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Pressio are at the top of their game. A world leader in creating high performance, sustainable sportswear, Pressio are in a league of their own. And the man behind it all? Jamie Hunt. After cutting his teeth as a world champion triathlete no less, Jamie Hunt entered the world of fashion, ready to shake up the world of activewear.

To get to know Pressio a little better, we sat down with Jamie Hunt to talk about his beginnings as an athlete, his path to engineering high performance sportswear and creating cutting edge, unmatched sustainable activewear.

Before you entered the world of fashion, you were a triathlete. What has it been like making the switch? And how did the brand get started?

Pressio is an accumulation of my years as an athlete and my years of being in another successful brand, which led me to this. Being an athlete, I knew exactly what I wanted in garments. I’m not the world’s best at fashion, but I’m definitely one of the best when it comes to engineering world leading fabrics. And that’s really what our brand is really built from, is amazing fabrics. I have plenty of staff that are great at fashion, and I have three daughters, all in their twenties, they give me a hand as well. Our brand is built fundamentally around performance. It’s my once in a lifetime thing and it’s the mark I want to leave on the world.

As a former athlete, you must know what makes good activewear. What learnings have you been able to bring with you?

It’s a combination of being an athlete and I’ve spent the last twenty years engineering fabrics. We are truly fabric scientists. Every single product or fabric we have in our collection, is purposely made for Pressio. For us, performance will always come first. We have a very good product knowledge and a very good understanding of what the athlete needs and wants. Garments must have good moisture management, they must be comfortable and they must fit well. I’ve got a really good understanding of how to mesh together, what’s currently available on the market, what can I innovate and produce, how do I combine yarns and what an athlete needs.

Who do you have in mind when creating Pressio?

Someone who is an athlete, who wants the best apparel and has a conscience about the environment. That’s been a really hard combination. Making this product, we wanted to educate sports people. We want to create a community of people who want great, amazing products but also are conscious of the ways you can produce products that can be kind to the environment.

What do you think really makes a Pressio piece and how do you want people to feel when they wear Pressio?

Comfort first and foremost. It’s got to fit, it’s got to move with you, it’s got to dry quickly, it’s got to perform from an athletic perspective. And it has to look good. For you to put it on and go ‘wow’, this garment is amazing, and it’s made sustainably. All those are really important factors for an athlete, you want to put it on and feel like ‘I’m a superstar’.

We don’t like to pick favourites, but what do you think are the key pieces in the collection?

I think that depends a lot on what you’re into. Ultimately, compression is quite a big part of our collection. Our compression run tights, for example, are pretty phenomenal. They help stop muscle damage, help increase your recovery, help you avoid chafing, they work moisture really well, and they have a pocket in the back for a runner. They are a world first piece, and they’re sustainably made. Our run tops, they’re all made using purely recycled yarns, they’re super light, work moisture really well and look really cool as well. Great pocketing as well, is key. I still run or ride everyday, so I’m always thinking about pocketing, back when I ran, it wasn’t a feature. Nowadays, you always carry a phone, always carry a card. In the back of our run tights we’ve got a pocket for a phone, a pocket for cards and a pocket for gels and nutrition.

Sustainability is so key to your business. Can you explain a little about your practices?

What sets us apart from anyone else is that we are so committed to it. I would spend probably 30% more than I need to on a product, because every part of it is sustainable. Our factory is almost entirely solar powered. You can go on our website, and we’re fully transparent. You can read all the yarns we use, where we source them from, where all our factories are and where all our fabric mills are. Everything we make is either recycled, or it’s no dye, or biodegradable. There’s some products we haven’t brought out yet, because we haven’t found the right fabric for it to be sustainable. So, we hold back bringing out pieces until it can be sustainable... This brand for me is really a passion project, I want to educate the market and educate my competitors and say ‘hey sustainability in sportswear, it can be done, so let’s get together and do it properly’. We are stand alone in the sports industry and in the fashion industry.

And how does this feed into your everyday?

In my everyday life, I’m about to buy a new car and it’s going to be an electric car. I say to my family, take shorter showers. We’ve gone to live in a smaller house, because we didn’t need a house as big as what we had. We’re down to one car in our family and we used to have five. I use public transport. So it’s now really part of our family culture, living as best we can in this day and age.

What do you see as the key trends in activewear for 2022?

I think sustainability is going to be a huge factor. I definitely hope more brands go down that line. And more fashion orientated silhouettes. There’s always new fabrics, new technologies with more moisture management. Ultimately, it’s just delivering a product that’s fit for purpose, that looks good, that feels good, that is sustainable and also is a price point that is accessible as well.

What does a typical week look for you in terms of working out? Do you still stay as fit? Are you still into the same sports?

With work, it varies a lot. If I have a quiet week, I’ll train every day, between one hour and maybe, I might do like a three or four hour ride once a week. If work is really busy, I do at least an hour a day, um, and always have one day off a week. But I’m definitely losing my passion for triathlon. I’ve been doing it now for thirty five years, I was the world champion at one stage. I’m definitely more looking into ultra running, the good thing about running is I can do it wherever I go, whenever I go. I want to do a few big ultra events next year. I’ve also got a few ultra swims, we’re planning to swim between Spain and Morocco next year. So we’ve got some exciting things on the horizon. I try to do one big challenge per year, that takes me outside my comfort zone.

What do you listen to when you’re working out? Any go to tracks/artists that get you in the zone?

I often listen to Talk Back. You know what, I love sports, so often I’ll have sport talk on. Sometimes I’ll even dial into a radio channel, back in New Zealand, just to catch up on what’s going on back home as well. I love to learn things. I’m always listening to sports, obviously some podcasts, particularly sports podcasts, I don’t listen to that many motivational podcasts, I’m already pretty motivated but more just sports and things I enjoy.

Who are your role models in life and why?

My wife. She’s so supportive of me, I don’t think many wives would’ve put up with a husband who’s away for 200+ days a year, you know. She’s fantastic. I mean, I’ve also got a very strong Christian faith, so that obviously plays a huge part in my life. And even just people all around me, I’m surrounded by amazing people. Having spent a lot of time with Kanye West too, I did a few collabs with him and spent quite a bit of time with him and Yeezy in Calabasas. He is next level when it comes to creativity, he actually showed me what creativity really looks like, so he’s definitely someone I look up to, across all spectrums of creativity.

If you could give one piece of advice to people starting out in the industry, what would it be?

There’s a lot more to the fashion industry than just designing good looking garments. You have to learn every aspect of it. The people who win in this world are those who do the most research, who understand the market the best, and understand financially what it takes. Learn every part of the industry. Don’t be proud, be in a place where you’re happy to take advice, and always seek mentorship, always look to learn. Learn the psychology of your customer and be humble.

What’s your mantra in life and why?
It sounds a bit corny, but it’s just to love people. I’ve learned that if you’re just a good, kind person, and you treat others with respect and dignity, and do all you can to provide for those that are in need, ultimately, you feel better about yourself. Treat others how you want to be treated. In the business sense, I always strive to be different, I never want to do anything that’s the same. I want to do things no one else has done before.

What can the Flannels customer get excited about from you – and Pressio - in 2022?
If you’re wanting to do sport in anyway and want to look good too, there is no brand on the planet that does the technology we do. The product they’re buying is unmatched in terms of sustainability. You won’t find any other sporting brand with our technology, our style and our look, anywhere else on the planet.

What do you hope to be your legacy?
I want to be the brand that leads all others into doing sportswear sustainably.