About Stellar Equipment | High-performance outerwear

Stellar Equipment started long before it became a company.

Many of us grew up in the mountains of northern Scandinavia — a place where life was treated with a kind of practical freedom you don’t find in many other regions. You did what you wanted and dealt with the consequences.

It was a harsh but creative environment that shaped a whole generation of skiers, riders, builders, and misfits — and it shaped us too. In inconsistent weather and demanding terrain, you learn quickly what matters: respect for nature, friends who’ve got your back, a positive mindset, and gear that actually works.

Like many of our friends, we worked our way through every corner of the outdoor world just to be able to keep skiing — sports shops, tiny startups, magazines, design studios, trade shows, and eventually the bigger brands. And the more we saw, the harder it became to ignore the gap between the culture we came from and the industry we were suddenly part of.

The business had drifted away from the people who actually use the gear.

“It was a harsh but creative environment that shaped a whole generation of skiers, riders, builders, and misfits — and it shaped us too.”

Founder John Crawford-Currie getting shaped in Riksgränsen, Sweden.

A few years later in Engelberg, Switzerland.

“What had always been our life was suddenly sold as lifestyle — glossy, exclusive, and impossibly expensive.”

John taking the lead in BC, Canada, 2025.

Stellar crew on location in Las Leñas, Argentina, 2025. Xander, Leoni, David, Giulia and Edvin.

Brands moved into big-city offices,

mountain culture became a curiosity, and what had always been our life was suddenly sold as lifestyle — glossy, exclusive, and impossibly expensive. Authenticity faded as the enthusiasts, ski bums, and locals were pushed out.

At the same time, the industry adopted the logic of fast fashion: seasonal collections, artificial “newness,” and products created for marketing cycles rather than long-term use. Perfectly good gear was replaced for the wrong reasons. Something felt off.

So in 2015 we started Stellar Equipment — partly out of frustration with where things were heading, and partly because a new possibility appeared: direct-to-customer meant we could finally build gear on our own terms.

And that changed everything. We could focus on what actually matters. We could develop products for as long as they needed — not for a trade show deadline. We could choose the best materials available, without price ladders or margin stacking. We could keep products in the line for years, improving them only when we genuinely found ways to make them better.

And most importantly, we could speak directly with the people using our gear.

Campaign shot from Davos that eventually found it’s way to the cover of the Financial Times.

“We could keep products in the line for years, improving them only when we genuinely found ways to make them better. ”

-25°C in the box at the Toray Technorama GIII Advanced Textiles Development Center in Otsu, Shiga, Japan.

David Kantermo — employee no 1, bona fide mountain man, pro skier, and unofficial mood manager.

“Ten years later, we’re still a small independent team — split between Åre and Stockholm — but always led from the mountains. ”

Staff day out in our home town. And yes, there was wine eventually.

Over the years we’ve learned that building fewer products,

more slowly, results in better equipment. That modular layering beats seasonal collections. That consistency — in fit, in colours, in materials — matters more than constant novelty.

And that real outdoor gear earns its place in the mountains — not in the streets.

Ten years later, we’re still a small independent team of skiers, riders, builders — and maybe a few misfits. Our design philosophy, product testing, and decisions still start on snow, not in conference rooms. There’s no pressure to chase scale or seasonal cycles.

We keep what works. We improve what we can.

And we still approach this the way we approach the mountains — with curiosity, humility, and a sense of fun. We make serious gear, but we’re not here to be serious.

This is why Stellar Equipment exists.
And if this way of thinking resonates with you, you’re in the right place.

John Crawford-Currie grew up in the mountains of northern Scandinavia and started out as a ski journalist and publisher before drifting into design and branding roles across the outdoor industry. In 2013 he swore he’d “never work in the textile industry again.” In 2015 he co-founded Stellar Equipment.

_{Photos: Private / Mattias Fredriksson / Christoffer Sjöström / David Kantermo}