When we consider the waste our lifestyles generate, few industries stand under brighter lights than fashion and within it, sportswear. Performance gear has long been synonymous with synthetic materials, plastic trims, and membranes designed for speed and sweat. But what if there’s a different way?
In this in-depth conversation with Nicolas Rochat, the founder and CEO of the Swiss brand Mover, we hear a story of transformation: how a passion for skiing turned into a mission to eliminate plastic from apparel. From inventing wool-based insulation to building fully compostable garments, Mover is proving that high-performance clothing doesn’t need plastic and that nature might still be the most advanced technology of all.
Nicolas Rochat’s journey began by accident. A lifelong skier and outdoor enthusiast, he became a shareholder in a small Swedish skiwear company. When the company folded in 2004, he took it over for a symbolic price and unexpectedly found himself in the textile business.
What followed wasn’t guided by grand sustainability goals, but by a simple question: what feels better when moving in the mountains?
Rochat quickly replaced synthetic base layers with merino wool, discovering not only superior comfort but better thermoregulation. Soon he collaborated with engineers to develop Swisswool, a natural insulation material that matched—or rather outperformed—synthetics, yet remained breathable on uphill climbs. “Wool outperforms plastic in most real conditions,” he says. “We just forgot how good it was.”
The mission shifted from performance to purpose in 2016, when a friend returned from a sailing voyage with sand samples from remote island beaches. Every one of them contained microplastics.
That moment was a wake-up call. Rochat dug deeper and found the textile industry is responsible for about one-third of all primary microplastics entering the ocean, which is even more than car tyres. “It became clear,” he recalls. “The comfort choices we’d already made had environmental value. We just hadn’t realised it.”
That’s when Mover made the bold decision to go all-in: no more plastic. Not in fabrics, trims, threads, or zippers.
Eliminating polyester or nylon fabric is just the beginning. “The real nightmare,” Rochat explains, “is the small stuff.” Most hook-and-loop fasteners (like Velcro) are nylon. Thread is polyester. Even zippers have plastic components or polyester tape.
To build a fully compostable jacket, Mover had to reinvent the details. To do so, they:
Today, every Mover garment is biodegradable. Wool fertilises the soil. “You can bury our clothes in your garden,” Rochat says. Cotton disappears in months. The metal oxidises safely. That’s what no-trace really means.
If wool, cotton and hemp work so well, why did the world shift so rapidly to synthetics?
Rochat points to two drivers: cost and marketing. Plastic became cheap with the rise of petroleum, and brands labeled synthetic as “technical”, implying that natural was somehow inferior. “We’ve been brainwashed for fifty years,” he says.
Retailers still believe natural materials are too expensive, but Mover’s direct-to-consumer model disproves that. By skipping wholesale mark-ups, their prices are on par with high-end synthetic brands.
The gear works. Mover’s jackets use Ventile® cotton, a densely woven, water-resistant fabric first developed for RAF pilots. Paired with Swisswool insulation, these garments are windproof, weather-resistant and breathable, without the sweaty membrane effect many athletes know all too well.
Lab tests back it up: high-quality cotton and wool can deliver genuine performance while avoiding the environmental costs of synthetic membranes, which often degrade and shed particles over time.
“I don’t need a 40-metre waterproof rating,” Rochat says. “I need to stay dry and let my body breathe.”
The biggest challenge, it turns out, isn’t technical, it’s perception.
Despite having built plastic-free alternatives, Mover struggled with adoption. “People didn’t even know their clothes were made of plastic,” Rochat says. Even sustainability-focused consumers weren’t always aware that recycled polyester still sheds microfibres into waterways.
In contrast to flashy marketing campaigns about “ocean plastic leggings,” Mover’s plastic-free mission struggled to gain media traction. “We thought it would be a strong message. But no one really picked it up.”
That led to a pivot. Mover now devotes major energy to storytelling and education, through podcasts, policy panels, and partnerships. It’s slow work, Rochat admits, but he believes it mirrors the journey of organic food: fringe at first, and then, suddenly, mainstream.
While today’s plastic-free market is niche, Rochat sees massive potential. He believes that by 2035, 5% of the global performance apparel market could be plastic-free which could be worth around 30 billion euros.
And it’s not just hope. Larger brands are inching toward this direction. Icebreaker now claims 97% plastic-free status, and other players are exploring non-synthetic insulation and shell materials.
Raw materials aren’t the barrier. Wool production can scale. Hemp grows fast. The problem is imagination and investment. “We’ve put all our R&D into polymers,” Rochat says. “What if we put the same energy into natural systems?”
If Rochat could enact one global law, it would be this: “Make brands financially accountable for the environmental and health impacts of their products.”
Extended Producer Responsibility already exists on paper but rarely includes the hidden costs of microplastic pollution or hormone-disrupting chemicals. If companies had to pay those costs, plastic-heavy products would suddenly become very expensive.
He’s equally wary of “green” recycling narratives: “Turning fishing nets into leggings sounds heroic, but it keeps the toxic system alive. That’s not circular, it’s a closed loop of harm.”
Rochat doesn’t see other plastic-free brands as competition. He welcomes them. “Being first is expensive,” he says. “Building a movement is smart.” He encourages founders to:
And for established brands hoping to transition? Start with one product line. Be patient with factories. Every change, even tiny ones like thread type, takes negotiation and persistence. But it’s possible. Mover proves it.
What makes Rochat most proud is simple: proving that 100% plastic-free performance apparel can be built. Every tiny breakthrough—sourcing non-plastic Velcro alternatives, adjusting stitching for cotton thread—became part of a growing toolbox.
Each solution helps not just Mover, but any brand willing to follow. And many are watching.
Despite his focus on “slow fashion,” Rochat still skis fast. His gear must keep up and it does. But he dreams of a world where performance and patience coexist.
The tech exists. The market is forming. The story is just beginning.
“Let’s do it together,” Rochat says.
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