Karrimor is a British brand of backpacks, outdoor and sports equipment, and clothing.
The company was founded as the Karrimor Bag Company in 1946.
Financial difficulties beginning in the late 1990s led to the company entering receivership in March 2004, after which the trademark was acquired by Sports Direct and is now used for various budget outdoor and running products.
History Original company Early history Karrimor was founded and based in Lancashire, England, following World War II, with the company moving early on from Rawtenstall shop premises to nearby Clayton-le-Moors. Its history began in 1943, when Waterfoot bicycle shop owner Charles Parsons (1910–?) went blind from an accident that had occurred in 1939.Parson's accident is stated to have happened "8 years after" the 1931 founding of his Waterfoot shop (1939) and led to blindness "12 years later" (1943) – Under war and post-war conditions, he was also unable to obtain saddlebag and pannier stock for sale, but was still able to buy local raw fabric.British manufacturing: the best thing since sliced bread – The Independent, 1996-08-18, David Bowen His wife and her sister (Mary Parsons 1914–? and Grace Davies) began to make bicycle bags for his shop, which the family also began to sell locally to other shops. This led to the Karrimor Bag Company being formed in 1946. As a saddlebag manufacturer it competed with companies then in the same industry, such as Carradice and Dunlop.The Carradice Story: "As British as the Union Jack" – Carradice saddlebags history, classiclightweights.co.uk, by Steve Griffith: "Carradice had a number of rivals in the cycle bag market. These included ... Dunlop ... and after WW2 Karrimor who originally were in nearby Rawtenstall. Karrimor branched out into walking and climbing equipment and were in the mid-1970s the first to market a nylon saddlebag [Cycletouring CTC Magazine April 1972 pp 90/91]. In the 1980s they [Karrimor] converted their entire range over to nylon."
The company was incorporated and changed its name to Karrimor Weathertite Products (named after their Weathertite cycling bags) in April 1952, before diversifying into backpacks in 1958, where during the 1960s and 1970s it made its reputation.
Growth and renown
Karrimor were still small when their son Mike Parsons (1942–) joined in 1960, and began to build the 6-employeeThis is sometimes quoted as "7 employees". The firm had 6 employees at the time, with Parsons being the 7th employee. company into an international outdoor equipment manufacturer. The company's growth arose from a number of factors.Path-dependent foundation of global design-driven outdoor trade in the northwest of England – Rose, Love & Parsons (1 December 2007), International Journal of Design, 1(3), pp.57–68
1. CEO being a dedicated end-user of the products, and a capable designer/innovator in his own right Mike Parsons' own personal "obsession" with outdoor pursuits, including mountain marathons, led him to be described in the 1990s as the company's "best tester and salesman". For many iconic products Parsons was also the group's primary innovator and designer; the company's success was largely credited to the very close links created by Parson's involvement both in manufacturing and technical research as a manufacturer, and direct engagement with hardened end users, their requirements, and their experiences. A 2006 OutdoorMagic.com article credits Parsons as the "legendary" creator of many of Karrimor's best known products, including the Jaguar, Alpiniste, and Hot Ice backpacks, KSB (Karrimor Sports Boot) footwear, the Karrimat, and the Kimmlite series.Gear News: OMM 2007 Sneak Peek – 2006-07-14, by 'Jon' (Parson's sister Jennifer Longbottom (1945–) also joined in 1972 within manufacturing.) 2. Lancashire's location and local history relating to the Industrial Revolution and the textile industry A second (and third) fortuitous factor beyond a CEO who was himself an enthusiast, product user and innovator, lay in the firm's location and the Lancashire region's history. In the 19th century about 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide had been processed in hundreds of Lancashire mill towns, close to the nearby major port of Liverpool. Its legacy in the 1960s included an abundance locally of resources, businesses and expertise, allied with a strong traditional focus on product design – in particular for rubberised and coated rainwear – which was exceptionally well suited to the developing of new and improved outdoors textiles and products.Cotton spinning to climbing gear: Practical aspects of design evolution in Lancashire and the North West of England – Rose, Love & Parsons, Lancaster University Management School Working Paper 2006/052.
Karrimor developed close ties to these local resources, which was unusual at the time. Product manager Eddie Creig stated in 1982: "How can you expect to have the correct material if you don't speak to the people who know what coated fabric is? The resultant meetings always seemed to me the main reason why we have led the field in our section of the leisure industry." 3.Lancashire's location again, and its proximity to major outdoor activity regions Further related to location, the Lancashire region is also very close to some of the UK's most popular Hillwalking and climbing destinations such as the Lake District and Peak District. In the 1960s such activities gained more public popularity, causing an influx of dedicated hobbyists and a growth in popular demand and product expectations – in particular from nearby working class cities such as Manchester and Sheffield – and placing Karrimor in very close geographical proximity to its products' end-users. 4. Market timing and circumstances and social dynamics within 1950s – 1960s Britain A fourth factor was market timing. Prosperity and consumer demand had returned to the UK in the 1950s,David Kynaston, Family Britain, 1951–1957 (2009)Peter Gurney, "The Battle of the Consumer in Postwar Britain," Journal of Modern History (2005) 77#4 pp. 956–987 in JSTOR and the company was well-positioned to benefit from a subsequent mass-public 'boom' in its field, and its shift from seasonal activity to year-round 'all weather' activity. This was driven in the first instance by post-war social change in the UK: the 1953 climbing of Everest and the resulting explosion of interest in climbing and climbing clubs; the 1950s creation of the Pennine Way and several National Parks in the UK; the creation of the motorway system and growth in leisure travel; pent-up post-war demand for outdoor activities and hobbies at all levels of society which was economically supported by high levels of employment; support for outdoor activities (and mountaineering in particular) at all levels of society causing these to feature prominently in the media, in education, and in youth activities; widespread familiarity with climbing and its equipment (from wartime service); and massive public interest in family camping and caravanning. There was also a lack of established high quality competition for the newly expanding sector, which was supplied by a combination of (largely French) imports and a flood of cheap, poor quality, army surplus stock. 5. "Creative" use of social networking (uncommon at the time) to gain wide awareness, reach, and interest among end-users A final, and major, factor was the "creative" use of social networking, which allowed Karrimor and its peers in the field to expand unusually quickly in these conditions. These manufacturers' owners had close personal links with many individuals involved in enthusiast organisations, publications, stores and outlets, public exhibitions, and expeditions, in their field, which were also often run by fellow climbers and enthusiasts. This ability to convert a new start-up into a widely known substantial business using social networking via fellow enthusiasts is commonplace in the internet era but was uncommon at the time; it significantly lowered barriers to entry and raised market reach and product feedback for those enthusiast-entrepreneurs able to create good quality products and gain positive coverage and discussion by their peers,Other UK outdoor pursuit manufacturers that gained market presence in a similar way, included Peter Storm (1954), Troll, Berghaus, Snowdon Mouldings, Henri Lloyd, and Mountain Equipment (1960s) – see table p.19, Parsons and Rose, 2003 as well as access to highly regarded "lead users" who tested and collaborated in product design and real-world testing.
Indeed, the 30-year period 1960–1990 has been described as a "golden age" for UK outdoor pursuit entrepreneurial companies generally.TGO, January 2001, p. 3 Cameron McNeish ‘ Go Outdoors – A Plea to Gear Manufacturers’, cited by Rose & Parsons Communities of Knowledge: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Networks in the British Outdoor Trade 1960–1990 (2003).
A major example of this synergistic combination of factors was Karrimor's innovation of the first robustly waterproof lightweight nylon texturised fabric, marketed as KS-100e. Within 1960s textiles, cotton fibres expand when wet, bond to many coatings, and cotton fabrics are therefore easily made waterproof and rot-proof, but remain relatively heavy and cumbersome, and far from an ideal backpack textile, while nylon fabrics are lightweight, tough, flexible, easily cleaned, but technically very difficult to waterproof other than by adding coatings (with existing coatings such as polyurethane readily peeling or wearing away), and when untreated are always permeable to water (its fibres do not expand to fill the gaps when wet). Therefore, in the 1960s, robustly waterproof fabrics were still largely based on rubberised coatings, duck-cotton and the like, even though these flexed poorly and added weight. In collaboration with a local company (either BM Coatings or Gordon and Fairclough, sources differ), Karrimor developed an elastomer-nylon process in which toughened nylon fabric was waterproofed without significant weight or additional coatings, and without losing its natural flexibility, durability, texture, or other desirable qualities.
Designs were launched in backpacks, camping mats and other areas of equipment manufacture. Famous climbs such as Annapurna (1970) and Everest (1975 twice and 1978) using Karrimor equipment (covered in prestigiousGUEST EDITORIAL: Ken Wilson on the BMC Presidential Election – UKClimbing.com April 2009 (guest editor profile "Who is Ken Wilson?"): Once the world's most authoritative climbing periodical, Mountain magazine is still spoken of in hallowed tones today international mountaineering journals such as Ken Wilson's Mountain "Annapurna briefing – report on preparations and equipment for Annapurna south face" Mountain, 1969 – cited by Rose & Parsons Communities of Knowledge: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Networks in the British Outdoor Trade 1960–1990 (2003)].) also had a lasting impact on the company's profile in its field, and gave its products a 'reputation for functionality and usability'. At times, this left manufacturing output "struggling to keep up with demand".
In this way, between 1960 and 1990, the company innovated successfully and gained international recognition for many of its products (see 'pre-receivership recognition' below). Its first factory opened in 1965, in nearby Haslingden,Karrimor detailed history and timeline, inov8.com.au with two more following. The 1960s also saw business revenue grow 800% and the first exports. In line with its growing global reputation and prominence, in 1975 the company changed name once more, to Karrimor International Ltd. By then, Karrimor was supplying an estimated 80% of the UK backpack market, and exporting some 40% of products. (After the company's 2004 collapse, its assets were acquired by a new company, Karrimor Ltd, and as of 2013 trades under that name.)
Recession and resurgence