Stuff We Like: Wilderness Experience Catalogues

Printed pages from the pioneering outdoor brand

If you ever want a case study of the 1970s outdoor boom, then Wilderness Experience would be a good place to start. While the American brand is maybe not a household name over here in England, it was hugely influential in the US—where its Klettersack backpack spawned countless imitators thanks to its functional, hard-wearing design.

Founded by brothers Jim and Greg Thomsen, originally as a sideline for their mountain guide services, not only was Wilderness Experience one of the first brands to use Gore-Tex, but they were also the first US outdoor brand to be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1981—which I suppose could be seen as the exact moment that the outdoor industry flipped from dirtbags with sewing machines and a dream, to a million dollar money-spinner. 

While Jim Thomsen sold his part of the company to go sailing around the world, in 1986 Greg left Wilderness Experience to lead the launch of Nike’s ACG line, fusing his knowledge of running an outdoor brand with the firepower of the Oregon sportswear behemoth to create an amped-up take on outdoor gear for the MTV generation. 

As seems to be the case with these old outdoor brands, the Wilderness Experience catalogues (or catalogs) were great—and a glance at the brand’s printed output gives a pretty interesting window into the rise of the outdoor industry, as Wilderness Experience evolved from its early days offering outdoor courses and guide services to a fully-fledged clothing range. 

A bit of digging and it turns out that the brochures were maybe made by Kris McDivitt. Again, maybe not a household name, but Kris was Patagonia’s CEO from 1973 until ‘93… when she married North Face founder Doug Tompkins. Like her work on Patagonia’s early catalogues, the Wilderness Experience print output is a masterclass in plain-talking and simplicity. 

There’s photos of bags. There’s nice drawings. There’s clear descriptions explaining the products. There’s a bit of graphic design flair, but nothing too crazy or out there. And that’s pretty much it. While ‘outdoor marketing’ has maybe changed a bit since when these were printed, in a way maybe it hasn’t? Maybe it all just boils down to words and pictures and a clear voice? 

If you run an outdoor brand and happen to be reading this—then here’s an idea. Hire an illustrator to sketch your local mountain range. Gather up some photos. Write about the stuff you make. Explain why you’ve added the details you have. Put it all together. Print it out on nice coloured paper. Give them out to people. Then make another one. Who knows? Maybe 50 years from now someone will be writing about how good your catalogues were while you’re sailing around the world.

Find out more about Wilderness Experience here. 

Cheers to Josh at Outsiders for the tip off. Words by Sam Waller.