The Lost Explorer to offer 'Things you didn't know you needed'

London - David Mayer de Rothschild, British adventurer, ecologist, environmentalist and youngest heir to Rothschild banking fortune has decided to funnel his passions into a eco-fashion business venture, aptly named 'the Lost Explorer.'

The company, which is built on his affinity for travel, eco-entrepreneurship and nature, is based in Los Angeles and counts among is first eight employees, Jonathan Kirby, former Levi's designer and Len Peltier, former creative director for the denim label. The acclaimed explorer - known for sailing the 'Plastiki', a boat made from 12,500 two liter recycled plastic bottles from San Francisco to Sydney in 2010 - has also tapped luxury goods consultant Chris Spira to help oversee the brand.

With plans in the pipeline to launch the first range in this Autumn, which will consist of a wool-based outerwear collection, de Rothschild has based his design ethos on items of apparel he himself has picked up from around the world during his extensive travels. "There’s a very English side of David, and so he tends to pull things from late 1800s, early 1900s," said Peltier in an interview with the New York Times. "He also has beautiful things from other countries. When he was in Mongolia, he picked up some pieces. It’s quite a variety. We have a closet we jokingly call ‘the cabinet of curiosities.’"

The Lost Explorer to help 'integrate nature into people’s lives'

Rejecting the industry's more commercial way of advertising new collections, de Rothschild has decided not to develop any sort of lookbooks for his collections, preferring that customers choose for themselves how to wear his pieces. "We don't want to tell you how to wear it," added Peltier. "You can mix these things with your jeans, with your shorts, with whatever you wear."

The debut collection will include two mountain jackets, as well as a pair of trousers and shirt made from high quality and technical fabrics. After the first drop, the company plans on launching two additional items: a merino-cashmere shirt and a merino-ventile shirt, as de Rothschild prefers to offer his range according to material, rather following any seasonless or style fashion calendar.

The materials used for the Lost Explorer's clothing is integral to de Rothschild personal beliefs and integrate what he calls "bio-mimicry." For example, heat-wicking technology that is based on pine cones and contain fibers that open when the wear is hot and close when they are cold. In order to use the most advanced technological materials available for his apparel, de Rothschild is working with Swiss textile and fabric manufacturer, Schoeller.

In order to ensure that The Lost Explorer attracts like-minded adventurers and travellers and helps them discover the world, the company also aims to offer "curate adventures" through targeted smartphone apps. "Anything that helps better integrate nature into people’s lives," noted de Rothschild. "There’s no such thing really as an original idea anymore. It’s just looking at it through a different lens and presenting it in a different way. The Lost Explorer is the David lens. But I also respect the people around me. I respect the refining of that lens."

The Lost Explorer's debut collection is slated to launch in October and willbe available online via the label's platform, thelostexplorer.co or through pop-up stores in London and New York.