Anyone who has achieved a flow state on a forest trail will attest to the addictive power of running in the wild. “It wasn’t until a friend dragged me out to an 11km trail race that I really unlocked what ‘fun’ running could be,” LA-based life coach and creative director Mr Ryan Willms once told us. “Immersed in nature, scrambling over rocks and splashing through creeks, exploring forests and mountains, my lungs filled with fresh air – I was hooked.”

For some, trail running is a way to get grounded and practise spiritual wellness; for others it’s just a fun way to get cardio out of the way as we defrost from the colder months and await the arrival of spring. For Houdini, the Swedish progressive outdoor label established over two decades ago, it’s the inspiration behind its latest “Pace” collection, and it’s one if the many ways to affirm the deep connection with nature that drives the entire brand.

“Houdini was founded because I needed clothes that didn’t exist,” says founder Ms Lotta Giornofelice, who was working as a climbing guide and off-piste skiing instructor, sharing her time between local Scandinavian ski resorts and the French Alps. In the late 1980s, she began making fleece undergarments that’d keep muscle groups warm without overheating; the brand’s first collection was released in 1993, seeing rapid growth over the following years. And despite having fine-tuned its designs and adopted new textile technologies since, Houdini has never lost sight of its core values, which find prime expression in the word friluftsliv, the Nordic concept of getting outdoors.

Today, Houdini is part of a new vanguard of design-forward sportswear labels that value their products just as much as their impact on the environment. It recognises that the privilege of having uncontaminated nature as a playground comes with great responsibility – the brand has set a 50-year roadmap to support a circular approach and hinder linear consumption, aiming to only use fibres that are recycled, recyclable, renewable or biodegradable, starting with its SS22 collection.

It’s exactly that allemansrätten (freedom to roam) that inspires the brand’s designs. Its new “Pace” collection, a line-up of incredibly lightweight, highly functional pieces, is intended for running, training and other high-pulse activities in hot weather. “When we designed the Pace collection, we stopped counting grams and focused on what really counts: the human experience,” says head of design Mr Jesper Danielsson. The fabrics are engineered to be silent while you move without compromising on practicality – weather-resistant treatments and considered details like concealed pockets, chin guards and adjustable drawstrings minimise distractions leaving you, at last, alone with your surroundings.

That weightless feeling – both physical and metaphorical – is “hard to describe”, writes the brand. “It has to be felt.”