Craghoppers Ltd., a British outdoor clothing company, works with survival star Bear Grylls for product development and marketing. We caught up with the Bear man himself in person for a chat on his recent adventures, his work on the new Craghoppers clothing line, and what he wanted to be as a kid when he grew up.
Gear Junkie: You’ve worked with Craghoppers for a couple years on developing a clothing line. How is it different?
Bear Grylls: The difference that we have is the “survival edge” — this line was developed in the field and there is a survival element to the clothing. It’s all super quick drying, made of rip-stop, everything is reinforced, from the zippers, to buttons to pockets. There’s an anti-mosquito material. There are sunscreen fabrics used. That’s the edge we have.
Where did you draw influence most for the line?
Main thing is the field. We make the stuff and then we go out and test it. Make sure it all stretches in the right places. We rip it, we smash it, and then we go back and improve it. We do this 8, 9, 10 times on each thing before we start manufacturing. My team and I love the process because we all have influence over the final product and we can really genuinely be proud of this kit. We had this same process with our Gerber knives, and now they are the best-selling outdoor knives in the world.
Define what Bear-designed gear is. What makes your stuff stand out?
Quality and innovation. On the show [“Man vs. Wild], I try and always think “how can I use things in nature to improvise?” It’s innovation, like using a tree branch and shoelaces to collect water, or whatever. I love that part. I try to bring that same element to survival kits and clothing. We over-develop the buttons and the zippers, make them tough. Make them just work. That way you won’t have to think about your bloody gear when you’re out there! It just does what it needs to do.
