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Meet Gregory Haggquist of Cocona in Boulder

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Gregory Haggquist.

Gregory, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I will start my story in 1992, I was a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow at Kyoto University in Japan. My research project was on how light interacts with matter and the mechanisms behind how light energy is captured and transferred within polymer materials. During my stay in Japan, I traveled around to see many of the amazing sights. One of those trips was to Kyushu island with three of my close friends. We visited a volcanic sands SPA. This SPA has a treatment that buries you in hot volcanic sand to extract toxins out of your body. When I touched the sand with my foot, I was not sure if I wanted to go through with the treatment. The sand was extremely hot and I thought I would immediately jump out screaming, looking for cold water. However, my friends talked me into doing it. Once buried, it had the opposite effect that I thought was going to happen. I thought I would be too hot, but in actuality, I was sweating so fast that I could cool myself as fast as I was heating up. This balance created comfort in a very hot environment. This is where paying attention and asking the right questions paid off. From that moment on, I was trying to understand the dynamics that were at play underneath this hot sand. What I concluded was if my body can continually sweat, then it had a huge cooling capacity. Thus I could be cool even in hot environments. The key was to allow for continuous sweating. To do that, the by-product of sweating (humidity) had to be effectively removed. That was what the volcanic sand was doing. It was removing the humidity that was produced next to my skin (sweat), cooling me. That concept drove me to invent our present product 37.5 Technology. A product that uses volcanic sand to manage the climate next to your skin.

Has it been a smooth road?
I took the road that had no path, it was more like rock climbing than smooth roads. The number of struggles I had were endless, so I will name only some of the critical ones.

Internal battle, I had to constantly believe I was not crazy and that my vision was obtainable. Everyone I talked to wanted to guide me to what they thought was the right direction. You have to accept that this is your journey and vision, let them do theirs. You need to be strong in your vision and clearly articulate your view. You have to accept that not everyone is going to believe what you are saying and be fine with it.

Sacrifice and Compromise, I had to compromise and give up to move forward. I do not know if that was the right decision, but it was a major struggle. The battle of what to do and who to listen to. It was a shock going from mostly a scientific environment of collaboration to a business environment of “what’s in it for me” mentality. I learned really fast how money changes the equation. However, I never gave up on my scientific integrity, at times that is all you can grasp onto.

Partner Selection, I learned that who I worked with was just as important as the end goal. You cannot do it all yourself, you need to have partners, be it financial, employees, suppliers, customers, and advisers. Who you select matters in the end, targeting the right partners upfront saved me time, energy, and emotional stress.

The Struggle of When, when do you do something? This was a struggle that is ongoing. Building a business requires a critical mass of things. For me, the things I needed were a product, which required manufacturing partners, which required cash, which required a marketing story, which required experimental data, which required a novel test method, and so on. The needs were many but the resources were limited.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Cocona – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Cocona is a leader in fabric technology. It is the maker of 37.5 Technology, an additive that is incorporated into textile building blocks such as fiber and filament yarn. This volcanic sand additive senses the humidity level next to your skin, triggering either a cooling or warming event. The result is apparel or bedding that manages your climate next to your skin, increasing your comfort and performance.

Cocona is based on scientific research, we go to great lengths to make and validate our products so anything labeled as 37.5 Technology delivers on the comfort and performance promise. We do not compromise on our product or validation. We are always asking another question. Questions around how to make our products better, more environmentally friendly, and how to measure performance.

I am proud that we are scientifically and environmentally focused. We do not compromise in those areas.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
The greater Denver area is a wonderful place to live. I love the combination of Urban life, coupled with ease of access to nature. I guess a lot of people agree with me and that leads to crowded spaces and my least favorite part which is traffic congestion on our highways, especially I70.

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