Paul Anderton is Berghaus's new head of product and innovation

The owners of the Berghaus brand have appointed Paul Anderton to a new senior post with the Wearside company.

The new job marks a return for Mr Anderton to the firm where he started his outdoors career.

He joins Berghaus as head of category for product and innovation. Mr Anderton has held senior European product-management roles for two of the world’s biggest outdoor brands, at Patagonia and most recently Columbia Sportswear. He has also worked for Hurley, Nike, Quiksilver and Salomon in a career in outdoor, sports and fashion that spans 30 years.

He began his career in the outdoor sector as part of the sales team at Berghaus during a period of strong growth from 1999 to 2003.

Mr Anderton will work closely with head of design James Hodgson, leading the product and innovation team at the Sunderland headquarters.

Earlier this year, Pentland Brands, which owns Berghaus, announced a major investment to double the size of the product team and support the brand’s long-term business strategy. As well as expanding its outdoor lifestyle range, Berghaus said it has put renewed focus on creating ground-breaking products for the specialist outdoor sector through its Extrem range, continuing a thread of technical innovation that stretches back to the early 1970s.

The brand has also introduced a dedicated ‘sprint team’ to bring certain lines to the market more quickly than through the standard process.

Kev McFadyen, Berghaus brand director, said: “Paul started his outdoor industry career with us 20 years ago and has since gone on to work for some of the biggest global brands in our sector. We look forward to him using his extensive experience in the category to lead our product team as Berghaus gears up for the next exciting chapter for our brand.”

Paul Anderton said: “I have a long-standing passion for Berghaus and I’m proud to be returning to the business and its people.

“Kev and the team here have a compelling, bold vision, and I share their determination to harness the elements that are so special about Berghaus and deliver the next era of great success for this amazing brand.”

Pentland is currently recruiting people for senior product and marketing roles to strengthen its Berghaus team. Details are on the company’s website.