Innovation

In 1966, keen mountaineers Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison decided to open a UK store selling the kind of outdoor products that would meet their own exacting needs, which they felt weren’t being developed.

Today, that venture has grown into Berghaus, part of the Pentland Group of top sports and lifestyle brands and a market leader in performance outdoor clothing, footwear, rucksacks and accessories.

“Our target was to create something that was truly new in the market and QinetiQ’s Intelligent Design team supported us in the development of ideas and the initial process. QinetiQ handled the project professionally and brought our ideas to fruition – we were always confident that they would deliver the results.”

Challenge

• Berghaus, a market leader in performance outdoor clothing, footwear, rucksacks and accessories, needs to support its business expansion plans with constant innovation.
• It wanted to give the market a revolutionary, new alternative to the rigid design of traditional rucksacks.
• The product also had to be commercially viable from a manufacturing point of view.

Solution

• QinetiQ approached Berghaus with the aim of commercialising a concept based on a flexible spine system which emerged from a programme on infantry load carriage.
• The two companies collaborated to design and manufacture Bioflex®, the first rucksack capable of moving ergonomically with the body through a central three dimensional pivot and slider mechanism.
• Adjustable to fit any body frame, its shoulder straps and hip belt also allow the load to be transferred closer to the walker’s centre of balance, increasing comfort and reducing fatigue.

Results

• Bioflex has become one of the top three best selling lines for Berghaus, helping its expansion into new territories such as Japan and Korea.
• It captured headlines as one of the most innovative outdoor products to hit the market.
• It received a coveted ISPO Award for Outdoor Product at the international ISPO exhibition, ten product test awards with outdoor magazines and was one of the main reasons why Berghaus won a Queens Award for Innovation.