Way back when, in 1983鈥攂efore the Everest expedition and the winter traverse across the Himalaya, before the Sea to Summit company and the team of designers and the dozens of awards鈥擱oland Tyson was just a teenager with a secondhand sewing machine.
Growing up in Perth, Australia, Roland spent his childhood bushwalking (what non-Ozzies would call hiking), climbing, whitewater paddling, and caving. So, at 17, it wasn鈥檛 much of a stretch for him to start tinkering with gear designs. Turns out, he was good at it鈥攇ood enough to upgrade to an industrial sewing machine within a couple of years and start turning out serviceable gear. He considers a backpack his first real item, 鈥渢he first thing I made where I went, 鈥榊eah, that looks all right,鈥欌 Tyson said. He couldn鈥檛 know then, of course, that that 鈥渁ll right鈥 pack was the ancestor of a long line of groundbreaking gear he鈥檇 design over three decades as the founder of Sea to Summit.
It wasn鈥檛 long before Tyson took his ideas to market. An early job in retail at an Australian outdoor chain had him doing gear repairs, which led to making stuff sacks, drybags, and other accessories to sell in the stores. In 1986, at 20 years old, Tyson founded his own business, Namche Bazaar, to handle the volume. The first people on the payroll? His grandparents and mother.
The Birth of Sea to Summit
As he built his business, Tyson kept pushing his limits in the outdoors, honing his big-mountain and climbing skills. That鈥檚 how he met Tim McCartney-Snape, one of the first two Australians to summit Mt. Everest (the other was his climbing partner, Greg Mortimer). McCartney-Snape was planning an ambitious next act: traveling from the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean to the top of Everest entirely under human power, a journey of more than 700 miles that would take him, literally, from 鈥渟ea to summit.鈥 He asked Tyson to make some custom gear that would serve him well on all stages of the adventure, so Tyson jumped in. He modified some existing gear to McCartney-Snape鈥檚 specs, and also created his own bags, medical kits, and other accessories. 鈥淎 lot of it was custom-made, stuff that he wanted uniquely designed and developed for that expedition,鈥 Tyson said. The famed mountaineer pulled off the successful expedition in 1990. And the gear? 鈥淭here were no complaints,鈥 Tyson said with a smile.
Upon McCartney-Snape鈥檚 return, he and Tyson teamed up to launch Sea to Summit, originally a sister company to Namche Bazaar that sold apparel. Before the end of 1990, though, the two brands merged into one under the new name inspired by McCartney-Snape鈥檚 expedition. With a designer-adventurer for a founder, it鈥檚 no surprise Sea to Summit was conceived as a brand that prioritized both innovative design and in-the-field functionality.
Grounded in 国产吃瓜黑料
Tyson didn鈥檛 let his burgeoning business keep him from pursuing his outdoor ambitions, though. Making time to explore some of the wildest reaches of the planet was鈥攁nd remains to this day鈥攊ntegral to both his work and his life. Case in point: a bold plan to traverse the Himalaya in the winter. 鈥淚t was pretty audacious at that time,鈥 the early 鈥90s, said Paramjeet 鈥淧J鈥 Singh, a friend who tackled the route with him (and is now a senior designer at Sea to Summit). 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 into big expeditions, which meant a lot of logistics and support. We were more into self-supported trips.鈥 After several attempts to cross the route鈥檚 skyscraping mountain passes on skis, Tyson, Singh, and three other fellow adventurers finally pulled off the traverse in 1991. 鈥淚t was probably the hardest thing we had ever done, in terms of seriousness and exposure in an unknown part of the world,鈥 Singh said.
Those kinds of expeditions translated directly into Tyson鈥檚 approach to the gear he made, most of which targeted the self-sufficient outdoor traveler. 鈥淩oland was inventing and reimagining pieces that no one else was thinking about,鈥 Singh said. 鈥淏ack in the day, the gear industry was concentrated on all the big things, backpacks and sleeping bags and tents. No one was really thinking about what else is required to make your trips easier to manage. That meant focusing on lightweight, weather-protective essentials that made backcountry travel smoother, 鈥渨hether you were touring or sailing or walking or going for expeditions in the Himalaya.鈥
In those early years, Tyson also met someone who鈥檇 change the course of his business and his life: Penny Sanderson, a buyer for the retail arm of Australian Geographic. Her company was buying gear from Sea to Summit, so she traveled frequently from Sydney to Perth, and by 1993, she and Tyson were romantic partners and colleagues. 鈥淚 was in everything and anything,鈥 she remembered. 鈥淲e were so tiny, just three machinists and Roland鈥檚 mom. I used to do the books, and I was really good at collecting debts as well.鈥 As the business grew, Tyson and Sanderson set aside several months every year to go sailing, trekking, overlanding, and cycling, always testing gear prototypes and tweaking designs as they went.
Over the past 30-plus years, Sea to Summit has grown into an international brand with a team of six designers and a variety of outdoor products. It still focuses on carefully designed accessories, such as drybags, compression sacks, and travel bags, but the company鈥檚 scope has expanded to include kitchen gear, hammocks, sleeping pads, and sleeping bags, and鈥攏ew for this season鈥攗ltralight tents. Tyson鈥檚 products have garnered a slew of 鈥渂est of鈥 awards from outdoor publications like 国产吃瓜黑料, Backpacker, Gear Institute, and many more. He鈥檚 come a long way from the teenager who used to experiment with DIY gear in his bedroom, but one thing hasn鈥檛 changed: it all begins with his dual passions, great design and the great outdoors.