Embracing Her Mom’s Go-To Kit
BAY AREA BORN-AND-BRED STYLIST, TERUMI MURAO, WEARING HER MOM’S ORIGINAL
1990S MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR EXPOSURE™ SHELL
AND CHILL FACTOR™ FLEECE. TERUMI REMEMBERS HER MOM WEARING THIS VERY KIT DAY-IN
AND DAY-OUT TO BE PRACTICAL AND PREPARED FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S CHANGEABLE WEATHER.
Image: François Lebeau
WORDS BY MHW SR. COPYWRITER MARLEY JERANKO,
IMAGES BY FRANÇOIS LEBEAU, STYLED BY TERUMI MURAO
IMAGES BY FRANÇOIS LEBEAU, STYLED BY TERUMI MURAO
Let’s turn the clock back to the 90s and remember where
we came from. We know just the place to start.
we came from. We know just the place to start.
Dimly lit, but mostly just stacked tall with racks of old gear, our archive closet is so insulated with all kinds of puffers and perfectly preserved shells, you can practically hear a ghost whisper. Wiggle your way through the overly packed racks, and you’ll find a trove of Mountain Hardwear classics. A treasure chest of 1990s and 2000s style waiting to be opened.
With a bounty of trust and smidge of why-not, we handed over the closet keys to stylist and adventure athlete Terumi Murao, a friend of the brand with an eye for rekindling forgotten finds, and asked her to create kits for today by using our styles from the past. Shot on-location in our office in Richmond, California, this creative endeavor is meant to pay tribute to three decades of durable design that still stands out today.
Terumi was a natural creative fit for this project. Just like our company, she was born and bred in the Bay Area in the mid-90s. For as long as she can remember, her mom’s daily uniform was a well-loved, sherbert orange 1995 Mountain Hardwear GORE-TEX Exposure Parka™ with a cobalt blue Chill Factor™ Fleece Vest tucked underneath.
The Nitrous™ Down Jacket
AN EARLY APPARITION OF OUR CURRENT GHOST WHISPERER™. THE NITROUS™ STARTED AS JUST A WINDSHELL, USED ULTRALIGHT JAPANESE 7-DENIER FABRIC, AND EVOLVED INTO A DOWN JACKET IN THE EARLY 2000S.
Image: François Lebeau
“
SHE DIDN'T DRESS LIKE THE OTHER MOMS. SHE WORE VERY TECHNICAL CLOTHING. AT THE TIME, I WAS JUST LIKE, ‘CAN YOU JUST PLEASE WEAR SOMETHING NORMAL WHEN YOU PICK ME UP FROM SCHOOL TODAY? CAN YOU JUST NOT WEAR A PARKA? LIKE, NOT A GORE-TEX JACKET?’
”
SHE DIDN'T DRESS LIKE THE OTHER MOMS. SHE WORE VERY TECHNICAL CLOTHING. AT THE TIME, I WAS JUST LIKE, ‘CAN YOU JUST PLEASE WEAR SOMETHING NORMAL WHEN YOU PICK ME UP FROM SCHOOL TODAY? CAN YOU JUST NOT WEAR A PARKA? LIKE, NOT A GORE-TEX JACKET?’
”
To Terumi’s point, the Exposure™ was made for high-altitude ascents. You know, extreme environments, where being prepared for absolutely anything isn’t
a frivolous request—it's a necessity. But to be fair, if being engineered for the outdoors means you can handle nature’s worst, then maybe it’s perfectly suited for the cold, foggy summers and begrudgingly wet winters in San Francisco.
Coming from Japanese culture, Terumi says her mom errs on the extreme side when it comes to construction and efficiency. The late Ingrid Harshbarger, Mountain Hardwear’s original apparel designer and one of our founders, shared that sentiment. Known for her meticulous attention to detail, sweating every seam and every stitch, it was her next-level craftsmanship that left a powerful legacy and put the brand on the map. Ingrid knew that, whether you want to travel into places with extreme weather or want to wear something for an extremely long time, it all depends on having extremely good gear—a sentiment Terumi’s mom could agree on.
The Nitrous™ Wind Shell
AN CLASSIC WINDBREAKER MADE OF ULTRALIGHT JAPANESE 7-DENIER FABRIC. (1999 VERSION)
Image: François Lebeau
Her mom always wanted to wear things that made a lot of sense. But for Terumi, (and like most kids) when it comes to clothes, what makes sense doesn’t always make sense.
“I didn’t get it when I was growing up, but looking back, when I see photos of her in this jacket, she really was cool!” Terumi admits. “She was always counterculture and kind of, you could say, ahead of her time. But she would never admit she was ahead of her time or cooler than anybody else. She was just, by nature of who she is, different.
The Synchro™ Jacket
AN EARLY PERFORMANCE SOFT SHELL WITH INNOVATIVE AND MINIMAL EXTERNALLY TAPED SEAMS. (EARLY 2000S VERSION)
Image: François Lebeau
THE SUBZERO™ DOWN JACKET (EARLY 2000S VERSION)
THE EXPOSURE™ GORE-TEX PARKA (2008 VERSION)
THE SYNCHRO™ JACKET (EARLY 2000S VERSION)
THE NITROUS™ DOWN JACKET (EARLY 2000S VERSION)
THE NITROUS™ WINDBREAKER (1999 VERSION)
THE ABSOLUTE ZERO™ DOWN PARKA (MID 2000S VERSION)
THE CHILL FACTOR™ FLEECE JACKET (2001 VERSION)
THE WINDSTOPPER™ FLEECE JACKET (EARLY 2000S VERSION)
“
THERE’S THIS SAYING IN JAPANESE CULTURE THAT ‘THE NAIL THAT STICKS UP GETS HAMMERED DOWN.’ THE WAY TERUMI SEES IT, ‘I THINK SHE WAS ALWAYS THE ONE THAT STUCK OUT IN HER FAMILY, AND I THINK AT TIMES, SHE MIGHT HAVE WANTED TO CONFORM. BUT SHE IS ONE OF THOSE UNIQUE PEOPLE THAT COULDN’T BE TYPICAL IF SHE TRIED.’
”
THERE’S THIS SAYING IN JAPANESE CULTURE THAT ‘THE NAIL THAT STICKS UP GETS HAMMERED DOWN.’ THE WAY TERUMI SEES IT, ‘I THINK SHE WAS ALWAYS THE ONE THAT STUCK OUT IN HER FAMILY, AND I THINK AT TIMES, SHE MIGHT HAVE WANTED TO CONFORM. BUT SHE IS ONE OF THOSE UNIQUE PEOPLE THAT COULDN’T BE TYPICAL IF SHE TRIED.’
”
The Exposure™ GORE-TEX Parka
A EARLY-2000S VERSION OF ONE OF OUR ORIGINAL PIECES MADE FOR MOUNTAIN GUIDES AND ALPINISTS. (2008 VERSION)
Image: François Lebeau
Her Mountain Hardwear uniform went against the grain, but she liked its functionality. She liked that it made her unstoppable to whatever came her way.
“She just likes to see things from another perspective for the sake of change and diversity of thought,” she explains. “I think that definitely played a role in me being able to confidently try things that were maybe outside of the norm.”
“She just likes to see things from another perspective for the sake of change and diversity of thought,” she explains. “I think that definitely played a role in me being able to confidently try things that were maybe outside of the norm.”
That might just be a common way of looking at things in the Bay Area. It’s no secret that things can be done a little differently in our origin city of Berkeley. Starting a company overnight on Halloween, just to name one. Or even this unconventional tactic…
After much trouble fitting in at school, Terumi began taking notes in a journal about how people treated her differently based on what she was wearing. “After that, I got really fascinated by the power of styling.”
After much trouble fitting in at school, Terumi began taking notes in a journal about how people treated her differently based on what she was wearing. “After that, I got really fascinated by the power of styling.”
At home, her family had what they called a Zoukin box. Zoukin in Japanese means cleaning rags, so the box became a place for old, stained, irreparable t-shirts. “For some reason, as soon as that t-shirt I didn't want went in that box, I had to have it,” Terumi recalls. “I would go through great lengths to get into that box and fish things out.”
The Subzero™ Down Jacket
ONE OF OUR CLASSIC PIECES, THE SUBZERO™ DOWN JACKET BECAME AND REMAINS A BADGE OF HONOR FOR CLIMBERS - BOULDERERS, ICE CLIMBERS, AND ALPINISTS ALIKE. (EARLY 2000S VERSION)
Image: François Lebeau
Lucky for us, there was a little more than just some old t-shirts to fish out of our Zoukin box. An Absolute Zero™ Suit poked its legs out from behind a stack of cardboard. An iconic symbol of our reverence and respect for mountaineering and those way-up places we still travel to thanks to Garrett Madison and crew, it reminds us of the history and personal achievements that have been made in that very design.
And then there was the early 2000s Synchro™ Jacket, led by another one of our early designers, Cheryl Knopp. She and Mountain Hardwear pioneered the welding and taping process of garment construction, which allowed the garment to be lighter, more efficient with no stitching, and made for a technical, modern, clean aesthetic still used in today’s designs.
And more icons followed. There was the Sub Zero™ Down Jacket, which became such a fixture at crags and even climbing gyms that we selected it for our 2023 Reissue Collection. There was the original Polartec® HiLoft™ Fleece with its unique texture and wildly breathable warmth. And, of course, more big down pieces all the way down to the barely-detectable Nitrous™ Jacket—because we’ve always been interested in lightweight warmth.
But of all things uncovered, of course Terumi wanted to be photographed in her mom’s very own shell and fleece vest. Another generation, carrying the same style torch.
“With this project, my initial thought was I wanted to, again, find pieces that were kind of buried and maybe discarded in that Zoukin box and pull them out and let them shine and tell a story. In the archive closet, I found another jacket that I've been seeing since I was six years old. So, I was excited to style that in ways that nodded to my mom's style.”
“With this project, my initial thought was I wanted to, again, find pieces that were kind of buried and maybe discarded in that Zoukin box and pull them out and let them shine and tell a story. In the archive closet, I found another jacket that I've been seeing since I was six years old. So, I was excited to style that in ways that nodded to my mom's style.”
When asked about the jacket, her mom’s response was textbook what we’d expect of our day-one supporters. “‘Of course I still have it—that stays with me forever’”
“That jacket—and my snowboard.”
Terumi’s not alone in having grown up seeing her parent wear Mountain Hardwear. So often we hear of memories like hers or that folks have repurposed a Hardwear heirloom. We love hearing about beloved pieces that have shaped the paths you’ve taken in life and the outdoors. We’ll keep making gear that lasts so that you can keep passing them down.
“That jacket—and my snowboard.”
Terumi’s not alone in having grown up seeing her parent wear Mountain Hardwear. So often we hear of memories like hers or that folks have repurposed a Hardwear heirloom. We love hearing about beloved pieces that have shaped the paths you’ve taken in life and the outdoors. We’ll keep making gear that lasts so that you can keep passing them down.
The Chill Factor™ Fleece Jacket
A LATER VERSION OF THE JACKET THAT STARTED IT ALL. THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THIS PIECE WAS OUR FIRST JACKET EVER SOLD IN 1993. (2001 VERSION)
Image: François Lebeau
The Absolute Zero™ Down Suit
ORIGINALLY CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR’S VERY FIRST ATHLETE, ED VIESTURS, VERSIONS OF THIS SUIT HAVE BEEN TO THE TOP OF EVEREST AND TO OTHER FAR FLUNG PEAKS AROUND THE GLOBE.
(MID 2000S VERSION)
Image: François Lebeau
CONTINUE EXPLORING OUR HERITAGE
SINCE ’93
The spirit our nine founders cultivated in those early days of Mountain Hardwear lives on. After 30 years in business, we’re old enough to know better and young enough to do it anyway.
REISSUE
We’re throwing it back to 1993! Taking our most iconic designs and making them new again – throwback style with today’s fabric technology, this capsule pays homage to our early years.
