Here, nature is not elsewhere
Founded in London in 2023 (with the cities Vancouver and Oslo also playing a significant part in the brand’s origins) Portal was born from a desire to create products that would facilitate the founders various active lifestyles. Sharing and implementing the knowledge they collectively gained over decades working in the industry, Portal exists to provide tools for modern explorers to live their lives with movement.
Dedicated to running, riding and hiking the Potal SS26 collection features technical pieces such as the lightweight packable ‘Code Wind’ vest, four pocket ‘Range Light’ jersey, the mesh-panelled ‘Range Light’ tank and woven shell ‘Ambit Ultra’ shorts. Modern, progressive designs that come in their signature taupe, olive and black tones and are accompanied by a range of accessories including the inspired ‘Tread Pill’ plug. A tubeless tyre plug that comes in its own adjustable Dyneema bag.
Accompanying the new drop of SS26 products comes a campaign that’s been shot in the still somewhat Wintery environs of Oslo. Where the new gear can be seen being put through its paces both on foot and in the saddle amidst the snow and concrete of Norway’s nature friendly capital.
Whilst the words accompanying the new Portal release come in the form of a considered manifesto that encapsulates the ethos behind the brand and its latest drop titled ‘Here, nature is not elsewhere’. Explaining that Oslo is not a city that merely sits beside nature but instead is a place that has been designed to touch it and that movement there is not escape but rather a form of ritual.
Elsewhere the words accompanying the SS26 further explain how the city has been made to interact with nature. Detailing how in 1966, architect Håkon Mjelva stood above Grorud T-banestasjon and imagined more than transit by designing a pavilion with openings toward the trees, where a café and conversations were planned. Where for decades taxis idled instead, and the structure became transit, shelter, waiting — yet remained a room at the seam between platform and path, between concrete and forest. Architecture dissolving into landscape.
Portal’s SS26 ode to Oslo ends by reiterating that nature is not elsewhere in the city, though the signs may not be immediately obvious. Stating nor are they always famous landmarks but sometimes to be found in a concrete tunnel, light cutting through architecture or a narrow passage beneath the tracks. Ideas that were formed decades ago but still very much present, still embedded and part of the culture that becomes the air the city breathes.
The latest drop in the SS26 collection is available from portal-brand.com.
