Purple Mountain Observatory

Purple Mountain Observatory don't really care whether you're scaling a Welsh peak or just nipping out for a pint — they've designed their kit to handle both. Founded in 2021 by Matt Braun, the label was born during lockdown out of a simple frustration: he couldn't find performance gear that felt as good in town as it did in the hills. The brand's name comes from Zijin Shan, the peak above Nanjing where their apparel is now produced and home to China's first modern observatory — a fitting blend of wild beauty and pioneering technology that runs right through everything they make.

From thermochromic jackets that shift colour with the weather to hand-dyed shells and meridian-like micro-ripstops, each PMO piece takes around six months to develop, with Matt bringing the best part of two decades of technical design experience to the cutting table. The real trick, though, is that all this firepower comes without the eye-watering price tag you'd expect — a deliberate choice to keep the outdoors accessible. Now stocked across Japan, South Korea, France, Italy and Switzerland, PMO are quickly becoming a mainstay of Britain's new wave of sportswear. Pull one of their jackets on and you'll feel just as at home on a windswept ridgeline as you do waiting for the 38 bus.