| Ian's first interest in outdoors came though the University of WA outdoor club which he joined while studying engineering and science in the early 1970’s. He has remained active in a wide range of outdoor pursuits ever since. Ian has been involved in caving, mountaineering, canoeing, sea kayaking, cycle touring and walking trips both locally and overseas.
An early highlight was his 1976 canoe-based exploration of all the Karri forest rivers in SW Australia for the then WA Department of Conservation. Amongst other things, the material from these expeditions was used to produce the first guides for these rivers. Ian has completed mountaineering courses in NZ, canoed the Franklin river in the 70's and rafted the Mitchell and Charnley rivers in the Kimberley, trekked and climbed in Nepal and ski-mountaineered in NZ and Europe.
In 1983 he organised and lead a 30-person, month-long scientific expedition to the remote west Kimberley. He has acted as an instructor on bushwalking skills courses for the Education Department of WA, conducted an expedition skills workshop for teachers and was closely involved in the early days of NORLD.
Now with his wife and often also with his children and friends, you can find him on a longer backpacking trip, ski tour or paddle trip several times a year. On the water he regularly paddles a surf ski and sea kayak. In the past six years he has modified and completely refitted a classic design steel cruising yacht and undertaken a number of multi-week voyages around the Western Australian coastline with his family. With his youngest child completing high school this year a longer voyage to South America and beyond is developing on the chart table.
In 1974 Ian made a tent for himself. After using it on a year-long Australian trip taking in all points between the far north Kimberley to south-west Tasmania he returned to Perth in 1977 and started his company Wilderness Equipment (WE). It began with the design and manufacture of tents, insulated clothing, sleeping bags, day packs, cycle panniers. In 1980 he started on back packs and Gore-Tex rainshells, one of the very first business in Australia to do so. In the late 80's the staff at W.L Gore staff acknowledged that WE Gore-Tex shellwear had a substantially lower return rate than all other Australian brands.
WE has evolved into the current business with its focus on the manufacture of tents and backpacks. After running his own factory in North Fremantle for nearly 20 years you can now find Ian in the sample rooms of his Viet Nam partner factories, working alongside staff who he now counts as good friends. He spends more than a month each year there, developing new products and supervising manufacturing.
Over the years Ian’s design and manufacturing skills have been called on for such projects such as tents and clothing for the Australian Antarctic Division, the supply of Nomex turnout clothing for the ACT fire service, and the back packs and wet weather gear for the Australian Army's SAS. More recently he has been involved in the re-design of the yet to be issued packs and load bearing equipment for the Australian Defence Force.
Ian now has over 35 years experience in the design, construction and maintenance of outdoor equipment. His unique background combining wide outdoor experience with training in the fields of science and engineering certainly have much to do with the high reputation his products enjoy. |
