In a dorm room at the University of California Santa Cruz two students, Eric Reynolds and Dave Huntley, made prototypes of down products from 1971 – 1973. Among their first products were a down vest, a sweater, a parka and three down sleeping bags.

In the Spring of 1974 Dave, Tom, and an additional friend, Tom Boyce, rented a building near downtown Grand Junction, Colorado. They used the building to open up a rental and retail shop named Marmot Mountain Works.

The following fall, while climbing in Peru, Tom met famed adventure filmmaker Mike Hoover. After Tom returned home, he received a call from Mike requesting on the behalf of 20^th Century Fox, 108 very puffy jackets for the film The Eiger Sanction starring Clint Eastwood. In one week’s time the Marmots designed the Golden Mantle which was featured in the film and was subsequently the largest order they had yet received.

Today, Marmot has over 650 authorized dealers in the U.S. and their products are distributed in 27 countries. Although the company has grown, they still hold on to the same values that they started with back in 1974 – that is to offer the highest quality performance product.