Yesterday’s post about Mountain Hardwear got me thinking about other name brands in the region.

The North Face is the most obvious — they still have a marketing and distribution arm in San Leandro.

Marmot is up in Santa Rosa.

Western Mountaineering, the sleeping bag people, are still based in San Jose and still sewing their bags on-site, the last I heard.

Pretty much all have the same story: hippie backpacker types starting from scratch back in the ’70s. North Face seems the most self-congratulatory; WM seems the most humble; Marmot’s some where in between (most earnest, perhaps?).

What other brands do the rest of you know about? I did some looking around on Google and found out it’s harder to figure out these things than you might suspect. The Outdoor Industry Association’s member page is a dead link (they’re only too happy to join you up, though).

As always, your contributions compensate for my absence of knowledge, skill, ambition, etc. (this is what we love about user-generated content).