I was reading the Wikipedia page for Patagonia the other day. This page seems a little small for the amount of business the company does, but still was an interesteing read. What really caught my eye was the part about Chouinard Equipment going out of business because of a liability case, but that what was left of the business became Black Diamond.
As a fan of Patagonia I had been wondering what had happened to Chouinards gear business. Yes, the clothing line is successful, but they started out making climbing gear. This page, in conjunction with Black Diamond’s Wikipedia page explain what happened to the company.
The products that they made were not the problem and the product lines have continued. Black Diamond is a very popular brand of gear and I have a bunch of their pieces. I feel somewhat cheated that I didn’t realize that they were part of the Patagaonia brand history.