Outdoor wear has gone from being naff to becoming a £1.3bn business in the UK alone.

Business Editor Owen McAteer spoke to North-East-based Berghaus to find out why it is now working with a fashion designer who is making the name big in Japan

MENTION cagoules to most people who grew up in the Seventies and a look of horror will descend across their faces as they recall bright orange monstrosities their parents forced them into.

Part of the reason was that practical outdoor wear was exactly that, designed for purpose, not fashion.

Therefore, it comes as something of a surprise to discover that North- East outdoor firm Berghaus has been working with high-end fashion designer Jeff Griffin, renowned for his cutting-edge designs, on its latest range.

A look through the Berghaus back-catalogue from the Seventies shows models in purely practical wear, bright orange, red or blue cagoules in a variety of lengths.

So what has changed? People's perception of the outdoor lifestyle for one. Extreme sports such as snowboarding and mountain biking, not to mention rock climbing and surfing, are seen as cool and fashionable.

Even television programmes - traditionally presented by men with long beards and comfortable sweaters - are now the domain of stylish presenters such as the BBC's Julia Bradbury, who has been seen following Wainwright's walks and scaling rock faces in Climb Britain, while programmes such as Ski Sunday, which previously showed only races, are now more lifestylebased.

Popular comedians have also got involved, with Griff Rhys Jones climbing mountains and Michael Palin travelling the world.

Actors such as Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe list hiking among their leisure interests, with the former once photographed wearing a Berghaus jacket in a London cafe, while the company sponsors Norwegian catwalk model and base jumper Anniken Binz.

Meanwhile, the Government is introducing initiatives such as the Staying Safe Action Plan and Outdoors For All, designed to help schools and other institutions give young people a taste of the outdoors.

At the same time, organisations such as the Outward Bound Trust are busier than ever in delivering their brand of experiential learning in the outdoors.

When Berghaus was founded in Newcastle in 1966, specialist stores were rare and there were very few recognised brands.

A few enthusiasts designed and made kit in order to help them and their friends get more enjoyment out of their time on the hills and crags.

Now, according to the Outdoor Industries Association (OIA), the specialist outdoor sector is worth about £1.3bn to the UK's economy each year, and that is probably a conservative estimate.

There are approximately 1,300 outdoor retail outlets in the country and more high street stores are including outdoor kit in their product portfolio.

Richard Cotter, Berghaus brand president, said: "Outdoors has clearly become fashionable and is set to grow much more.

"We have adapted to serve our core audience, while providing desirable product for the newcomers - which all demonstrates that we understand our consumers better than ever.

"Berghaus is in an enviable position, as we have genuine outdoor authenticity, allied to great contemporary thinking and style.

That's a compelling offer and one that we intend to use to achieve our global ambitions.

"The outdoor user base is starting to mushroom. On the one hand, the traditional users that have always been around are still there.

"On the other, you only have to go out on the weekend and you will see people from all backgrounds trying a very wide range of different activities. There is a massive interest in participation in outdoor activity and they all want to buy outdoor products - and that is happening all over the world."

Berghaus has undertaken market research that backs up what Mr Cotter has seen with his own eyes.

He said: "We have undertaken significant research in the UK and internationally, and the results reveal a consistent message.

"During the next few years, outdoor participation will increase massively, not in its original sense, but in the widest context.

"More than ever, people want to find that route of escape from everyday life. They choose to do something active, but not just one activity.

"These days, the opportunity to have a go at a wide range of adventure sports is massive and this is one of the fastest growing sectors in the whole leisure industry.

"Huge numbers of people are heading outdoors every weekend looking for their definition of adventure - scrambling, trekking, biking, camping, canyoning, climbing and much more. They don't fit into a simple demographic box and are best described as having an outdoors attitude, whatever their age.

"Crucially, many of these people have never previously been aligned to the outdoor industry and only now do we really have the chance to communicate with them."

This modern outdoor audience is supplemented by an even broader base of consumers who have no intention of heading for the hills, but buy into the look and feel of outdoor products. In recent years, Berghaus has launched products with both of the groups of consumers in mind.

It launched an environmentally friendly range 365Life that incorporates organic cottons and recycled fabrics - a serious step by the company to start reducing its products' environmental impacts.

But it is possibly the Berghaus collaboration with Jeff Griffin, to create a limited edition range of jackets called Berghaus Griffin, that shows how fashion and the outdoor lifestyle have come together.

Although an outdoor enthusiast, who moved his company out of London to the Wiltshire countryside eight years ago, Mr Griffin is known for being a cutting-edge designer and has been running his own high-end menswear label, Griffin, since 1993.

Mr Griffin believes that the changes, from simply practical to stylish as well, are driven by both a change in people's lifestyle and the growing popularity of extreme sports.

He said: "We all have so little time on our hands and we look to lifestyle as being so important.

"People want to look good as well.

A lot of it has come through the newer sports, the extreme sports such as snowboarding and mountain biking. With snowboarding, you don't want to look shoddy, you want to look sharp.

"We have always wanted to do it, and we have had to wait this amount of time for the sportswear brands to understand this.

"When I was at college and all the students were doing Jean Paul Gaultier and big shoulders, we were the opposite and into streetwear and sportswear and saw there was a niche.

"Even Levi's was just a jean at one point, now that is a lifestyle brand.

People are moving into different areas, Nike, Adidas were sportswear brands."

Most of the Berghaus Griffin range was designed with the fashionconscious Japanese market in mind.

Mr Griffin said: "We got involved because we were quite famous in Japan. Berghaus was looking at the Asian market and it seemed an ideal collaboration, because we were very well-known over there for being very British, and Japan is more fashionorientated and fashionable than Britain.

"We worked with Nike in Japan and lots of other brands. The Nike range over there is more extreme.

Everyone is more creative, so for Berghaus to link into that market, they needed an extra story to them.

"It has been a massive success over the past two years. It is interesting because the world has become a lot smaller and through the internet, there is a demand in Britain to get the product."

Although designed with Japan in mind, the Griffin range is available in limited quantities in the UK.

Despite its success among the fashionable, the company which started life in the LD Mountain Centre, in Newcastle, has not forgotten its roots.

It has invested major resources in redeveloping its core ranges, and new designs for its flagship Extrem collection will hit specialist stores later this year.

Designed for use in the most inhospitable places on the planet, it has been used by Sir Chris Bonington, the company's nonexecutive chairman, and Leo Houlding, a young climber and TV presenter, during major expeditions.

Berghaus spokesman Chris Lines said: "It was ranges such as Extrem and other high performance products that set the benchmark for Berghaus and established its reputation for innovation in the outdoors.

"The people behind the company today know that all too well And as Berghaus sets its sights on becoming one of the top five global outdoor brands, Richard Cotter is very well aware of the legacy he has inherited and which he is determined to protect and, indeed, nurture."

How LD Mountain Centre climbed to dizzy heights

WHEN the LD Mountain Centre opened in Newcastle in 1966, it was the first specialist outdoor shop in the area.

Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison owned the shop and also distributed outdoor gear from Europe around the country.

They needed a name for that distribution part of their business, and as much of the best kit at the time came from Germany or Austria, they decided that a bit of instant credibility could be gained by roughly translating the name of their shop into German. Berghaus was born and soon after, Lockey and Davison started to make their own products to sell in store.

In 2006, Berghaus was presented with a Queen's Award for Enterprise, for innovation demonstrated throughout the company, and for 2007/2008 was named as both a Superbrand and Coolbrand.

In September last year, the company opened its first flagship store, in the MetroCentre, and at the same time entered the Japanese market for the first time.

As well as its success in Japan during the last year, Berghaus has been making significant inroads in Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, Poland and South Korea.

The company boasts an annual turnover of more than £50m, employs about 120 staff, exports to 26 countries world-wide and is stocked in more than 900 stores in the UK alone.

Berghaus has always been based in the region and the company is today housed in a purpose-built headquarters in Sunderland.