Nate Alder borrowed from Brazilian scuba divers, added technology from the wine, bicycle and medical industries, then pulled everything together with processes used in airbag manufacturing.

What he came up with was the Klymit Kinetic Vest, a durable, lightweight vest whose internal chambers can be filled with nontoxic, nonflammable argon gas, which he insists is much better than down or fibers in maintaining body warmth.

His approach won over the original equipment manufacturers at the recent Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show (OR).

Those are the people who would like to apply some of his components to the gear they make — anything from gloves to sleeping bags.

“They were quite excited about it,” said the 28-year-old Brigham Young University graduate, whose fledgling company, Klymit, is part of the emerging outdoor recreation business cluster in Ogden. “We were too.”

Alder launched his vest series in conjunction with the start of OR, eyeing a mid- to late August delivery date for his first creations — the Kinetic Double Diamond for snow sports; the Kinetic Khameleon for hunting; the Kinetic Red Rock for climbing and backcountry sports; and the Kinetic Amphibian for rafting, kayaking and other water sports.

The suggested retail price of $200 covers the vest itself, three small canisters of argon and the “Klimatizers” used to inject the gas into the vest.

Alder, who earlier worked in cell phone technology, formulated his idea while scuba diving off the coast of Brazil. It was there that he learned about using argon to ward off the effects of swimming in frigid Antarctic waters.

Those thoughts were still incubating in his mind when he returned to BYU and entered the concept in a business plan competition, which he won.

Encouraged by that success and prodded by his mentors at BYU — “they urged me to drop out of school, saying ‘this is what you’re studying to do anyway.’ They were happy to see me go … in a good way,” he said — Alder ventured out.

First, he had to figure out how to get argon gas into the jacket. He was told it couldn’t be done. But “I’m too darned stubborn to quit,” Alder said, so he learned how Gore-Tex created air-tight products and then learned that the wine industry used these little portable canisters to keep wine insulated. Further research identified valves used in the bicycle industry that could be used to inject gas from the canisters into the jackets through a connecting piece used in medical procedures.

A while back, Alder was discussing his design with Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey, who suggested Autoliv might have manufacturing processes at its Ogden plant to create the kind of internal chamber system Alder was looking to develop. When he approached Autoliv with his idea, “they said we can do that right now.”

Now Alder is ready to take on the outdoor world with a vest he insists will keep wearers warm without sacrificing mobility and easily adjusts to changes in the weather.

Salt Lake City Tribune

August 6, 2009

http://www.sltrib.com/outdoors/ci_13009009