Wintergreen Northern Wear handcrafts the finest outdoor clothing. The outdoors is their way of life. They live, design, sew and sell our gear in Minnesota's Canadian border wilderness.
We are delighted to welcome our new member from Ely, Minnesota - Wintergreen Northern Wear. Made in the USA (in Minnesota to be exact) tested in the coldest climates on earth, WNW handcrafts the finest in outdoor clothing. The outdoors in their way of life.
A little history...
Susan Schurke developed her design talents by crafting Eskimo-style apparel from new synthetic fabrics, to be used on numerous expeditions which then became known as Wintergreen Northern Wear. In the late 70s and early 80s, Paul Shurkey and Greg Laid founded Wilderness Inquiry, a non-profit endeavor group, providing Boundary Waters canoe trips for disabled persons and Paul along with his wife, Susan teamed up with Will Steger to help run the Lynx Track Winter School, teaching dog sledding and wilderness skills to college and community groups. In 1986, Paul and Will, along with Ann Brancof and their team dogsled to the North Pole in the the first confirmed trek to the top of the world without resupply. Wintergreen clothing became a success, keeping the explorers warm throughout the 1,000-mile, 2-month journey, even as temperatures dipped to -70 degrees!
In 1990, Paul Schurke and Russian colleague Dmitry Shparo lead the Bering Bridge Expedition from Siberia to Alaska to help reconnect arctic cultures long separated by the Cold War. The US-Soviet border in the Bering Strait firmly closed and known as the "Ice Curtain" for most of this century is reopened. Presidents Bush and Gorbachev congratulate the Bering Bridge team for its role in the process. In 1997 Paul led a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to the North Pole. Two years later he headed that
way again with a team that includes Admiral Robert Peary's great grandsons.
The Wintergreen Northern Wear company was formed in 1985 and they grew to include manufacturing facilities, a retail store and catalog, on Ely’s main street.
Wintergreen has been featured on the Today Show, Dateline and in Outside magazine. In 2005, Wintergreen opened it's second store in Duluth.
Wintergreen Northern Wear continues their efforts for ‘being Green’ and commits to mailing only one catalog per year.
In 2009, Wintergreen Northern Wear rolled out Group Sales division, offering a variety of clothing options for organizations and teams, along with a new website, which allowed connectivity into on-line communities.
Wintergreen has since introduced New Kids line of clothes and Wool Vest for Men and V-Neck Windshirts for Golfing. New owners, Curt and Becky Stacey, say their goal is to maintain Wintergreen’s integral role in the community while growing the business. And production will stay right were it is.
Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge is now a business entity separate from the Staceys’ Wintergreen Northern Wear, but the store and lodge will continue to be associated through cooperative marketing efforts. Wintergreen Northern Wear currently has about two dozen employees and independent contractors.
Now:
Wintergreen Northern Wear opened a new store, Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply, in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Stone Harbor will be the exclusive reseller of Wintergreen Northern Wear clothing in Northeastern Minnesota.
In short, these people know what works. They test it, they use it. They live, design, sew and sell their gear in Minnesota's northern border wilderness.
Wintergreen Northern Wear continues to proudly make clothing in Ely, Minnesota, making it among a few remaining clothing manufacturers in America.
As for me, my hands get cold easily and I am going online to buy some gloves right now!
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