my designs, how can you do more with less (every seam has a function i.e. shaping, integrating pockets, allow for fabric change. Also, since these pants were to be water tight and seam taped, I wanted to make sure to reduce as much as possible and smooth them out make it easier to run on the machine.  I always build the first sample myself to see how everything comes together from an operators point of view.  One request from Hiromi was to remove the hip seams that would rub against the chair and leak. I ended up designing / shaping the pants around solely this request and the idea to match the angle of the knee articulation to that of the mono ski.

Shaping a garment around a body or mannequin using basic cotton muslin is called draping. It is used to really sculpt the material by pinning, cutting and slashing areas to shift the volume accordingly. I began by draping. The process from draping then going back and updating the pattern, cutting sewing another sample only to remark, pin out, move seams and repeat. The process is tedious, and to me the most challenging.  A few constraints always bring into my designs, how can you do more with less (every seam has a function i.e. shaping, integrating pockets, allow for fabric change. Also, since these pants were to be water tight and seam taped, I wanted to make sure to reduce as much as possible and smooth them out make it easier to run on the machine.  I always build the first sample myself to see how everything comes together from an operators point of view.  One request from Hiromi was to remove the hip seams that would rub against the chair and leak. I ended up designing / shaping the pants around solely this request and the idea to match the angle of the knee articulation to that of the mono ski.


Once I landed on the shape, seam lines follow shape and form, the last part was to dial in the details, i.e. pockets, zippers, belt loops cuffs and gaiters. I end up doing multiple mock ups the image with the maroon half pant and pieces pinned to the wall to work thru all the ideas, iterations and details. To me, my favorite detail that came out of this was the utility side pockets. I wanted to make a pocket that had volume that a could be seam taped easily and also double as a belt loop.  I noticed Hiromi carried a lot of extra tools to keep his mono ski tuned up during the ride so I wanted to give him plenty of places to store.  I also noticed from his photos he always wore a belt. This I had to dig deeper into.  I was able to connect with another paraplegic athlete (Kelly Bush) (https://kellybrushfoundation.org/) here in the US to dive deeper into some of the questions I had once I started building.  I learned very quickly that most paraplegic athlete size up in pants to make it easier to get on. She explained the process of putting on and taking off snow pants in the front seat of the van, into the wheel chair and then into the mono ski. She explained the areas of the body that gets the coldest first and reiterated that since there is very little blood flow to the lower extremities, they stay cold the longer.


This got me thinking on how to fine tune the insulation we were going to line the pant with. I wanted to use a synthetic insulation that would still keep Hiromi warm even when wet. I endued up using the micro puff insulation sandwiched between 2 layers of fabric and quilted. This extra layer of fabric in theory would keep the insulation extra dry as moisture accumulated inside.  I also added a double later of insulation over the knees and upper thighs (seen in the photo I sent earlier).


The fabric combination was already vetted in the field from the first pair of bibs Hiromi had. It utilized goretex pro fabric with a combination of the Wader 4L fabric on the points of contact with the chair.  I ran some seam testing studies in our lab and decided to double tape the seams that would come in contact with the chair to reduce any chances of leaking.


The belt was the last detail and final detail. I took the webbing from our fishing waders that had engineered elastic in the back. What this did was allow for a bit more comfort when breathing without loosing the security of the belt.


After building a full waterproof proto in the forge myself, I was able to pass on the sample to one of our legendary sewers Ming Kwan, an expert in the craft of making Patagonia product.  She fine tuned and added her knowledge from building 100’s of waterproof pants from her 30+ years of sewing at Patagonia.  The results of her work was amazing and the pair of pants we sent to Hiromi.



This is my first time working with Hiromi. I have been at Patagonia for almost 3 years now and have been able to work closely with our ambassadors on custom projects / requests. Its my favorite part of my role and I am stoked to keep on building them product.