Berghaus reaches 60 years of outdoor kit born in Newcastle

Plenty of the jackets you see on Tyneside's hills, beaches and city streets carry a name with deep North East roots. Berghaus was founded in Newcastle in 1966 by climbers and mountaineers Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison, which makes 2026 its 60th year.

The pair started out importing and distributing outdoor products through their Newcastle shop, the LD Mountain Centre, which quickly built a reputation for high-performance gear. Gordon was an engineer, analytical and inventive, while Peter was a creative marketeer, and in 1972 they began designing and making their own products. They chose the German name Berghaus, meaning mountain house.

Innovation followed. The first Berghaus rucksacks launched in 1970, and the Cyclops rucksack of 1972 is arguably the world's first with an internal frame. In 1977 Berghaus became one of Europe's pioneer users of Gore-Tex, and in 1979 it developed the Yeti Gaiter, whose distinctive rubber rands were initially made from old tractor inner tubes. In the 1980s the Gemini jacket introduced a zip-in fleece, and mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington began wearing the brand.

Berghaus received the Queen's Award for Export in 1988, and in 1993 it became part of the Pentland Group. The brand is now headquartered in Sunderland, and says everything it does, from the kit to the campaigns, starts in the North East.

Durability is part of the brand's DNA. Berghaus says it does not do fast fashion, and repairs have been part of the business since the 1960s, when there was a repair room above the first shop. Today the Sunderland-based Repairhaus team fixes rips, replaces zips and re-bonds sole units for free, with customers covering only the postage, and aims to return items within 21 days.

According to the brand's own data, repairing a product rather than buying a like-for-like replacement generates on average 50% less CO2e, a good reason to give a favourite jacket a second life.

Sixty years after two climbing friends opened a shop in Newcastle, Berghaus is still encouraging everyone to get outdoors.

Collections, repair requests and store details are on the Berghaus website, and there is a Berghaus shop at Dalton Park in County Durham.