Montane was established in the north east of England in 1993 by Chris Roff and Jake Doxat, who met on a three month Operation Raleigh expedition to southern Chile in 1989 during which time they explored a completely uncharted section of the Pengal Valley with a team of 11 in 4 Canadian Canoes.

After returning from Chile, Chris left a perfectly good job in construction to establish Montane, he was frustrated by the relative weakness of outdoor clothing available at the time; he found that it was generally too bulky, too heavy and insufficiently breathable for active use in a changing and hostile environment.

Chris’s quest became to produce clothing which was lightweight; low bulk; well-specified for prolonged, hard outdoor use; but also kept the wearer warm and comfortable over a very wide range of different conditions and activities. The answer lay in combining, warm, lightweight and very high wicking lining fabrics with water-resistant, hard wearing and windproof outer fabrics. This was the start of what is now commonly refered to as Soft-Shell.

From this base in soft-shell outdoor and mountain clothing, Montane has expanded to apply the same basic principles to men’s and women’s clothing for other aerobic sports like biking and running – sports for which the basic requirements are the same – to keep the wearer dry and comfortable, whilst being as lightweight and easy to pack as possible.

These days Montane is, by design, not the biggest outdoor clothing brand, but it is certainly one of the most specialist, being at the forefront of innovative, lightweight design and the use of the most technologically advanced fabrics.

And what of Chris and Jake?

Chris Roff emigrated in a small yacht to New Zealand, where he remains a shareholder, and is a full-time “house husband” bringing up his two children, and Jake Doxat continues to run the business day-to-day.