When a British expedition reached the summit of Everest in 1953, it put British mountaineering at the top of the world. In the decades that followed, there was an explosion in the popular love of the outdoors, and the outdoor clothing trade boomed. What hikers and mountaineers wore evolved from woolly jumpers, army surplus and cotton or tweed into highly technical specialist gear.
Mostly responsible for this was a small group of climbers, who couldn't buy the products they needed and so decided to make them, sowing the seeds for the global brands - Berghaus, Craghoppers, Karrimor, Mountain Equipment, Rab, Sprayway and others - we know today. Still worn in the toughest environments imaginable, British outdoor clothing is also now ubiquitous - equally seen on hikers, everyday dog-walkers and vintage gear lovers in east London, Manchester's Northern Quarter or Tokyo.
Mountain Style: British Outdoor Clothing 1953-2000 is the first illustrated book to tell this story, from the days of postwar austerity, through the colour explosion of the 1980s, to the 1990s, when outdoor clothing became embedded in football and rave subcultures and crossed into the mainstream. It celebrates the outsiders, the problem solvers and the mavericks: the manufacturing pioneers and the mountaineers who from humble beginnings went further, faster and higher - setting the template for what we all wear in the outdoors, and inadvertently creating style classics along the way.
Alongside interviews with those at the birth of the brands, Mountain Style features vintage brochures, adverts and photos, plus new studio photography. From down jackets that summited Everest in 1953 to the first Gore-tex and multicoloured fleeces, via logos, materials and more, it is an indispensable companion for outdoor and style lovers in the UK and beyond.
Full colour photography throughout.
By Henry Iddon and Max Leonard.
Hardback, 30cm by 23cm, 272 pages.
Published 2024 by the Isola Press.
ISBN: 9781739126759.