Industry: Gerber and Bear Grylls Surviving the outdoors


Outdoor products supplier Gerber tells SGB Outdoorwhy it chose to partner with survival expert Bear Grylls to produce a range of knives, tools and other gear for the outdoor market.


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merican firm Gerber and adventurer and survival expert Bear Grylls have teamed up to develop a range of knives, tools and other gear for outdoor environments.


The first set of products born from the coalition is the Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series. which includes four knives, two multitools and variety of general kit, including a fire starter and emergency packs with equipment to help users ‘stay alive’. Knives range from the Ultimate, which has a half-serrated, high-carbon stainless steel drop point blade, to the Compact Scout, which is a thin and lightweight folding knife. The Ultimate Multitool has 12 components, including two knives, a saw, wire


cutters, bottle opener and can opener. A


Compact Multitool is available with 10 components, but also featuring two full-size blades, making it unique compared to other comparable multitools according to Gerber.


The Fire Starter


features a ferrocerium rod and metal striker, as well as a water-proof storage compartment for tinder and an emergency whistle built into the lanyard. The Ultimate Kit is described as a ‘survival kit built for hostile


environments’. Gerber says: “Stick the Ultimate Kit in your backpack and hope you never have to use it. If you do, it has everything you need to survive in even the toughest spots.”


This includes 16 items, ranging from a hand saw, survival 8 www.sgboutdoor.co.uk


blanket and fishing kit to tinder, a miniature light and a Gerber Miniature Multitool, itself featuring 10 components.


Grylls, who has extensive experience and training in surviving in the outdoors after serving in the SAS and becoming the youngest Brit to scale Mount Everest, worked directly with Gerber’s product development teams on these new products, and says: “I’m looking forward to translating my experience into a line of products that will help empower people to get out there and live their adventures.”


A Gerber spokesperson says: “He is a great partner that is vested in all aspects of the relationship consistently working with us to design, produce and market products. His experience in the field has no doubt lead to a better calibre of product. At the same time he has been open to the feedback and experience that our designers have brought to the table.” For Gerber, Grylls’ experience was one of a number of reasons it wanted to work with him to develop a range of survival equipment.


The spokesperson says: “He shares the same characteristics as the Gerber brand as he is hard working, trustworthy, reliable, dedicated to achievement, authentic, rugged, self-sufficient and always prepared.


“He’s been tested across every outdoor environment, which results in high appeal across all of our current user segments, including the outdoors, hunters, campers and military, resulting in increased engagement and loyalty. He also has extremely high crossover appeal with the general population, which brings a new demographic to the Gerber brand.” Gerber and Grylls are now working on the next set of products to follow the Survival Series. “We’re very pleased with the partnership to date so it’s our hope that we can build upon this initial success and keep working with Bear in the foreseeable future,” the spokesperson adds.


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