Graduate Wins Polartec Apex Award for Design

Natalie Cullum, a recent USU graduate and product designer at Orvis, was recently recognized by Polartec and awarded their Apex Award for her work on the Orvis PRO Sun Hoodie.

The product, specifically designed using Polartec fabric, has received a critical response and is helping the company experiment with new fabrics and material applications in the future.

"Winning Polartec’s Apex award was validation for taking a risk in using fabric technology that was traditionally only used in the cold weather space and finding an application for warm weather and sun environments," said Cullum, "we were most interested in a fabric that was lightweight, met a UPF 50+ sun protection rating and moisture management properties – the Polartec Power Grid fabric had all that and more."

As a graduate of OPDD from the class of 2019, Cullum is making significant contributions and making impactful product receiving widespread recogniztion after only a few years in industry. "We have been blow away by the response to our new Sun Hoodie. This success helps to pave the way for more risk taking and pushing the boundaries in product development at Orvis."