The secret of Reda Active, a merino apart 🇮🇹

Have you ever wondered what the best material is to wear next to your skin?

The one that, in any season, would best respond to each of your bodily whims? Temperature, humidity, odors?

Me, yes, and more than once.

This curiosity has always resulted in one and the same answer: in this field, the queen of fibers is wool.

This answer didn't surprise Benoît, Nicolò, or any other digital nomad! It's not for nothing that our friend Benoît loves it.

• It is the material that retains the least bad odors,
• It insulates heat in winter and protects you from it in summer,
• It keeps you dry by absorbing sweat

It's hard to beat this for a t-shirt! At least, that's what I thought until now.

Futuristic, quick-drying, breathable, synthetic membranes, anti-bacterial chemical treatments... man has gone to great lengths to try to reproduce the magic of merino.

And so far it has been without any real success. . No other fiber has been able to reproduce all these properties with the same efficiency.

What if man pushed the qualities of merino wool even further?

This feat was achieved by the spinner Reda. It is a historic company from Biella, the region of the greatest Italian weavers.

Reda has dedicated decades of experience and research to achieve Reda Active.

Obviously, when I heard Benoît and Julien (our collection manager) talking about it, I first pricked up my ears. Then my tongue:

- "But what does this Reda Active merino have in addition, specifically?

- What's more?! It's the Holy Grail of merino! It's softer, therefore more comfortable. It has a magnificent drape, much more high-end. It's also more resistant to wear, and the quality of its fiber raises its thermoregulatory performance to the highest!"

Indeed, that's a lot of "extra" qualities. I even found it hard to believe:

- "But concretely, how do they manage to go so far? What's the magic recipe? Did they take a Delorean to go and steal spinning machines from the year 3019?

- Do you want to go see it for yourself?

- In the future?

- Your mission, if you accept it: go with Jason and Luke at Reda, in Biella, Italy and tell their secret to readers for our launch. Are you interested? As a reward, you will be able to present our collection in Reda Active!"

A ticket to Biella, the region of the greatest Italian cloth merchants?

To go behind the scenes of one of the oldest weavers and spinners?

How can I tell you that I rushed to say yes. Maybe shouting, just a little.

So this is how I set off to discover the secret behind this famous Reda Active merino. And I'm taking you with me.

1 - Immersion at Reda: a family business looking to the future

1.1 - Arrival in Biella: the paradise of Italian weavers

Monday morning, late July. While packing my bag at the office, my eyes fall on a copy of the new BonneGueule t-shirt in Reda Active.

“What if I took advantage of these three days to test this ultimate merino t-shirt?”

So I decide to steal it from Julien for my stay, with his agreement. .

I put it on quickly. Once on my skin, I feel that it has an impressive softness, reminiscent of a cotton jersey.

Anyway, I'll stop fiddling with it. Let's go!

A few hours of flight - during which I felt this T-shirt protecting me from the heat of the air conditioning - and waiting in the baggage drop-off later, we arrived in Biella.

And what is said about this region quickly becomes clear to my eyes.

There is water and mountains as far as the eye can see! When you arrive, you quickly feel that it is humid in the valley.

Not a single weaver without a stream nearby. So I asked our travel partner Davide, who has been working at Reda for 6 years, what was so special about this water.

"If it is so prized by weavers, it is in fact for its low calcium and sodium content. Two elements which can easily harm the dye.

If you taste the bottled water of Biella, and compare it for example with *a certain well-known water from the French Alps * (loaded with calcium and sodium), you will quickly distinguish the difference in taste.

The quality of Biella water allows for a softer hand fabric after the washing and finishing stages.

Conversely, this is why English wools are sometimes rougher, for example. Their water does not have the same properties as ours, but we can probably make a very good whisky from it."

It is on this little international tease that we arrive at Villa Reda.

1.2 - Meeting with Ercole, the leader of Reda

Carlo Reda, a worker who started his own spinning business in 1865, had this villa built, which has since become the historic centre of the company, serving in particular as its headquarters.

From the entrance, everywhere on the walls, patents and technical sheets of weaving from the 20th century are framed.

Two corridors further on, I enter the archive room where I meet the director of Reda: Ercole Botto Poala, whose family took over the company in 1919. .

When you are told that a company with 550 employees is a century-old family business, it may seem quite abstract to you.

But when faced with three generations of men framed in black and white photos, Ercole shows me the one on the right and says:

"He's my great-great-grandfather. He ruled Reda almost 100 years ago."

When he tells me that in his youth, he went through all the trades in his company. From cleaning floors from controlling the finishing stages of fabrics to machine maintenance.

"Today, thanks to these years of work in the factory, I run the company with a very clear vision of each person's job."

When he explains to me that each generation of his family thinks about their decisions in the longest possible term so that their descendants can benefit from them.

When I see all this, I understand better the meaning and interest of the family heritage in a textile company of this size: it has allowed Reda to move forward better over the decades, always with its eyes fixed on the future.

It is this orientation towards the future that has put Reda on the path to innovation and the fabrics of tomorrow such as the Reda Active range.

"We have been investing in technology and innovation since the 70s, which has allowed us to have one of the most modern factories in the world. But the real difference is the people in the company who make it."

In the midst of globalization in the 1990s, there was no shortage of opportunities to relocate to significantly cheaper production sites internationally.

So Reda had made the decision to leave... just two kilometers further north.

Why? Because Reda's legacy is not only found in these binders.

The company's employees also pass on their experience, their demanding work culture, and their pride in working for Reda. .

"This company is not only my family's. It is also theirs. I grew up with a good number of them. They saw me cleaning the toilets, working alongside them as a worker..."

There you go. A family heritage business, that's what it looks like.

And this is what has allowed Reda, over the years, to become the emblem of Italian expertise that we know today.

1.3 - The most eco-transparent of spinners: meeting with Luca Bruschi, responsible for sustainable development

“A company that grows necessarily increases its ecological impact.

Thanks to the total integration of our production chain , we are the only ones who can declare in a clear, precise and certified manner the impact of each square meter of fabric produced.

Now our challenge is to grow while reducing our impact. A challenge that affects all levels: that of the breeder, the transporter, and the spinner."

These are the words of Ercole.

Needless to say, when I found out I would be able to interview Luca Bruschi, I had high expectations for this meeting.

Luca Bruschi is the head of sustainable development. He works every day with a team of 5 people to reduce Reda's environmental impact.

And Luca's greatest pride is this:

I will tell you about the two most important ones in my eyes.

The first: the EMAS Label.

Since 2004, Reda has been the only textile factory in Europe to have been able to benefit from this certification.

This certification means three things:

1: Reda is committed and takes action every year to reduce its ecological impact.

"For example, we recently made a big investment in solar panels for our main plant. At the moment, we are also working on purifying our gas emissions and on a more sustainable lighting solution for our production sites," Luca tells me.

2: The European EMAS body monitors Reda's activity in order to issue this certificate.

3: Reda displays its environmental impact transparently and accurately in its environmental declarations.

"Based on the reported figures, we then set our annual improvement targets."

This last point is the most interesting.

When you buy a cotton shirt, its fibers can come from all over the world. With outsourcing, it is impossible to obtain all the information on their origins. And this is the case even for the best spinners in Europe.

How to measure its environmental impact in this case? How to have control over all the links in the supply chain to reduce this impact ? How to decide between chocolatine and pain au chocolat ?

Thanks to the vertical integration of its entire production, Reda can do both.

"For example, it is estimated that we consume about half as much water as the average wool weaver."

I jumped on this statement to grill Luca on this subject. And I can tell you that water is a very good example of responsible resource management at Reda.

All the water used is cleaned on site and recycled. It is sent to the purification tanks, then:

• 20% of this water is directly reused,
• the remaining 80% is cleaned up and returned to Mother Nature.

The water is returned to a lake maintained by Reda.

- "But how do you check the condition of the water that you return to nature?

- Fish, Luca told me with a smile. There are plenty of them in the lake. By checking their health, we can ensure the effectiveness of our purification system. In our lake, all the biodiversity is preserved."

To this day, Luca and his team continue to explore solutions to limit Reda's resource consumption.

"It requires a lot of work and investment. Obviously, all companies have an impact on the environment. But we are aware of the importance that this has for consumers, and we are moving forward step by step to improve."

For Reda, having a view towards the future also means being aware of current ecological issues.

Because according to them, the future of the textile sector does not only belong to the fabrics of tomorrow like Reda Active, but also to companies that will know how to grow with a good conscience and ecological performance. I must say that I agree with that.

2 - At the heart of Reda active: impeccable traceability, from sheep to fabric

2.1 - One way ticket from New Zealand to Italy

The next day, wake up at 7 a.m. Eyes sting a little.

I put on my Reda Active t-shirt - which actually doesn't have an ounce of smell after its first day of wearing it - and I'm off to the first destination of the day: the site where the first operations are applied to the wool. Where the bags of raw wool fleece for Reda Active arrive, directly from New Zealand.

Here, Nicolò, the administrative director of the factory, will be our guide.

We start by entering a warehouse, the walls are high, very high, and it smells... like sheep.

This is where I discovered a very strong point at Reda Active: the traceability of its fiber.

As I have already said, in a world where subcontracting multiplies the number of intermediaries, it is most of the time impossible to fully trace the origin of the fibers of a garment. And therefore to control its quality and fineness 100%.

Reda is one of the only companies to control its wool production chain from the moment the sheep is sheared: it has three farms in New Zealand.

For Reda Active, it specifically buys the most expensive shearings there, and therefore those of the best quality. Where other spinners look for the best quality/price ratio from wholesalers, who themselves buy their wool at the best compromise here and there depending on the prices.

These farms are all ZQ certified, and therefore meet standards on fiber quality, animal welfare, environmental impact, and social responsibility.

You can't find wool fabrics that can guarantee this on every street corner.

This traceability, in the warehouse, concretely, gives this:

This pretty bag of wool fleece still soiled by the rolling of the sheep in the grass, it then goes on a scale. The idea being to check the correspondence of the weight recorded with the reference of the bag.

One elevator ride further, Reda employees select exclusively the best third of the wool from each chosen bag.

This second selection allows them to properly ensure the quality of the fibers. So that they are as easy to work with as possible, and that they perfectly meet the requirements of Reda Active.

Everything is then sent to a machine which aerates the wool straight out of the bags, to decompress it and make the whole thing workable.

As we move from one room to another with Nicolò , I notice some documents hanging on the walls. So I ask him what they are.

"These are the records that we fill in during each treatment cycle with the wool references. In this way, we have monitoring at each stage and we know exactly which wool goes where."

Nowadays, the word "traceability" is used everywhere. But its meaning is the first time I can see it in such a concrete way. Right there, before my eyes.

Traceable wool is wool that has been tracked and controlled step by step throughout the process.

And that requires cumbersome procedures and a lot of effort.

It takes work, time, and money.

Each bag of wool is equipped with a chip that allows you to quickly check, using a simple box, whether the right wool is in the right place in the factory.

In front of the rooms where the wool is then stored, just aired and deposited by an employee using a pallet truck, I look around me and notice what seems to me to be a plastic sensor, fixed to the ceiling.

As I scan this ceiling, I notice that there are some everywhere.

- "What are these little sensors for?"

- It's an alarm. It sounds at any time if a pallet truck goes to the wrong room with the wool. It allows us to make sure that a given cycle of wool, coming from a given farm, goes entirely to the right room to await the next steps."

At this point, I wonder how many manufacturers in the world can claim to have such control over their supply chain?

How many can be so certain of the origin and quality of every fiber in their fabric?

According to Ercole the day before, they can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

We then exit the building, and I feel the midday sun starting to seriously sting.

A thought then comes to me about the Reda Active t-shirt that I am wearing: it makes the heat completely bearable.

Despite the temperature being much less mild than at home, I am dry and not too hot.

As one would say in a great Mathieu Kassovitz film: so far, so good.

“Shall we move on to the wash?”

2.2 - The furnace of wool washing: my Reda Active T-shirt put to the test

Two minutes of walking further, we enter a room where it is at least... hot. I would even say very hot.

This heat comes from there:

Remember, I told you that the wool was still dirty from its adventures on the backs of sheep in New Zealand: earth, grass, twigs and vegetation of all kinds. We can say that this gift of nature is catching dirt.

Each tub is filled with water maintained at a different temperature and PH level. This means that the wool is washed gradually, efficiently and, above all, carefully.

All these machines, this steam, and this hot water, we can say that it does not soften the temperature of the room: it is at least 35 degrees.

And there, merino t-shirt or not, the heat stroke comes quickly.

I think this is where my little personal test of the Reda Active T-shirt showed its limits.

Let's be clear, in such heat, I would have felt a trickle down my back even without a t-shirt.

And the fabric on my shoulders didn't have any built-in air conditioning either, so of course I got a heat stroke.

But unlike Luke and Jason's t-shirts, which are cotton, I was told as I came out of this furnace that mine seemed to be noticeably drier. A slight trickle of moisture in the middle of my back for me, compared to a much larger soaked area on Luke, for example.

In his defense, and to be completely transparent with you, he carried a fairly heavy camera. Nevertheless, the difference in sweating was impressive.

We then move on to drying the wool.

When it comes out of the machine, it is bright white and ready for the next step, which the more experienced among you will know: carding.

2.3 - Carding and combing: from excellent fleece to Reda Active fiber

This is where the wool is untangled and passed through cylinders with very fine metal tips. This ensures that the fibres are correctly aligned for the next step, and the shortest ones are separated.

It's a bit like when you detangle your hair, except if you're Bruce Willis or Jason Statham.

Then comes the combing, where the principle is the same. But with even more finesse sought.

It's quite beautiful to see: after each cycle, the wool ribbons are even softer and more homogeneous.

It’s a real sight for sore eyes that I’m happy to share with you here.

As the tour progresses, I notice that the rooms are getting bigger and bigger, the machines are getting newer and more numerous. A more modern industrial atmosphere is starting to emerge.

Along the room, beautiful strips of white wool cross the machines like a river.

I see employees smiling, coming to replace the strips of wool near the machines. They take them out with quite impressive skill, a bit like a magician taking a chain of scarves out of his mouth.

When Nicolò passes by them, some of them call out to him to chat. I don't understand Italian, except for a few transparent words. But the familiar and cheerful tone of the discussions is clearly felt, and they are often punctuated by a moment of laughter.

In this positive atmosphere, I notice that the carded and combed ribbons come from several bins to converge towards a single ribbon at the exit of the machine.

"By mixing them throughout the stages, we obtain an even more homogeneous wool ribbon at the end. Reda asks us here for a mixture of four bins. To avoid confusing the wools and to remain traceable, we use this system of bands on the bins."

Once carded and combed, the fiber ribbons are wound onto a sort of giant reel, packaged for transport.

At this point, Davide, who has been with us since the beginning of the trip, shows me what he calls the wool "top" and says:

“You will find that in our next destination, our spinning and weaving site!”

In the car!

3 - From fiber to Reda Active fabric: when innovation intervenes

3.1 - Preserving the magic of wool with careful dyeing

40 minutes by car later, here we are: the Reda factory, where the fiber arrives to become thread and then Reda Active fabric.

There, it's a total change of atmosphere.

No more small room where wool is moved by pallet truck, no more machines from the 60s.

Reda's famous "look to the future" is here where we come across it.

When people talked to me about Reda Active, they often mentioned a meeting between:

• the tradition behind working with wool,
• innovation that allows you to take your qualities further.

After spending the morning following the thread of this traditional approach until obtaining the fiber, I find myself in a gigantic room where everything seems automated.

Rows of futuristic-looking modern machines with robotic movements that flow together as perfectly as Bruce Lee's in Fury of the Dragon.

"Our manufacturers develop these machines exclusively for us," Davide tells me proudly.

There is no doubt that this is where the innovation I was told about begins.

We come across the famous woolen "top" that Davide told me about again.

“The first step is dyeing the fiber”

Through a large display window, I see a sort of mechanical arm taking this spool of fiber towards what appears to me to be a dye vat.

"All you see through this window is the dyeing department. We decided to automate it 100% for safety reasons. On this computer, we enter the pressure, the temperature, the amount of steam... everything is extremely precise."

It's time for me to do my curious service:

- “Why start directly with the dye?

- If we waited until spinning to dye the yarn, the dye would have difficulty properly impregnating all the fibers inside.

- Dyeing the fiber directly means less water, less dye, and therefore less chance of damaging the wool. This allows us to preserve all its qualities."

In the office where the dyeing is observed, I let my eyes wander and see several samples of colored and labeled wool fiber, placed next to a scale.

- "And what do you use this scale for?

- It allows us to weigh the wool after dyeing. Depending on the measured weight, it allows us to check if the wool has impregnated the right amount of dye. If the weight is above the tolerance threshold, it means that it has impregnated too much, and therefore it has lost quality."

So it is the integrity of the fiber that is at stake, and which obviously translates into the advantageous properties of wool. Those that I am enjoying at this very moment, on my shoulders.

This care taken in dyeing also contributes to the material's luminous appearance.

Once again, this is a crucial point for the excellence of the Reda Active fiber that I have before my eyes.

The further this visit progresses, the more I realize that to make this fabric so exceptional, it is the execution of each operation that is of the utmost importance.

3.2 - From combing to air conditioning: wool pampered down to the smallest details

Our epic journey continues. We go through a door, a corridor, then another door. We take some stairs, then we go along other paths.

“More cards?”

This time, a much finer combing is applied:

• It makes the wool even more manageable for future spinning.
• By mixing wools of the same color, these machines further improve the uniformity of the wool.

While our cameramen Jason and Luke indulge in their Spielbergian activities, I observe a little of what is happening around.

Due to automation, there is actually less human intervention on some machines.

But I notice that this does not prevent a large part of the looms and cards from being assisted by employees.

"It is also thanks to them that the quality of Reda Active is scrupulously controlled. They are very involved and proud of the quality they produce. If ever a thread does not prove to be up to standard at the time of weaving, they will be offended and will take their manager aside to talk about it."

Once again, we see the benefit of involving more than 500 employees in the family values ​​of a company.

On our way to the spinning machines, I notice successive holes, regularly distributed on the ceiling.

And as you know by now, I like to ask questions.

"The air in our ducts is purified by us. We also regulate its temperature and humidity. It is through these holes that it arrives in the rooms. For each room and each manufacturing stage, we need a precise temperature and humidity level."

I understand better why the rooms are separated by corridors with two doors: it is to preserve the differences in ambient air!

It's still amazing how meticulous they are about the smallest detail to optimize the quality and beauty of their thread.

Speaking of thread, we come to the spinning stage.

3.3 - Compact 3 technology: revolutionary spinning from Reda Active

This is a fairly key moment in the visit.

Behind the exceptional properties of Reda Active, there is a concentration of innovation that Benoît and Julien told me about.

A spinning technique that they keep a trade secret, and which they call "Compact 3".

As Jason and Luke continue to capture footage for our report, Davide takes me aside.

"Follow me, I'll show you something. But please don't take pictures."

We arrive in front of the spinning machines.

Above, the fiber spools are unwinding at full speed.

The fibers go downwards, and Davide points out their destination to me with his finger.

I look closer and I can see a transparent hose that sucks up the fibers faster than a Dyson with a full battery.

"The strips of fibers go into this pipe, and the twisting is done under very high pressure. This is what makes the thread smoother, and therefore the fabric softer on the skin. It also gives it its unique appearance, and it limits any tendency to pill. Unfortunately, you will understand that I cannot tell you more. It is our industrial secret."

At the end of this stage, we obtain spools of the famous Reda Active yarn. At the origin of this very luminous rendering, but also softer, more resistant, and raising the virtues of merino clothing even higher.

3.4 - From storing reels to finishing fabrics

Suddenly, Davide turns to the three of us:

"Are you dizzy?"

After a hesitant shake of his head, he decided to take us up a few dozen stairs.

We arrive at the top. And...

"ok, I might be a little dizzy actually"

And these reels, as soon as an order is made, they are taken to the weaving looms!

Once the warp is in place on the machines, it is up to the weft thread to go back and forth in the latter to construct the fabric. :

Finally, it is the finishing that comes into play.

So, what is the secret of Reda Active?

Exceptional appearance, softness, resistance, level of thermoregulatory performance... by going into immersion at Reda, I thought I would discover a secret and unique magic recipe at the origin of all these advantages that Reda Active has in comparison with a classic merino.

And on the plane, on the way back, I think again about the question I asked Benoît , when he told me about his love for this exceptional merino, full of emotion.

“How do they get so far?”

I smiled, thinking that the best answer he could give me was to send me here.

Well, that's still an answer that takes 3 hours by plane and two days of wandering around the factory.

But it was the most complete and accurate it could be.

Finally, the secret of the Reda Active thread is not limited to a patent filed and protected under vacuum.

The quality of this merino is built over each stage, paying exceptional attention to every detail.

Quality controlled from A to Z thanks to control of the entire chain, traceable from sheep to finishing.

It is the balanced encounter between traditional wool work and modern techniques such as the innovative Compact 3 spinning.

Discovering all this was a very beautiful experience for me. And the condition of sharing this achievement with you, I realize that it is still a beautiful gift. Although I think a key on my keyboard finally gave up the ghost.

Oh, one last thing: I just put my nose in this t-shirt that spent 3 days on my back, no smell to report.