OutDoor INDUSTRY AWARD

The OutDoor Industry Award was presented this afternoon at the OutDoor Trade Show in Friedrichhaven, Germany. This is the second year that the award is presented.

The Gold Award was presented to the “Madillo“ foldable climbing helmet from Edelrid. (A not so good image is available here, I will try to find a better one). The jury’s motivation is:

“This product is a 360-degree innovation. The entire product was newly thought out and therefore newly invented. Helmets used to be essentially just metal pots in one shape or another. This product is completely astonishing and displays just what makes a true consumer product – it’s a pot that folds up. Everyone immediately understands the problem that it solves. Brilliant!”

The six Silver Awards was awarded to the following:

“Big Turn Catch All” Fastener by Fidlock

“This is an unconventional and, in comparison to other fastener mechanisms, completely innovative idea. This fastener can be used in any number of situations, and the best thing is, it’s a magnetic system that provides a truly functional fastening action. The two key elements of a lock, the closing and opening functions, are solved here easily and cleanly.”

“R 320” Harness by Arc’teryx (I’m working on an image)

“This product changes the way we think about harnesses. Instead of an uncomfortable, often poorly designed belt, here you have an aesthetically pleasing design solution with perfect functionality. This belt is just as functional as a belt, but looks better and is also very comfortable. In the outdoor industry, function is usually everything, but this product breaks that trend, as it shows that good design and functionality can go together hand-in-hand.”

“ColdBlack” Treatment method for black textiles by Schoeller Textil

“The ‘product’ here is a special treatment technology for handling black fabrics. It ensures that black materials do not warm up too much under heat and expend heat in the cold. This means black textiles ‘work’ the same as normal white or light-colored fabrics. This a great functionality boost for the outdoor industry, as it means black materials can be used in a much wider range of applications.”

“Carbon Fyre” Trail running shoes by Timberland/Golite (Images available here)

“An innovative shoe consisting of a plastic-barbed sole, which prevents slipping on mountainsides. The look of the soles tells you immediately what the shoe is for. This is a unique solution. The entire show is also well-designed, with all parts coming together well.”

“Radikal” Mountaineering shoes by MILLET(I’m working on an image)

“The shoes impress with their successful mix of materials. All parts and materials come together well and look good. If you think of traditional mountaineering boots, and then see these light, well-designed shoes, which fulfill all expectations and replace the traditional leather with rubber and other modern materials, then it’s not only highly functional, but also a nice design.”

“Primus EtaPower MF” Outdoor multi-cooker by Primus

“This is a complete cooking set, whose low weight minimizes the total backpack load and also works extremely efficiently. Everything has been though of here. In this product you can find many small innovations that all come together to form a complete outdoor cooking solution. The result is a single backpack cooking system, that is not too technical to operate – you can hold the pot even when there’s warm water in it, etc. – and which fulfills one or more useful functions, such as the textile bag, which is used to carry the cooker, keep food warm, save fuel and you don’t burn your fingers. This makes the system very easy to operate; you can’t do anything wrong.”

The jury was made up of the following people:

• Stefan Engers
• David Fisher
• Thomas Lipke
• Thorsten Schwabe
• Fredrik Sträng (Fredrik’s homepage is here. Oh, and we come from the same hometown he and I)
• Graham Thompson (Graham’s blog is here)

I will try to update this post with more images.

Update 1: Added link to “Carbon Fyre” images
Update 2: Added more images