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The Big Idea
The Gear Years 1875-2002
A History of Modern Gear, From 1875-2002

1875
Pounding in IRON SPIKES for protection, George Anderson pioneers U.S. climbing with the first ascent of Yosemite's Half Dome.

1879
Martin Strand builds the first American SKI FACTORY in St. Paul, Minnesota, making planks out of Norway pine.

1895
Ignaz Schwinn and Adolph Arnold incorporate ARNOLD, SCHWINN & COMPANY in Chicago—it becomes America's most recognized bike brand.

1907
The German company Klepper produces the first COLLAPSIBLE KAYAK.

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1908
Englishman Oscar Eckenstein's TEN-PINT CRAMPON paves the way for European mountaineers to take steeper routes.

1912
Duck hunter LEON LEONWOOD BEAN launches his catalog colossus by selling the Maine Hunting Shoe—a hybrid combining leather uppers with water proof rubber booties.

1920
German Adi Dassler makes his first ADDIDAS TRAINING SHOES in his mother's laundry room.

1926
Surf pioneer Tom Blake drills 100 holes into the standard 125 pound redwood plank in Santa Monica, California, resulting in the first "LIGHTWEIGHT" SURFBOARD.

1928
Austrian Rudolph Lettner patents the STEEL EDGE for skis. Most skiers shy away for fear of slashing their legs.

1933
Italian bicyclist TULLIO CAMPAGNOLO creates his influential components company Campagnolo.

1934
After running Colorado's San Juan River in a boat constructed from a outhouse and a horse trough, Norman Nevills founds Nevills Expeditions—America's first RIVER-GUIDE COMAPANY.

1936
Goose-dwon duds debut in Seattle with EDDIE BAUER'S SKYLINER.
>>Jim Curran installs the world's first CHAIRLIFT at Sun Valley, Idaho. He patterns it after a United Fruit Company banana conveyor.

1938
Cascade climbers Lloyd and Mary Anderson create the consumer cooperative RECREATIONAL EQUIPMENT INC.

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