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Coffee might just be one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. That’s why there’s a near-endless supply of coffee grounds produced in the process of making coffee. These grounds are the raw materials used for S.Café®, a highly functional and sustainably sourced type of fibre we at Maier Sports use to create cooling summer shirts. This is how enjoying your morning coffee helps us produce sustainable clothing.

Sustainability is an important topic of public discourse, and there are good reasons for this. Outdoor and sports enthusiasts in particular are very aware of the benefits of sustainability in production, as they feel an inherent love of the grandeur of unspoilt nature. But with all the discussions about more or less ground-breaking technological advances in production, we often forget one of the most important aspects of sustainability: Product durability.

A holiday in the Alps can be a great challenge – not only for yourself but also for your clothes. Rough rocks, damp caves and steep climbing paths demand a lot from the material. These are the exact conditions I put my new Norit hiking pants through. Curious how the Maier Sports model performed? Read my review and my experiences below.

Do you remember your first mountain climb? Do you remember the moment you reached the summit and experienced that indescribable feeling of freedom? Those moments are what we at Maier Sports aim for when designing pants. They’re what we’ve been aiming for throughout our 75 years in the industry and our pants are the product of these almost eight decades of experience.

First an undershirt, then a shirt, over that a mid-layer and finally a jacket - the tried and tested layering method is immensely popular with outdoor adventurers throughout the year. During cold temperatures in winter or even in spring when the mountains are still covered in snow, the layering method provides cosy warmth. When it gets warmer, the individual layers can be easily removed one after the other. So you are never too cold nor too warm during your outdoor adventures.

Whether it’s hiking, demanding trail running or even cycling – Maier Sports, from Köngen in Swabia is a company with a long-standing tradition, and they have exactly what you are looking for. They are considered the absolute pants specialist in the outdoor segment. The name stands for excellent functionality and perfectly fitted pants for any outdoor activity. I was able to test the Tajo 2 outdoor pants and see how they perform under challenging conditions.

Nicaragua in May, Namibia in June, Corsica in July, the Karwendel mountain range in August and Bali in September. No two days are the same for a travel journalist. And it’s not easy to find the right pants for all the activities in different climate zones, especially when you have the legs of a gazelle and standard pants are always five centimetres too short.

Combining hiking and yoga is quickly becoming a new trend. Allgäu mountain guide Stefan Neuhauser, who specialises in tours through the Provence and Piemont regions, and yoga teacher Tine Noble have been organising such events outside of mainstream tourism for almost 20 years now. Their tours lead them mostly to the lonely mountain regions south of the Alps.