During the Vancouver portion of my trip, I visited Orb’s Vancouver flagship store and headquarters. Orb is a Vancouver based women’s sport lifestyle clothing line that started in 2001. Orb is part of the Global Collective Design company, established by Vancouverites by Glenn Taylor and Leslie Lee in 1992. The Global Collective Design company now has two labels that they design and produce: Arson and Orb.  The two brands also have sub brands Orion and Orb Outerwear.

Orb is empowered. The intent of Orb is to inspire all to live empowered lives of generosity; creating and attracting brilliance, beauty and well-being. The Orb design triad of mind, body and soul represents an active, fashion-forward lifestyle, designed to enhance the momentum of people engaged in living purposeful lives – to live like you mean it!

Orb is very big on corporate responsibility and have implemented ways of reducing waste in their business practices. You can read more about those initiatives on the Orb website. They also have manufacturing initiatives to reduce harmful chemicals. They also incorporate organic cotton, polyester from bamboo, and recycled polyester content in their clothing.

I learned a bit about the company during my visit and got a tour of the new spring summer 2011 collection. Of course, I had to play a bit of dress up too. The collection is west coast style casual. Easy going, a bit girly and comfortable.

This season is teaming with wearable, feminine fabrics, mens suit tailoring and gorgeous accents. We cannot wait for your feedback and are excited to support you as we all transition into the Fall season.
Mind: A collection inspired this season by mystical worldly themes. Mineral textured prints, tribal graphics and prismatic displays create a bright, bold, new and exciting silhouettes.
Body: This collection is designed after the athleticism and femininity of a ballerina. Two strong characteristics working together create a truly beautiful presence.
Soul: The romance and discovery come through in this vintage inspired collection. An elegance combined with modern simplicity echoes the excitement of finding a new place for thought, growth and exploration.(source)

My favourite pieces of the collection were the jackets and hoodies. Actually, the blazer inspired modified fleece jacket called the Loft in the photo above has replaced my Wilfred Diderot Sweater as my most favourite comfy fleece sweater. Orb generously gave me the Loft sweater and Sonora slouchy t-shirt in the very on trend cantaloupe colour from their Spring collection.

Orb Outerwear is the technical outerwear component to the brand which revolves around snow sports of course. Their aim is to produce quality technical snow gear living up to Orb’s corporate responsibility standards. Snowboarding is the snow sport of choice and they sponsor several women riders each year. The Fall Winter 2011 collection was on the 2nd floor of the store and I got a little sneak peek at what’s to come in the next season.

The fall winter 2011 collection of outerwear continues to bring bright colours with a good number of neon pieces. Neon is the biggest trend I saw on the mountain this year. It wasn’t as popular during my last trip in 2008 and it’s exploded in 2011. I saw it everywhere and I really, really enjoyed it. I want bright and obnoxious ski outerwear now. I would even like to have neon equipment and be a bright beacon on the mountain. I bet you could even see me in the worst of whiteout conditions.

Since it was a skiing trip, Orb also gave me an Esther jacket and Patrol base layer. The ocean green of the jacket matched with the magenta of my K2 pants perfectly. The jacket and base layer combined with other gear were a perfect combo. I was never cold or damn and sweaty. The only thing I didn’t like were the snap buttons. They were hard to close when you had gloves on. Eventually one popped off which surprised me a lot. It wasn’t in a real strategic location so I just shrugged and continued on with my activities. The Esther jacket wasn’t a very technical jacket as it was more street style designed. I’m very curious to see what their higher end technical jackets perform like next season. I think they’d be very good.

See all the photos from my visit to Orb in Vancouver

There are a few shops in the GTA that carry Orb, you can find them and some online retailers on the website.
See all my Whistler Photos on flickr.com and Videos on vimeo.com