History of Sierra Designs Innovations
info copied from Sierra Designs

1965
Sierra Designs is founded, just north of Berkeley, California

1966
Sierra Designs opens its first retail store in front of a garage which is its factory, design lab, warehouse and administrative offices.

1967
The original 60/40 Parka is introduced. It's still available, still unchanged, still a top seller, and widely imitated.

1976
The Starflight A-frame tent appears and starts a revolution in lightweight tent design.

1977
The Cloud Series goose down sleeping bag is introduced, featuring Sierra Designs proprietary Tuck Stitching method, and includes the first 700-fill bags ever available in this country. A new standard is set for down sleeping bags.

The introduction of the Airflex and Octadome tents, the first tents to use a combination of straight and bowed tent poles.

1979
Sierra Designs is one of the first companies to introduce technical outdoor clothing featuring waterproof/breathable Gore-Tex® fabric.

1982
The now-famous Swift Clip is invented - a serious advancement in lightweight, easy to pitch tent design.

1990
The Lookout tent, the world's first convertible tent, makes its debut, allowing mountaineers to convert their tent for use in three or four seasons.

1994
Sierra Designs moves to its current headquarters in Emeryville, California, just south of Berkeley, with greatly expanded lab and R & D facilities. Nifty water tower too, which now sports a Sierra Designs logo and is a local landmark.

1995
Sierra Designs makes outdoor gear history by making the first sleeping bags designed especially for women that have an actual functional advantage. In addition, we introduce a complete line of outdoor clothing, designed specifically for women.

1996
Sierra Designs introduces the patented Clip Loc™* and InterLoc™ for tents, and patented Contour Shingle Construction, for sleeping bags.

In addition, Sierra Designs introduces Core Vents™ in clothing. Located in the torso area of a shell jacket, Core Vents cool the body's core, treating the cause of the problem—excess heat in your body's core—rather than the symptom—underarm sweat.

1997
Sierra Designs introduces the incredibly versatile Tiros Convertible tent, and the patent-pending ShoK-Cert, which allows you to remove certain pole sections and leave unnecessary weight behind in mild weather conditions.

1998
Sierra Designs introduces Extremity Vents™ in clothing. These zippered vents allow provide ventilation to your wrist and lower arm areas, which are dense with sweat glands. They provide the ventilating effect of pushing up your sleeves when it may not be possible or practical to do so.

1999
Sierra Designs uses scientific research on sleep to revolutionize sleeping bag design with Flex Construction™**. Flex sleeping bags allow you to sleep better outdoors by providing a flexible, expandable body and the NightCap hood that allow you to sleep in your preferred sleep position -- belly, back or side--and move your legs and torso more than any other bag. Sierra Designs also invents Pad Locks, which allow you to secure your sleeping bag to your sleeping pad.

Sierra Designs introduces SD Zone clothing: fast, light and packable clothing for outdoor done-in-a-day sports like trail running, mountain biking, snow shoeing and hiking.

2000
Sierra Designs constructs the lightest single person tent, the UltraLight Year CD, featuring Easton Ultralite™ Aluminum Carbon poles, which are 30% lighter than conventional aluminum poles.

The Sol Air Ceiling is also introduced into the convertible tent line so that you can stand up in your tent or get unobstructed views of the stars, all without removing the fly.

The patent-pending Cam-Loc™*** is introduced on the Clip Flashlight CD and Clip 3 CD tents. Cam-Locs lock several points of suspension to the poles, creating the strongest two-pole tents in the world.

Sierra Designs also creates Stretch Construction sleeping bags to give you extra mobility and maximum warmth in a lightweight sleeping bag.

2001
Arch Support Technology (AST) changes tent design forever. Employment of patented Jake's Corner or the Rear Arch Support Pole makes tents more than 40% stronger in Wind Tunnel testing. AST is available exclusively from Sierra Designs.

The patented Stash Door, the fastest and easiest tent door ever, is introduced, finally putting an end to the drop-door versus D-door debate.

Sierra Designs' exclusive ThermoSpectrum Technology (patent pending) is first applied to sleeping bags. ThermoSpectrum's zip-off insulated top layer provides incredible ventilation and adjustable temperature ranges—as much as 20°—making these bags the most versatile in the world.

The FreeFall sleeve is introduced, taking ventilation and moisture management to the next level, by allowing the wearer to easily escape their sleeves without removing their jacket.

2002
Sierra Designs takes its lightest, fastest, strongest tents to a new level with the Hercules AST, a four-season tent that withstands winds up to 100 mph in Wind Tunnel testing (40 mph higher than other four-season tents), with no pole bend and minimal volume loss. Its two pole design provides the simplest set-up available in extreme conditions. In addition to weighing about a pound less than four-pole models, the Hercules is over 66% stronger than any other tent in its class.

We introduce Convertible sleeping bags, which bring ThermoSpectrum Technology to more users. Convertible bags feature an insulated zip off layer, allowing the user to adjust the bags temperature by 15 degrees and shed over one pound of excess weight in good weather.

* Clip-Loc patent number 5651633.
** Flex and Stretch Sleeping Bags are manufactured under a license by Mont-Bell Co. Ltd. U.S. Patent number 4,888,828. The hood design is by Sierra Designs, patent-pending.
*** The patent-pending Cam-Loc is manufactured under a license agreement with Bob Gillis.