When Kletterwerks was first conceived in 1975, Founder Dana Gleason probably had no clue that in 2013 people would still be using his original bags. These original bags would become the start of a career that spanned over three decades of making some of the best bags the world has ever seen. In 2012, Gleason’s son, aka Dana III, decided to bring back the Kletterwerks brand. Under brand manager Ben Nobel, Kletterwerks is bringing back old designs and updating them for modern life.I had the opportunity to talk to Ben Nobel about the history and future of Kletterwerks, simplicity in design, and how he plans on bringing back an American classic.
Visit Kletterwerks here.
I can imagine there’s a lot of pressure in bringing a brand back that has such a solid history. How do you plan on bringing Kletterwerks into the future?
Honestly, there isn’t as much pressure as you may think, because the story is so interesting. Most of the time when people haven’t heard of us, we spend a few minutes telling them the history and by the end of it, they have a totally different impression of who we are. Dana’s 35 year history is so developed that between Dana Designs, Mystery Ranch and our military and fire contracts, it is quite am impressive resume.
So in telling this brand story, we usually like to be very upfront with our approach. We are not shy in telling people that we have multiple million dollar military contracts and supply packs to almost every hot shot crew in the US. Furthermore, we’ve developed an airbag for avalanche safety and build perhaps the most sought after hunting packs in the world. That being said, Kletterwerks is the beginning of all of this, so of course, our heritage is certainly in simple cordura rucksacks.
Back then, no one had ever used Cordura for a pack. Dana was the first, and since then we’ve rarely strewn very far from it. We are using a lot of the same materials we’ve been using since the beginning, but having 35 years of experience in building equipment, we know the wear points and trouble areas well. Thus, the current line of Kletterwerks packs is built in the same US factories as our military spec packs, using cordura, leather, nickel plated buckles, and rugged YKK zips. The only major changes would include a closed cell Densified Urethane foam for the shoulder pads and including computer sleeves in daypacks. Obviously we had to build products for the modern life, so we introduced iPad cases, laptop bags, and Dop kits to fulfill the lineup.
The future of Kletterwerks lies in the hands of its history. We are proud of where we can from and where we are today. In the technical pack market via Mystery Ranch, we’ve done very well, so we’re confident in the quality and craftsmanship of offering with Kletterwerks. It’s a genuine American classic, that is close to being described as timeless by many of our American and Japanese customers. We couldn’t be more proud to re-introduce a brand that we know lasts the test of time…
It is definitely a timeless and genuine American classic, the Kletter Flip is such an influential and lasting design. Personally, do you think in a world that is getting so technologically advanced, people are starting to enjoy simple, well designed classics?
Take food for example, everyone these days is eating like they were living in the 19th century: farm-to-table restaurants, organic farms, buying local, etc. etc. Somehow in the last decade or so people internationally began to make some serious changes in the way they consume. It is the same in the outdoor/lifestyle industry. Products and experiences are being streamlined and simplified. Even our daily activities are taking this course – people are exercising and spending more time outdoors. Thus, we take the same approach here with Kletterwerks. When we decided to bring back the KW brand, it was an obvious choice for today’s market given this new paradigm of consumerism. Our original bags were so simple and well designed, that we decided not to change too much. We did upgrade each piece with DU foam, lining, and computer sleeves, but for the most part we wanted to keep this paradigm alive with simplicity.
That being said, bags are not that much different from the way we eat in today’s world. We can produce a simple, well designed, American-made pack for your daily use and compare it to the smoothie and to-go salad from the natural food market down the street. It’s a small way each of us can take a holistic approach to the way we live.
You recently did a bag with Mark McNairy, how did this collaboration come about?
Honestly, it was quite random. At Capsule New York, Kletterwerks and McNairy were neighbors at the show. Dana and Mark met, showed one another their lines and hit it off. The idea for the collaboration sparked immediately from a mutual respect for one another’s design taste and tactile vision. Mark offered a fabric vision outside of a normal substituted color of Cordura and was able to provide Dana with a sample roll of the Herringbone Wool.
We put a few additional layers of material inside to promote durability, but for the most part, Mark’s desire to endorse the Herringbone as the main technology was a staple in the project. We’re currently working on a few more collabs with Mark for AW13…
I know that you just got back from making the Trade Show rounds, what else do you have planned for Kletterwerks this year?
Well 2013 is going to be a big year for us – design and production wise.
We’re working hard with our current retailers to ensure solid sell-thru and making sure they get as much marketing exposure from us as possible. They are our #1 priority, and a handful of new retailers will be introduced later this spring.
Currently, we are working hard in the design room getting ready for summer show season. This is the creative time for us – we are looking into a slew of new bags, packs, luggage and accessories, as well as introducing some radical new color ways. Keep an eye out for a few collaborations we will be extremely excited to show off.
A couple weeks ago, we had a launch party in Tokyo for our new Japanese distributor – A&F. Japan has always been a big market for us and we couldn’t be happier with our new relationship with them. So, its time to get those sewing machines into 6th gear to fulfill the spring/summer delivery.
We are growing our internal business as well, hiring a few key people to help out in the office, social media, and customer service. The team couldn’t be stronger!
And winter is in full swing, so hopefully get some powder days in…
Has it been interesting for you to see how receptive the global street culture has been to the brand?
When we started this project we were elbows deep in international military contracts, forest service equipment purchases, ski patrol PPE programs and intensive medical projects. Needless to say we are heavily invested in the technical equipment market. However, since our initial push into Japan we started to see a big impression into the street scene over there. We were dealing with some interesting problems at that time, where bags were being imported and sold in street shops for upwards of $800-900. Hence our distribution channel now for both Mystery Ranch and KW.
Since Japan became our new model for the lifestyle brand, we took KW to the US Market using the same sales approach we did overseas. We were still having a slight identity crisis as to what the brand meant to the market – is it outdoor? Is it fashion? Is it equipment? We decided its everything. We weren’t trying to jump on any trends, per say, we just focused on building the best packs in the world – and focus on the one remaining industry we hadn’t tapped yet - fashion.
Now we’ve all seen the major shift in the industry that the outdoor market is beginning to influence the fashion world and vice versa. We’re confident that our products can span internationally and into any market (current industries under the Mystery Ranch/KW umbrella include – military, firefighting, hunting. Skiing/outdoor, medical, SAR, Avalanche safety, and now fashion).
I think because we kept our focus on using materials and construction techniques that we use for all these other industries to make products for the street scene, separates ourselves from the competition. We are proud of the quality and craftsmanship of these packs and I think that has really been passed along to customers in the street culture. So that is our focus, build the best packs in the world… And yes, it was VERY interesting to see the response…
What do you think the challenge for bag companies will be in the future? Things can always be improved on, but what do you think the next major design step will be?
Design is something that we are constantly in discussion over. There is ALWAYS advancements in materials, which is something we strive to be at the forefront of – whether it be Densified Urethane, Nickel Plated Steel, or even Kevlar coated nylon. The interesting discussion regarding styling and design almost takes a historical voice as well as a modern one.
We are, of course, a technology dependent society, so we will always be crafting pieces to carry every day gadgets like computers, phones and tablets. But we firmly believe that there is a standard of which function is still function. These are the ideas we have been working on for decades and use very similar techniques in design that we have used for Navy SEALS, Fire Fighters, and Ski Patrol. The idea of a bag that is designed to DO something is important to us, and we want to ensure that every bag shipped out of Bozeman has its purpose. We’d be honored that if in 50, or even 100, years there are Kletterwerks bags still in use.
This could be one of the biggest challenges for us, or any bag company for that matter. Engineering classic styled bags with a function and durability is the future of our brand.
Visit Kletterwerks here.