ENGINEER INVENTS A WRAP-AROUND WAY TO BEAT THE COLD

By Tony Bennett

Thisis the story of a man whose legs got so cold that he changed careers.

It's not hard to have sympathy for Jeffrey Xu. In 2015, he came to Duluth to work as an aeronautics engineer with Cirrus Aircraft. Previously, he had made Shanghai, China, his home. There, it can get cold, but winter temps tend not to dip any lower than the 30s or so, and snow is rare and doesn't stick around long. So imagine the plight of poor Xu, suddenly in a hostile

“The very first morning I went to work in Duluth was an early November morning in 2015,” Xu said. “There was a thick layer of frost on the windshield of my car. I spent 10 minutes scraping it off. My legs were really cold. At that time, I just took it as a life challenge in Duluth and did not light up my engineering fire to innovate and beat back the cold. However, as winter deepened, it became clear that something needed to be done to avoid the cold shocks every time I walked out snow pants exist, and so do long johns, but these didn't work well enough for Xu. He wanted something easily removable.

“People around me were very intrigued by my prototype of Pants on Pants, given the unique and convenient way of donning and removal,” Xu said. “They said: 'Jeffrey is doing something funny, again.' The pants underwent many iterations before the first prototype was done, and even more changes after. Shell fabrics, insulation material and zipper locations were all modified. One of the key developments was the openings to reach the pockets of inner pants. I had to struggle to get the keys in the pockets of my office pants before we had these openings.” landscape of ice and snow, forced to contend with temps 10 or 20 degrees below zero. For him, the breaking point was when he had to endure sitting in his frozen car, shivering, while he waited for his seat to warm up. This is the stuff Twin Portians are inured to. For Xu, it became a battle he needed to win. of a building and every time I sat on the frigid car seat.”

Of course, making your own legs warmer doesn't necessarily translate into starting a small business, but Xu felt as if he had a marketable idea. Before long, he was putting up a Kickstarter and talking to retailers and doing all the — ahem — legwork that a start-up needs to do. The aeronautics engineer quickly became a clothing designer and marketer.

Necessity being the mother of invention and all, Xu set to designing something to ease his pain. The idea was pretty simple: people put jackets on over their shirts, so why wouldn't they put pants over their pants? Obviously,

“The pants attracted customers and media attention in cold areas worldwide,” Xu said of his early successes once his product went up for sale. “We had orders from Norway, Germany and Canada, and an order from Chile was totally (unexpected). The pants are selling great online” — at pantsonpants.com — “and in local retail stores — Trailfitters in Duluth and Northwest Outlet in Superior. We are establishing a sales network in Canada and the U.S. Since these pants need demonstrations, we intend to promote them on TV shopping channels in the future.”

For a while, Xu juggled his day job with his side gig, but, eventually, something had to give. In the end, his obsession with besting Old Man Winter emerged victorious.

“I am now working full time on this business, and no longer with Cirrus,” Xu said. “It certainly is a big change and a big challenge. Running a business requires a broad range of skills and activities. In addition to innovating a new product, we also need to communicate with customers and spread the news to people who are in dire need of this great product.”

That product, its creator says, is a game-changer for those who give it a try. “Since these pants solve the problem of cold legs elegantly, both outdoors folk and people who like to stay indoors hail their arrival,” Xu said. “It is straightforward to understand the enthusiasm of outdoors folk. The great benefit for people who like to stay indoors is equally liberating: now they do not need to consider outside temperature when making indoor fashion decisions. They can now enjoy spring, summer and fall pants in the winter.”

Xu suggests that his female customers have been vital to the development of his burgeoning business. “The very first customer of Pants on Pants was a woman,” he said. “At that time, I had to provide her a prototype first, because a product was not available yet. Now, both she and her husband wear them daily.”

“Women love these pants for several specific reasons,” Xu continued, his confidence in his own market research evident. “Women usually feel colder than men, because of smaller sizes and lower metabolism. The other reason is, women are more fashion-conscious. Women’s Pants on Pants have a stylish cut. In addition, with Pants on Pants, women regain indoor fashion freedom because they do not need to worry about outside temperature.”

Xu’s a guy with an analytical mind. He's clearly thought through all the angles, engineer that he is. He even can explain why his product can help stave off winter weight-gain.

“It is a natural tendency for a body to accumulate more fat when it feels threatened by coldness,” Xu said. “The first winter season in Duluth, I gained ten pounds of winter bump. These winter weight gains are difficult to get rid of, even after the season. The second winter, I gained only three pounds with my first Pants on Pants prototype, a significant improvement.”

This is how Jeffrey Xu became an entrepreneur, by fighting Minnesota winters head-on with his brains and his body and his determination. In that way, maybe he shares characteristics with the region’s fur trappers of 200 years ago, with the people who sacrificed to bring others more comfort. He, too, in his own way, is a man against nature.

Cold legs be warned: Jeffrey Xu is coming for you. D