Camper launches a new brand of sportswear for outdoor activities. And he does it together with mountain athlete Kilian Jornet (Sabadell, Barcelona, 1987), who collaborates and participates in this project with the family footwear company, founded by Lorenzo Fluxà in 1975 in Mallorca. It is the first time that Camper make an alliance of this type, “we are very careful with whom we get together”, explains Miguel Fluxà, CEO of the firm, son of the founder and belonging to the fourth generation of this family of footwear entrepreneurs.
The new brand bears the name of NNormal and will be available next September for sale in Europe and North America, through a website (www.nnormal.com) and specialized sports stores. The clothing and footwear collection have been designed in Mallorca and tested in the Norwegian fjords. In fact, the name merges its two origins: Nor-uega, where Jornet currently lives, and Mal-lorca. The making of the garments, according to Fluxà, is done in Portugal, and that of the footwear, in Asia. “It is there where all the quality footwear techniques are developed,” he explains.
The idea arose because Camper, which this year expects to invoice 175 million euros, which represents a growth of 20%, the same as in 2021, which places them at the pre-pandemic level, wanted to enter the market for activities to outdoors, “which catches us quite close, given that we are a casual brand and in this process we came across Kilian on the road and decided to do it together,” adds Fluxà, who highlights that this teamwork arises because values are shared, such as quality or concern for the environment. In this Jornet agrees, who stresses the common values as a source of extra motivation when starting this project. “We agreed that we need a new way of thinking and acting in relation to the environment and outdoor activities.”
In this sense, he adds: “We want to be very honest about the way we produce the equipment and the role that the company plays in society and the environment. This translates into full transparency and working to avoid excessive consumption by creating long-lasting products.”
In order to have a minimal impact on the environment, he points out that there is still work to be done, “as we need to work with materials and try different designs.” Therefore, “we are facing a long and difficult process, but that is what motivates me and the team when starting this project,” explains Jornet, who rose to his first three thousand at the age of three, to Tuc de Molières, in the Arán Valley, given that his father, Eduard Jornet, was a mountain guide, and his mother, Nuria Burgada, a mountain sports teacher. At the age of five he reached the summit of the Pyrenees, Pico Aneto. With six, he made his first four thousand climbing the Breithorn, in the Alps of Italy and Switzerland. Since 2004 he has been considered a high-level athlete by the Higher Sports Council in the mountain and climbing category.
For the past 15 years, he has dominated skiing and trail running, winning every major championship and race. In 2017 he climbed to the summit of Everest ascending the North face, without using ropes, oxygen, or the help of Sherpas, using 26 hours, a time that he reduced a week later under the same conditions to 17 hours.
“Kilian brings all this knowledge of the mountain and we bring the entrepreneurial spirit and technical knowledge in shoe design and manufacturing, as my family has been doing for 150 years. We complement each other as partners”, says Fluxà, which affects something important, the durability of the products to be marketed under the NNormal brand. “It is a very technical and functional brand, with products designed to last”, adds the businessman, who thinks that “creating a new brand is always something very exciting, although we are aware of the challenges it presents”, he comments.
The first delivery will be a limited edition focused on footwear, clothing and accessories for mountain running and hiking, which Jornet will debut this season. The price of the garments will range between 130 and 180 euros.