I am a marketers dream as I am extremely brand loyal.  Once I find a brand/product that I am happy with, I am all yours.  One product that I have been loyal to for over 20 years is Patagonia – makers of all things outdoor.

I started wearing their gear when I was living in Canada in the early nineties and still have some of that gear, 20 years later!  My trusty Patagonia down jacket is still going strong after a decade of solid wear.

Patagonia began life in 1973, a thousand feet up, clinging to the side of El Capitan.

It was there that Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, noticed the once-pristine face of the mountain was being pockmarked by thousands of steel pitons being driven into it – the very same steel pitons he was manufacturing in his tin shed in Ventura. Here was a mountain eternal and grand that had stood staunch for 100 million years, a mountain that should last the best part of forever, being flaked away into gravel. The symbolism of the moment set Yvon upon a lifelong mission to prove business can indeed have a simpatico relationship with the natural world.

In the years since, Patagonia has evolved into an enterprise with a wholly unique philosophy, a way of doing things, a way to see the world and our place in it. Today Patagonia is still up on the mountain, but also lives in the oceans and forests, on trails and beaches, all the places where people seek adventure and discovery.

Patagonia gear is designed for exploring, embracing and challenging the frontiers. It’s gear designed for simplicity and utility, gear designed to last, and gear accountable to the environment it’s made for.

The love of a wild and beautiful world comes with an obligation to preserve its wilderness and beauty, and Patagonia is committed to this. It always has been. We donate our time, energy and 1% of all sales to like-minded, grassroots environmental groups who are out there working to keep the natural wonder in the world.

I was cleaning out my cupboards the other day and found a big stack of old Patagonia catalogues dating back to 1994!  ‘Old school’ outdoor gear that featured a lot of green and purple, high-waisted shorts and antiquated technology, but I still loved having a look through all the photos and remembering what I was doing when I first saw these great images.  Whether it was working as a cable-car operator, ski-lift operator or a bushwalking guide the photos always resonated with me, especially the ones featuring children enjoying the outdoors with their parents.

Now in my 40’s I have realised that my dreams of having an outdoors family have indeed come to fruition and I feel blessed that Nick and I have been able to expose Poppy and James to our outdoor world in Tasmania.  Here are some of my favourite photos that I drooled over many moons ago.