The Queen's Award. Photo: Nigel Goldsmith
One of the few companies still making outdoor gear in the UK has won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
Snugpak, based in Silsden, West Yorkshire, gained the honour for international trade. The company sells more than half its production abroad.
Best known for its sleeping bags, the firm, established as Brett Harris in 1977, now makes a range of gear, from insulated clothing to walking trousers.
As well as manufacturing clothing and gear for outdoor enthusiasts, Snugpak has a large market in the world’s military, supplying forces in the USA, Australia and Latvia. Overseas sales at the company, based just south of the Yorkshire Dales, have increased by 77 per cent since 2006.
Sales director Darren Burrell said: “We are thrilled to receive this award as recognition of our hard work and success at developing high-quality, durable products that can withstand rigorous use in harsh and sometimes extreme conditions throughout the world.”
The company will receive a royal visit as part of the award. 194 Queen’s Awards were dished out this year, a record for the scheme.
The Duke of York, the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment, said: “I’m delighted to see so many companies applying for, and winning, The Queen’s Award for Enterprise this year.
“Over the years, I’ve visited many Queen’s Award-winning firms, and have seen first hand just what a boost this award brings to their business and their employees.
“My sincere congratulations to this year’s record haul of winners, and the individual recipients of The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, for their exceptional achievement in gaining this prestigious award.”
Business Minister, Lord Mandelson, said: “These inspirational firms have proved they are amongst Britain’s very best businesses.
“They are flying the flag for British enterprise, innovation and corporate responsibility, both here and abroad. They have achieved the UK’s most prestigious standard of business excellence, and set the standard for other businesses to follow as they help lead Britain out of recession.”
Blizzard Protection Systems also picked up a Queen’s Award, for innovation. The company, based in Bangor, north Wales, makes space blankets and thermal protection for casualties.
Its thermal blankets are used in treating injured walkers and climbers and are also used extensively in military situations.
It developed its Blizzard Heat blanket with self-heating pads to help prevent hypothermia in casualties suffering shock. Its inventor and managing director Derek Ryden said: “We developed the Blizzard Heat specifically to meet the US military medical authorities’ requirement for a system that provides an answer to shock induced hypothermia and is easy to deploy in combat situations as part of the evacuation process. It has proved fantastically effective and there is nothing else like them on the market.
“Even without the self-heating elements, our products have been taken up in a wide range of military applications, because of their ultra light weight, small pack size and unique thermal performance. For example, the Australian army has purchased several thousand Blizzard Survival Jackets, which allow wearers 100% mobility.”
Blizzard products are also used widely by mountaineers, mountain rescue teams and air sea rescue crews.
