What happens when innovation steps out of the showroom and onto the trail? For Flytec, it’s the foundation of Fly Together 2025, a three-day workshop from October 22-24, 2025, that turned the quiet hills above Annecy into a living laboratory for collaboration, product testing, and genuine dialogue across the sporting goods value chain.
Breaking from the traditional trade-fair model, Fly Together replaced booths with conversation circles, presentations with co-creation sessions, and quick sales meetings with shared experiences in nature. “It’s an environment that allows us to sit and chat with guests, to really delve into technologies and environmental protection in depth,” said a Flytec representative. “This is how we move toward our more futuristic plans for full-chain traceability.”
The 2025 edition brought together partners from across Europe and Asia, including designers, material specialists, and brand leaders, to test the next generation of Flytec’s membrane and fabric systems, among them the AW0™ 2.0 and PIMI polypropylene membranes, both DMF- and PFAS-free, designed for lightweight durability and stability in harsh outdoor conditions.
Participants also discovered Performance Wool AirFuzz, a dynamic warmth system based on a 3D mesh structure that regulates body temperature and moisture during movement while maintaining comfort when stationary.
From workshop to wilderness
Each morning began with focused workshops where participants explored customized material solutions prepared by Flytec’s R&D team. In the afternoons, the theory was put to the test. Wearing prototype garments equipped with Flytec innovations, including the iWARM heating system for precise temperature control, the group set out into the misty forests of Annecy.
“I loved very much the prototype jackets we got for testing,” said Urich Dausien, Founder of Jack Wolfskin. “They are really special, really, really special. I see a big future for those kinds of jackets.”
For Catrin Gujer from Intersport, the experience was as practical as it was impressive: “I was actually perfectly dressed with this iWARM vest and the windproof jacket. When it got windy down by the lake, I just pressed the button and I felt warm again. For me, that was just perfect.”
Collaboration, refined
According to Cathy Zhou, CEO of Flytec, this year’s edition marks a new phase in the company’s ongoing evolution.
“What’s really great about this iteration is that we were much better prepared before the launch,” she explained. “Beyond the main presentation, we introduced workshops tailored for different clients, with more precise and customized product solutions. This made the event much more efficient, allowing everyone to walk away with concrete outcomes that directly support their upcoming work.”
The event concluded not with a closing ceremony, but with a shared moment: A pause on the trail, sunlight breaking through the trees, and Chinese tea poured for all.
Looking ahead
Fly Together continues to grow as Flytec’s signature concept for cross-disciplinary innovation: part workshop, part think-tank, and part outdoor test lab.
As Cathy Zhou summarized: “Iteration and evolution are essential. We hope to keep working hand in hand with every partner along our value chain to create an ideal space for innovation, to develop system-optimal products through the most efficient collaboration possible.”
