Contents
-Industry 4 News
www .sgboutdoor
.co.uk First Words
Massive congratulations must go out to my sister for completing her 40km charity walk last month, and for raising some vital funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and its research.
It took her some 14 hours and I understand her feet were pretty sore afterwards. She’s taking a few well-earned weeks off from walking at the moment, but I think this event has definitely made her a convert to walking habitually and exploring the east Kent coast.
Charity is something we hear about quite regularly through various parties involved with the outdoor industry, but something caught my eye about the work of Alex Flynn to raise funds for The Cure Parkinson’s Trust, an organisation committed to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease (see news, p4).
Covering 10 million metres by 2014 (he has so far done just over 1.1 million) is a huge challenge in itself, let alone setting yourself a target of raising £1 million pounds at the same time. Especially as Alex himself was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2008 and is financing a lot of his efforts himself. We could all do worse than to give him our support, whether it’s through a monetary donation, some encouraging words or taking a leaf out of his book and overcoming challenges in our personal lives.
Although it does put my promise to walk from one end of the country to the other to shame really, especially as I’ve not helped my cause by spending a fortnight in America gorging on piles of food Desperate Dan would be proud of.
It was my honeymoon and my first time in the US so I’m trying not to feel too bad about it, but I can’t wait for the sun to start shining with some earnest to let me get back out on the paths and trails of my native Kent.
David Pittman, editor, SGB Outdoor ISSN 1757-7276
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Inside this month: Industry: Camping, Thoni Mara, Merrell Products: Clothing Focus, Polartec, Suncare Focus
26 Tech Rep: Ion-mask Dr Stephen Coulson tells SGB Outdoor about ion- mask liquid-repellent nano-coating technology, and how it’s taking the world’s leading footwear brands by storm
dpittman@datateam.co.uk
Charity athlete steps nearer 10m metre goal - DMP plots Tune Belt entry to outdoor market – Terra Nova beats own ‘lightest tent’ record – Aquapac launches submersible camera case range
6 Camping
Geoff Vaughan of booking website Campingninja explains how making it easier to book and reserve campsites is helping grow consumer interest in the industry
10 Thoni Mara
Kate-Anne Kelly looks into the history of German running brand Thoni Mara, and tells us about its plans for the UK market
12 Merrell
Jonathan Pennington tells us about Merrell’s move into the barefoot running market
Products 14 First Look
We look at the latest products from Timberland, Spiro and Vango
16 Clothing Focus
We look at just a small selection of the wide array of outdoor clothing on the market to give you some food for thought
20 Polartec
Eric Yung tells us about Polartec’s new NeoShell performance fabric and how it is not designed to compete against Gore-Tex
22 Suncare Focus
We look at some of the products that can help your customers stay safe when out and about in the sun
24 Reviews
SGB Outdoor, Trail magazine and
LFTO.com review a selection of clothing from Berghaus, Craghoppers, Gelert, GoLite and more
June 2011 www .sgboutdoor
.co.uk
www.targetdry.com www.sgboutdoor.co.uk 3
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