Field Journal

Richard Pyne, CEO of Páramo, on the Future of the Outdoor Industry
Written by Alex Roddie // Photography courtesy of Páramo

‘Páramo does a lot of these things because they’re the right thing to do. They’re very expensive things to do. If we were about making as much money as possible, we wouldn’t make a lot of these decisions.’ —Richard Pyne

You think you know how a waterproof jacket works. There’s a breathable membrane designed to let water vapour pass through, topped with a layer of water-resistant, windproof material to protect the membrane. But Páramo, a British outdoor clothing brand established in 1992, has been doing things differently since day one – and this extends to sustainability and ethical manufacturing as well as tech.

Páramo has ardent followers. Their waterproof jackets don’t work quite like anything else in the industry, and this makes the products unashamedly opinionated. Much like the brand itself. But as the entire outdoor clothing industry reckons with its environmental footprint and attempts to reinvent itself for a more responsible future, Páramo finds itself a step or two ahead… and is looking beyond to the next challenges.

Driving everything the brand does is a central passion for the outdoors. For Richard Pyne, who became Páramo’s CEO in 2023, adventure has always been something associated with family: ‘As a child, I spent holidays on Scilly – a beautiful place. Growing up, my interest changed. I went hiking with my now wife around the UK, and this led to mountain biking and paddle boarding. As the family grew and we had our boy, it changed again. We got him up the Old Man of Coniston with the help of lots of jelly babies – great fun!’

Richard initially began working for Páramo back in 2013, when he took on a part-time job at the local Wadhurst store. ‘It was a one-day-a-week shop job, and things just grew from there. It was a great bunch at Páramo back then and a lot of the same folk are still here. I felt like Páramo punched above its weight – and everyone else wanted people to recognise this, for all the good things it did. That’s still true today. It keeps us motivated.’

As I speak with Richard, I realise that this desire to do good runs deep. It influences every decision he makes, everything the brand does, and he is profoundly conscious of the balance between making money and having a positive impact. A large part of this is due to foundations laid decades ago by Nick Brown, the pioneering founder of Páramo.

From the start, Páramo garments have been made primarily from a single material, designed without glues, laminates, or taped seams. That makes them easier to both repair and recycle.
Richard says, ‘Looking back on it now, it was ahead of its time. Nick didn’t necessarily have all the solutions, but he knew that if you make things as monomaterial as possible then the product’s end of life is going to be easier.’

Although polyester recycling did not exist in 1992, repair was a priority from day one. ‘The technology has always lent itself to being repairable. Páramo started offering repairs from its UK workshop in the early years. And now, going to the Outdoor Trade Show a few months ago, you’ve got all these companies starting to realise how important repair is. It’s frustrating in some ways – why has it taken everyone else 30 years? It’s obvious, isn’t it? We need to stop making as much new and actually repair what we’ve already manufactured.’

Sustainable decisions from day one include ethical manufacturing. In 1986, Nick Brown tested his first garment designs in the páramo of the Andes, and when he returned in 1992 he met Sister Esther Castaño Mejia, a nun who ran a small sewing workshop, Creaciones Miquelina, offering help to vulnerable women from the streets of Bogotá, Colombia. Páramo partnered with Miquelina to manufacture its products in Colombia.

Richard speaks warmly of his visits to Miquelina. ‘I was fortunate to go across to visit Miquelina with Nick about six years ago. I’d always heard about Miquelina, of course. But listening to the ladies talk about their previous lives, and what the nuns have given them in terms of spiritual help, as well as the income from the factory, you think, “This is so much more than just a story”. It all sounds a bit like a sales pitch, but we know that when we sell a jacket, it has positively impacted someone over in Colombia.’

In 2022, Nick Brown sold Páramo and sister brand Nikwax to their employees, forming a new Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). ‘Páramo’s always had a very strong family feel – something established by Nick,’ Richard says. ‘One of the reasons he wanted us to become an EOT was to protect staff as well as the brand and its values. There are people who’ve been here 25 years. At the same time, we’ve expanded and new people have started with us, bringing in fresh ideas.’ Richard explains that Páramo is open about their finances with the whole team, so employees can question it and learn about how business works. ‘I’ll happily go and talk to anyone who works for Páramo, and I hope they’ll talk to me! We’re a small company, and you can get to know everybody.’

Páramo sees their unique technology as their biggest differentiator. Nick Brown looked at the limitations of membrane-based jackets, which can only move water vapour rather than liquid water away from the skin, and resolved to make something better. Richard explains how he often uses the example of an otter. ‘What Nick did was create something that mimics animal fur: a fabric with a density gradient across it, and TX Direct to mimic the oils. With this he actually achieved the transport of liquid water away from the skin.’ This, he explains, is far more efficient than a membrane-based fabric.

However, this difference is hard to explain to customers used to conventional jackets. Richard tells me that one of Páramo’s biggest challenges is education. The brand must invest time to explain the benefits of their very different technology. And, of course, there are trade-offs.

‘The two layers do make the garment heavier, bulkier, and a bit warmer than a shell, and that’s a challenge to get across to people. The expertise of our retailers and staff really comes in to help people understand that.’ Sadly many independent retailers have now retired or are struggling. Richard says, ‘We’re opening more of our own stores to give people the service and time they need, make sure they’re buying the right thing for their activity – and that they understand how to look after it. Prioritising the customer and their needs is key.’

This focus on the customer’s needs is part of the reason why the brand has such a passionate following. The durability of Páramo garments is legendary. ‘We’ve had a few people sending in their 20-year-old jackets for repair, and we often get a story of all the adventures they’ve been on in this jacket. Quite often someone will have sadly lost their parents, but they’ll send a jacket back to us and say, “Look, this was my dad’s; I want to wear it now. Can you sort it out?”’

Although there was a period when Páramo pushed for lighter products, Richard says that the compromises weren’t worth it. ‘We can have some very lightweight stuff, but it’s not going to last 20 years. So one of the first things I did as CEO was to go back to what we’re good at – slightly heavier but durable performance.’

Durability, repairability, recyclability, ethical manufacturing: these are all building blocks towards circularity, which is the next step for Páramo. The goal is to keep garments in active use for as long as possible, and when they reach their end of life they can be used as raw materials for new products.

‘Making things durable is the first step towards circularity – and arguably the most important,’ Richard emphasises. ‘We’ve been doing a lot of this from day one without really knowing what the eventual solution would be. An end-of-life solution is the very last resort.’

When Richard became CEO, he was inspired by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and decided that circularity was the right move for Páramo. After prototyping with a chemical recycling plant, their fabric company based in Bogotá bought several tons of the recycled ‘chip’ and have now developed a fully recycled pump liner. This is used in the new line of 360 garments as a proof of concept.

‘So it’s now possible to turn old Páramo jackets into new Páramo jackets, which is kind of the Holy Grail,’ Richard says. ‘But it’s really expensive at the moment. I’m not going to lie – we couldn’t use that fabric across the whole range tomorrow, which is a real shame because we should be. Chemically recycled fabrics should be cheaper than virgin polyester, but they’re about six times more. That’s the swing we’ve got to make.’

This swing goes far beyond the outdoor industry. Richard says, ‘Páramo on its own just isn’t big enough, and in fact the whole outdoor industry probably isn’t big enough. We need the fashion industry to jump in on this. Eventually all industries are going to be pushed this way.’

Although many outdoor clothing brands are now using recycled polyester in their products – a welcome development – a key source of that is recycled bottles. Richard realised that when the packaging industry is forced to go circular, they will no longer want to sell bottles to the outdoor industry. ‘That’s going to be a big problem,’ he says. ‘The feedstock for the fabric industry will dry up overnight, unless we’re proactive about this. A lot of brands are starting to buy the chemically recycled chip or yarn, which is great. I don’t think we’ve got a problem at that end. But getting to the point where you’ve got more brands who can input material is a bigger challenge.’

Although Páramo has been campaigning for change across the industry for many years, notably on the dangers of PFAS/PFCs, change is slow until it’s forced to accelerate by legislation or economic incentives. ‘Páramo was banging on about PFAS 16 years ago,’ Richard says with a smile. ‘I’m not trying to badmouth other brands, but they have made decisions not to do anything about this for 16 years. Businesses have got to want to make change.’

However, he remains optimistic, and declares an ambition to get to the point where Páramo no longer requires virgin polyester. Other brands, he believes, could follow rapidly. ‘Because we use a lot of synthetic fibres in the outdoor industry, we’ve got a real opportunity for big leaps to be made quickly, and if we start making those leaps, the technology will be developed. We should be standing up and showing other industries what’s possible.’

What about further into the future? ‘I’d like to think that in 20 years we’ll have almost done circularity and be onto the next thing,’ Richard says. ‘Chemical recycling is the most developed solution we’ve got at the moment. If something better comes along in the future, which I’m sure it will, we’ve got to take the next leap too.’