Holubar Gaiters

I was rummaging through one of my "Hiking - Reserve" boxes and under some wool mittens were a pair of circa 1980 Holubar Gore-Tex gaiters (green), neatly folded up and totally unused. "Oh yeah, thooose, I wondered where the green ones were" were my first words.

Just thought I'd toss that out for those who remember the company. I bought these as a teenager in the same year TNF bought Holubar, so I'm not sure whether they are original Holubars. The label states "HOLUBAR Boulder, Colo." but the snaps outboard of the zippers are Sierrawest. Does anyone happen to know the Sierrawest connection?

Jim B.

Actually, it was Johnson Wax who bought Holubar in 1975. Johnson closed Holubar operations in 1980 and sold it and the rights to The North Face in 1981. TNF kept a store open in Boulder with the Holubar signs and sold products with the Holubar label until about 1985. There was (is?) a store using the Holubar name and logo in Colorado Springs in 1996. History at http://www.oregonphotos.com/Holubar1.html as posted here several times. There is also history there of Gerry, which was also in Boulder originally (another great name in outdoor gear back in the 1950-1980 era).

Not sure about the SierraWest history, although I have had a couple things from them. The OregonWest website mentions them, but does not have a history page about them that I have found.

You say the gaiters are Goretex from 1980, which is when Johnson Wax owned HOlubar. That must have been about the 2nd generation of gtx. Barb and I had gtx parkas from the early or mid-70s. The first couple of generations had delamination problems. The versions after about 1980 were much improved.

I read once that SierraWest was started by one of Dick Kelty's kids. I believe SierraWest was a California company. I do have one of their catalogs and should double check this. My guess is Holubar simply contracted out the manufacture of the gaiters to SierraWest. SierraWest did make a large range of gaiters and accessories in their day so I'm not surprised that they may have made them for Holubar, especially in the waning years of Holubar.

Alan -
According to the OregonWest website, SierraWest was based in Santa Barbara.

Holubar had a line of kits in addition to their completed gear, among which were gaiters. So did SierraWest, and FrostLine Kits was started by a couple guys who worked for Gerry or Holubar (it says on the OregonWest site, but I don't recall right now). So it is possible that the gaiters were made from a Holubar kit (the OregonWest site says that when Holubar was being taken over by Johnson Wax, a lot of the kits were sold at bargain prices). Maybe the kit had Sierra West parts.