Innovation for Extremes

This is an extract from our first exchange about 1924 Everest garments:

From: "Mike Parsons" <mike.parsons@xxxx.co.uk>
To: "Mary Rose" <ecambr@hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: history of mountainwear
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 09:34:16

I personally don't believe the conventional wisdom. I think that the gear that they had was actually good in some cases (where they researched well) but you may NOT want to go down that path. Eg convention says old products were very heavy, but lightweight camping existed in 1900. They were able to camp with enough for a weekend in their jacket pockets. You see textiles were incredibly diverse around 1900 and there was so much choice. But 70 years later our perception of what was being used is incorrect. We live in the ‘knowledge world’, but forget totally how much lost knowledge there is’.

This extract, from Mike’s first email to me, was the spark on which our research collaboration is based. I had initially contacted him to see whether, as the past owner of Karrimor, he would agree to being interviewed for the new research project I was planning, on the history of outdoor clothing and equipment. I had sent a fairly conventional introductory overview called ‘From Norfolk Jacket to Hi-Tech’. Had he responded by talking about unremitting technical progress, or about the way his own innovations had improved on the old gear, I would have been interested I am sure. But it would not have set me thinking and questioning or started a dialogue that led to a joint book, a conference series, to courses in innovation or to a Heritage Lottery Bid (on behalf of Mountain Heritage Trust) to test and replicate the 1924 Mallory Everest Clothing. (Mary Rose August 2006)

About Mary B. Rose

A great love of the outdoors led her to the inspirational idea of writing the first history of innovation in outdoor products. By chance her first call was to Mike Parsons to request contact names, an interview on Karrimor and advice on the outdoor trade. This rapidly developed into a collaborative partnership and support to write the book was agreed in May 2000. After meeting for the first time some weeks later joint authorship was agreed.

Mary has published widely on family business and the history of textiles. This includes The Gregs of Quarry Bank Mill: The Rise and Decline of a Family Business (1986), the history of one of the largest cotton firms in the industrial revolution. Now owned by the National Trust, Quarry Bank is now an award winning museum of the cotton industry. She has edited authored and co-authored 11 books and numerous articles and was promoted to a personal chair at Lancaster University in Entrepreneurship in 2003. She was President of the European Business History Association from 2003-5. She was Director of Pasold Research Fund from 1997-2006 and is currently Research Director of the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Lancaster University Management School. She sees the decision to collaborate with Mike as one of the most important in her career and said:

“Little did I realise that deciding to collaborate on a book on outdoor innovation would have led to many of the most exciting things in my career. Working together has allowed us to innovate through combining and building on our existing knowledge and skills. Too often businessmen and academics pass each other by and ignore each other’s world. By working together has led me to approach familiar things in new ways and to move into a new world."

About Mike Parsons

Mike Parsons has spent over 40 years in the outdoor equipment trade. Formerly Managing Director of Karrimor International - a company with 320 employees - he now runs OMM Ltd ( formerly KIMMLite) a specialist in lightweight outdoor gear and is an Entrepreneurial Fellow in the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development at Lancaster University Management School.

His factory experiences are world wide including China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. He undertook study visits to the USA via a business network of CEOs and absorbed the lessons of lean manufacturing from HP, Apple, Millikin, Motorola and the Toyota/GM joint venture before applying them to his own factory. This resulted in a ‘Management Today Best factory award’ – runner up prize in 1994. His iconic product designs include, the Karrimat, Whillans and Haston Alpiniste, KSB’s, Jaguar SA, Hot Ice and Hot Earth. He held 42 patents and a dozen or so brand registrations world-wide.

His expertise in design and development of mountaineering equipment has inspired him to take a passionate interest in the history and development of the industry and its innovations. Little did he know when he received a phone call from Mary in January 2000 that it would open up so many new horizons and within 5 years they would jointly win a University Teaching Prize for their innovative course. Mike is still surprised:

"I certainly didn’t foresee that a single phone call would lead to so much exciting new work and experiences. The book provided us with a platform to build our conference, the Mallory work and our course, and not least the lastest in innovation thinking to apply to my new business. They are all interrelated and working together has allowed us to ask new questions and offer new solutions."

This has been and continues to be an unexpectedly very exciting new direction for me late in my career. Being able to reflect and analyse my own innovation career within this academic discipline, means the deeply satisfying possibilities of passing on what I have learnt to the next generation.