Clima Customer Spotlight: French Light Outdoor

French Light Outdoor is the brainchild of Florent Robin, a young adventurer driven by his passion for hiking and camping. When Robin began designing and sewing his own gear, he quickly discovered that his creations outperformed anything he could find in outdoor stores. Lightweight and durable, his backpacks, jackets, and sleeping bags soon gained popularity among friends and the wider community, eventually inspiring him to launch his own brand.

At French Light Outdoor, all garments are made to order, with each piece handmade and tailored precisely to the client’s needs. Robin runs the brand entirely on his own, personally crafting every product that leaves his workshop. Here, his approach to gear optimization goes beyond performance: it’s about minimizing environmental impact, a principle that defines his business.

Choosing to work with the best and most sustainable materials, Robin sources everything he can locally in Europe, only making exceptions for specialist components that cannot be found elsewhere. That’s why his jackets, quilts, and basecamp booties are insulated with Climashield APEX®, a continuous-filament synthetic insulation produced entirely in the USA with a commitment to environmental responsibility.

APEX is made by interlocking thousands of continuous polyester strands, creating insulation that is exceptionally thermally efficient and resilient. Climashield’s synthetic continuous-filament insulation offers the best weight-to-warmth ratio on the market, making it perfect for cold-weather clothing, sleeping bags, quilts, and even insulated shelters. Its proprietary AquaBan® surface encapsulation treatment allows the insulation to resist moisture and maintain its performance even when wet.

French Light Outdoor’s lineup of Climashield APEX–insulated products includes the FERGAL puffy jacket, the ORION quilt, and the BASE CAMP booties, all made to measure. Each design is perfected down to the smallest detail to maximize performance. For example, the ORION quilt features sleeping mat attachments that secure it to any foam or inflatable mat, keeping it in place all night and preventing heat loss.

Clients can further customize their orders with a wide range of colors for interior and exterior fabrics, as well as drawstrings and buttons. The FERGAL puffy jacket can be customized with either a full-length or half-length zip, depending on the client’s needs.

Knowing that every adventure is unique, Florent Robin believes in empowering his fellow hikers and campers to create their own gear. That’s why Climashield APEX, along with a range of interior and exterior fabrics, is sold by the meter in French Light Outdoor’s online store, giving adventurers the freedom to tailor their equipment to their exact needs.