[hackuser]

> Key people left North Face over a decade ago, and some started Mountain Hardware

Mountain Hardware was founded in 1993, per Wikipedia, and purchased by Columbia in 2003. Are you thinking of someone else?

[et-al]

OP might be thinking of Sierra Design guys starting up MH. It's a common cycle for these people to jump ship as companies get entrenched and they lose their creative freedom.

Same thing happened with backpacks: Dana Gleason of Dana Designs, sold to K2, fulfilled his noncompete, he starts up Mystery Ranch.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Design

[rch]

I'm just old - I forget how long ago some of these conversations took place, but mid-90s sounds right.