Gerry Cunningham grew up in an outdoorsy family. He sailed, canoed, camped and skied from a young age. He also developed an early interest in designing and manufacturing outdoor equipment, such as climbing skins and the prototype of the Climbing Pack.

Gerry did all the sewing himself, on his mother Hedy’s sewing machine. After a year at college and three years in World War II, he returned home to bring his dream to fruition: Gerry Mountaineering Equipment. His first product was the Climbing Pack. He then went on inventing and selling a large number of products, some of which were revolutionizing on the market, most notably the Cordlock and the first contemporary Infant Carrier. GERRY ski equipment and down outerwear gained cutting edge status at the time of the 1964 winter Olympic Games, at which the entire American Olympic Committee wore the GERRY Slope Coat. Thus GERRY was firmly niched as an outstanding manufacturer of down outerwear.