From Yosemite to Yorkshire—we’ve worked with legendary British outdoor brand Rab on a collection of winter-ready gear that's just as at home pitching a tent at Camp 4 as it is bouldering at Stanage. It’s a collaboration that makes a lot of sense—not just because of Gramicci and Rab’s dedication to functional gear—but because of the way they started out. Both were founded in the early 80s, both were created by legendary climbers and both weren’t afraid to do things a little differently.
While Mike Graham was stitching shorts in his Ventura garage for the dirtbag climbers of Yosemite, some 8,540 miles away in Sheffield, a Scottish climber by the name of Rab Carrington was in the attic of his terraced house, sewing together sleeping bags for the new generation British climbers and mountaineers. Like Gramicci’s climbing pants, Rab Carrington’s lightweight down-insulated gear was very much a product of necessity—nothing like it existed, so the only choice was to start making it himself.
The Rab story starts in Argentina back in 1973, when Carrington voyaged across the Atlantic for a stint of climbing amongst the mountains of Patagonia. They made it over, but their gear didn’t—stuck back in England in a shipping container thanks to a dockers’ strike in Liverpool. Stranded in Buenos Aires waiting for his equipment to arrive, the cash Carrington had saved for his climbing trip was dwindling fast and a job was needed post haste.
As luck would have it he met an Argentine climber named Hector Vieytes who had a small business making jackets and sleeping bags. Vieytes had just landed a contract to make sleeping bags for the Argentinian military, and after a bit of persuasion he took Carrington under his wing, teaching him valuable tricks of the down-insulated trade.
Eight years later—with some serious climbs in the Alps and the Himalayas under his belt—Carrington settled in Sheffield and started to make his own gear—taking the tips he’d learned in Argentina and applying them to a new type of sleeping bag.
Down-insulation had been around a while, but it was often heavy and cumbersome—with thick outer fabrics and zero consideration for warmth-to-weight ratio. Working away in his loft at night after long days on a building site, Carrington knew he could make something better and he was in the prime place to do it.
The Industrial Revolution was winding down, but a good portion of the red-brick textile mills that had cropped up in the north of England in the late 19th century were still in operation, making everything from school uniforms to Action Man parachutes—meaning the new wave of young DIY outdoor brands that were cropping up in the area could endlessly experiment with the different materials and methods that were on their doorstep.
Up the road in Skipton, Rohan were taking duvet-cover fabrics to make lightweight windproof shells, while Buffalo—another Sheffield brand—were using thick pile fleece for their cold-weather smocks.
Carrington’s search for the perfect sleeping bag fabric led him to a mill in Lancashire which had spent the best part of 80 years making typewriter ribbons (along with the occasional airship). Tapping away at an old typewriter and scaling an icy mountain might not have much in common, but the fabrics needed for the jobs do—and this nylon ribbon material ticked the boxes for weight, strength and… erm… ‘wick-ability’. If it could transfer ink onto a sheet of Basildon Bond, it could dissipate sweat when the sun comes out in the Peak District.
After a bit of fine tuning this fabric became the backbone for Carrington’s new brand, and with the help of a few other British outdoor companies, it became known as Pertex—the highly breathable fabric that’s still in use today. Through the 80s and beyond this partnership created some of the most respected outdoor gear around, with Rab’s sleeping bags and down jackets becoming a firm favourite with serious climbers and mountaineers.
And here’s where the parallels with Gramicci continue. In the same way Mike Graham’s functional clothing had a ready-made customer base in Yosemite’s Stonemasters, the climbing community around Sheffield were crying out for better gear that they could rely on whatever the weather.
In Yosemite they camped under the stars and dodged the park rangers, in the climbing spots around Sheffield they slept on petrol station forecourts and lived off milky cups of tea. The dirtbag lifestyle wasn’t just a California phenomenon—and climbing in Britain in the ‘80s for people like Ben Moon and Jerry Moffat meant endless hitchhiking and nights spent in caves.
This season’s Gramicci & Rab collection celebrates this parallel-heritage, pulling details from both brands’ archives to create a selection of modern outdoor clothing that are equal parts Gramicci and Rab.
Continuing Rab’s long history of working with Pertex, the Neutrino Jacket, the Kinder Smock and the Argon Pants are down-filled winter-ready designs made from Pertex Quantum. This is a lightweight ripstop created specifically for down-clothing—created to trap warm air and keep you insulated on even the frostiest days.
There’s also the Gramicci X Rab G-Pants, combining the classic shape of Gramicci’s legendary climbing pants with the tough nylon fabric of Rab’s Lochan pants, and a seriously hard-wearing kit-bag, along with a beanie and a long-sleeve tee which both make use of a dual-branded logo. Whether you’re in Yosemite or Yorkshire, this stuff will come in handy this winter.
