Douglas Gill was a keen dinghy sailor in 1975. But his favourite sport was blighted by the lack of dedicated sailing clothing which actually worked. Of course at the time the cagoule existed, as did many other items of waterproof clothing. But these items lacked engineering and therefore hindered the free movement one needs when when involved in a physically demanding sport such as sailing. This lack of suitable clothing for sailors gave Douglas Gill an idea, and 5 years later the Douglas Gill brand was born. That same year, Gill was appointed official supplier to the British Americas Cup entrants, which was the first of many endorsements.
Throughout the 1980′s, the Gill sailing range went from strength to strength with further advancements in their engineered waterproof clothing ranges. Although most lines were designed for sailing, the versatility of the garments was obvious to many buyers, with British Airways commissioning Gill to supply their ground staff with waterproof gear based on the popular Gill Storm jacket and sailing jackets. In fact Gill sailing gear and sailing trousers are often used as snowboarding and ski clothing, as well as proving popular with walkers and climbers as well as under armour clothing and under armour heatgear.
As the 1980′s drew to a close, Gill expanded their product base even further to include boots, gloves and fleeces to their range of sailing clothes. Gill also designed and developed the two-piece sailing suit which replaced the traditional one piece suit. This innovative design proved hugely popular amongst dinghy sailors, for whom it was designed and similar designs were quickly adopted by other manufacturers of sailing clothing, like Helly Hensen jackets and Helly Hensen Clothing.
TheGill sailing brand continued to prosper through the 1990′s with Gill appointed the official clothing supplier of the British Olympic Sailing Team. Team GBR sailed to win gold medals at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia in 2000, and yes, they were wearing Gill performance clothing. Throughout the following year Gill have invested their expertise in a new breed of performance clothing and in 2008 they launched the Gill Compressor Vest, a fitted buoyancy aid which offers uninhibited movement and optimal comfort. The following year, Gill launched the lightest performance sports waterproof to date as part of their Race collection for sports and Grand Prix sailing.
Who knows what the future holds for the Gill brand. The last 40 years have seen the brand become one of the leading innovators in water sports clothing, with their design team branching out and providing performance clothing for a wide variety of water sports and marine activities. Maybe Gill will branch out further to bring their highly engineered performance clothing into land based sports such as cycling, motocross and ski clothing too?
By Carl Liver & Barry Summers
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