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Yvon Chouinard Lecture 21-Jul-2011 At 10:30:58 AM ithomas

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In the very early 70's I was working for Rick White in his little Odin Equipment shop in Brisbane. Rick was the sole Australian importer for Chouinard gear and so we (Mike Meadows, Ted Cais, Rob Staszewski, Dave Gillieson, Greg Sheard and others) were the first people to fondle whatever new idea popped out of Chouinard's smithy. Rick had previously convinced customs officials that climbing shoes (taxable) were ski-boots (tax-free); that etriers (taxable) were decorative mobiles (tax-free); that Fjallraven alpine tents (taxable) were childrens backyard toys (tax free) and that Chouinard pitons (taxable) were gardening implements (tax free)! Predictably, few cost savings were passed on to the climbing consumer. Rick was no Chouinard in terms of business ethics.

On a climbing trip to the States, Rick made the unusually poor decision to leave me in charge of the shop, the orders and customs declarations. A shipment of Chouinard hardwear turned up and we were amazed to see that the larger bongs and hexes had holes cut into them, to save weight. A good innovation. But each individual item cost quite a deal more than it's hole-free counterpart. My juvenile mind wrestled with the concept and failed entirely to see the bigger picture of design, innovation and re-tooling costs. I wrote an angry letter on Odin letterhead to Chouinard noting how RICK was extremely disappointed that he was paying more money for less metal and that he might consider cancelling arrangements. Dumb on many levels but especially so because Rick was staying with Chouinard in California when the letter turned up.

Chouinard quickly responded with a letter detailing the entire manufacturing process and cost structures of piton and hex manufacturing. He ended up by saying that he would try to do better in the future. What a polite response to a dreadfully misguided letter.

There was however, a postscript to Chouinard's message, written in a familiar scrawl. It simply read: 'I've got my eye on you now 'Zoo, get back to bloody work'.