POD acquired by Equip

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 ben b 08 Jan 2008
Can't see this mentioned elsewhere, so:

News apparently of POD being taken over by Equip, which presumably means a much bigger market and more exposure for POD. Let's hope the build quality stays excellent too.

Ben B
craigloon 08 Jan 2008
 Michael Ryan 08 Jan 2008
In reply to ben b:

I honestly do not know what to say, as craigloon points out.

May 24: PODsacs Sold to Equip...that would be 2007

For me, like many climbers and outdoor types in the 80's a POD rucksack was the item to have. I got a POD Teardrop, a purple one. It traveled everywhere with me; Malham, gritstone, Spain, Morocco, up alpine rock in California's Sierra Nevada, even to the top of Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Sadly I retired it last year after 20 years of rugged use. PODsacs, made by and named after Pete O'Donovan, are incredibly popular and have now reached cult status due to their excellent design and solid construction. You only need to do a search for POD at UKClimbing.com and you will find multiple discussions about them.
Pete O'Donovan (49) of Sheffield, with his Catalan wife, Angels, have been designing, cutting and stitching outdoor equipment: rucksacks, chalkbags and recently bouldering mats since 1983, but now they want to get out climbing more and they have sold POD to Equip Outdoor Technologies (website) who own RAB, Outdoor Designs and other outdoor brands.

We asked Pete, why he went with Equip, as several outdoor companies in the UK have been interested in acquiring POD?

" I wanted a company that had a good grounding in sourcing and manufacturing overseas - where most outdoor stuff is now made. Equip have much experience in this field and have done great things with RAB and during our early negotiations I was very impressed by their commitment to maintaining quality."

Pete is staying on with POD at Equip as designer, consultant, adviser and overseer of quality control. He'd just inspected the first samples from the factory in China and said,

"I was impressed. There's no way I could match the stitch quality. Whereas we have six sewing machines, they have 30 or so, set up to make the perfect stitch for each feature on the product."

Neil McAdie, Sales and Marketing Manager at Equip was very happy when we talked to him yesterday.

"We've been courting POD for about two years. It fits in with Equip's vision to supply the outdoor community with the best UK technical mountain heritage brands: like RAB, POD is perfect for us, with the same ethos behind the brand. Our priority is to maintain Pete's current high quality whilst building the range."

Will we be seeing POD in Millets? No, as has always been, distribution will be limited to specialist stores able to support the niche technical positioning of the product range.

Pete and Angels will now have a bit more time to go climbing, huddled over a sewing machine for the last twenty years has got old and they're not getting any younger. Like Rab Carrington who sold RAB to Equip, they will have more time for climbing. Rab Carrington (59) has just climbed his first 8a at Malham Cove,

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/older.html?month=05&year=2007#n37257
 Thadius 08 Jan 2008
In reply to ben b: I hope the build quality stays the same. It won't though! Production is being moved to the Far East! Nice to see another brand go the same way as Rab and Mountain Equipment - from excellence to mediocrity.
It's pretty fair to say anything made over there is going to be fairly poor.
 Mooncat 08 Jan 2008
In reply to Thadius:

A sweeping generalisation, I beg to differ.
mike swann 09 Jan 2008
In reply to Thadius:
> (In reply to ben b) I hope the build quality stays the same. It won't though! Production is being moved to the Far East! Nice to see another brand go the same way as Rab and Mountain Equipment - from excellence to mediocrity.
> It's pretty fair to say anything made over there is going to be fairly poor.

No it isn't.
 Mr Ed 09 Jan 2008
In reply to Mooncat:

I don't know- Rab has gone much more mainstream. They no longer do the full suited latok as they used to and i've got to say that i've had stitching on recent rab products fail after a few weeks as have friends. We both could be unlucky but who knows.

At the end of the day though its almost impossible to buy equipment not made out in China. All the big brands have shifted out there including Arctreryx? Though some stuff might still be made in canada. The biggest company to see changes in quality in my eyes though were Macpac when they shifted to the phillipines. I think it takes a while for the companies to get the correcct quality control in place especially with new products.
 Michael Ryan 09 Jan 2008
In reply to Thadius:
> (In reply to ben b) I hope the build quality stays the same. It won't though!

> It's pretty fair to say anything made over there is going to be fairly poor.

Pete is staying on with POD at Equip as designer, consultant, adviser and overseer of quality control. He'd just inspected the first samples from the factory in China and said,

"I was impressed. There's no way I could match the stitch quality. Whereas we have six sewing machines, they have 30 or so, set up to make the perfect stitch for each feature on the product."

 sutty 09 Jan 2008
In reply to Mick Ryan - Editor - UKC:

Why bother replying Mick, if Thadius could not read and understand that the first time, do you think it will sink in the second?
In reply to ben b:
> Can't see this mentioned elsewhere, so:
>
> News apparently of POD being taken over by Equip, which presumably means a much bigger market and more exposure for POD. Let's hope the build quality stays excellent too.
>
> Ben B

I don't think that the market will be "much bigger", the range I believe has only been shown to selected shops and Equip want to keep it a niche brand sold through climbing shops rather than the large high street multiples.
As for the quality issues see Mick's posts.

 Mr Ed 09 Jan 2008
In reply to A Nidderdale boulderer.:

I just really hope that the quality stays as it is this and the design that are the big selling points.

They were never going to say:

"we've just bought POD we are cutting production costs and making the brand more available, useable and affordable for the everyday user"

I think its great that Peter is staying on for quality control purposes, I just hope that the standard can be maintained. The first initial runs may well be fine but will the quality continue when they're running behind schedule etc? I've worked in factories myself (admittedly not rucsac factories) and know the score on that one! You will never get the same pride in the final product from your worker in china as you would from Peter in Sheffield.
 AndyP 09 Jan 2008
In reply to ben b: I've got 3 Pod sacks, a chalkbag and a bouldering mat. I bought them because they were made in the UK. I could have saved a fortune buying other makes but I bust a gut to buy British made goods. Its a shame.
OP ben b 09 Jan 2008
In reply to Mick Ryan - Editor - UKC: Ooops <blushes>

In other news, I have found:
1) Rome sacked by Visigoths - no Britons hurt
2) Second Crusade over, future manufacturing to be shifted to the east
3) Thinktank suggests E0 grading a great idea

Sorry, I was guilty of a shoddy search (of the last few days in the Gear forum) and a fading memory. FWIW I'm not jumping on the bandwagon of "quality rubbish since manufacturers switched to Asia" because I have a degree of trust in Pete O'Donovan's track record of keeping the quality excellent for the last few decades. It is possible that there will be some diversification in the line - much as Rab and ME (and everyone else) has done with a more 'budget' range but I suspect a loss of quality n the 'flagship' range would be pretty much suicidal for big names like these (cf Karrimor).

There's a thin line between gear freakery, elitism, and bigotry - look at the backlash in some parts to ski manufacturers like K2 switching production to China.

Apologies to all for a shoddy post

Ben B

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