ONE PLANET is a long established Australian outdoor brand. In this story, Megan Holbeck reflects on some of the 40 year history of the company, and its involvement in a design exhibition in Melbourne in 2023.
ONE PLANET is an Australian company known for its outdoor gear: rucksacks, sleeping bags, rainwear and tents for bushwalking. In 2023, some of its products – a Polar Pyramid tent, Cocoon sleeping bags and Tarkine rucksack – could be found in a sterile room lacking views, trees, rocks and mountains, far from their native bush habitat. Instead, they were hung on the Design Wall of the National Gallery of Victoria’s ‘Melbourne Now’ exhibition alongside other ‘new and ambitious local art and design’.
So how did outdoor gear made in Melbourne end up as part of a ten-year retrospective showcasing the latest art, architecture, design, and cultural practice shaping the city? The answer lies in the company behind the products, and the choices and approach that have shaped its 40-odd year history.
Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Victoria. Photographer: Tobias Titz
In 1997, three independent Australian outdoor companies brought their knowledge, machinery and products together to form ONE PLANET. The three (AiKing, J&H and Adventure Designs) were united by many things: passion for the Australian outdoors and producing exceptional products that worked locally; innovative design approaches; exacting attention to detail in quality, materials and construction.
Twenty-seven years later, ONE PLANET is thriving, still making seriously good equipment designed for Australian adventures, built on local flavour, feel, and deep knowledge of the region’s wild places. The gear is designed in Melbourne by passionate outdoor types who know the pranks and pitfalls of the bush: that straps get caught on everything, that fabric needs to be tough enough to keep out scrub, wildlife and pelting rain. The emphasis is on quality products that perform well and last.
Walking the Victorian Alps with the Tussock Backpack, Photograph: Pat Corden
Andrew says, ‘We believe it’s not good gear unless it works here. Sometimes equipment “just works”, but years of refinement lie behind its design. We’re proud to make products tailored to how Australians enjoy the outdoors.’
This approach has paid off in world-class, innovative and exceptional gear. Examples abound. Way back in 1984 the J&H Winter Lite sleeping bag won an Australian Good Design Award for its vertical cross-baffle system, a design since copied by leading brands and bags globally. ONE PLANET’s work with the Australian Antarctic Division began in the early 2000s, developing into a polar range designed to cope with conditions in the toughest environment on earth. Outdoor education leaders across Australia choose the Tarkine and Toolangi packs for their waterproofness and reliability, as well as their comfortable harnesses, with the EXACT FIT harness system still the only large rucksack harness to be endorsed by the Australian Chiropractic Association. Regardless of the product, there is wonderful attention to detail: packs have water bottles that are both accessible and secure; jacket hoods stay on and stay put; there are little pockets for tent guy lines – the gear is simple, works well and lasts.
ONE PLANET polar pyramids in 2022 Season. Photograph: Luke Brauteseth
Most ONE PLANET products are still made in Australia (rucksacks, duffles, polar tents and accessories, with down sleeping bags filled and finished to order), which is now something of a rarity. The purpose-designed Sunshine West factory is light and bright, covered in solar panels, with dedicated spaces for each sector of the business: a floor full of state-of-the-art sewing machines and the latest generation of fabric-cutting machinery; a down room for filling sleeping bags and quilts; a servicing and repairs workshop; a showroom and design studio; storage and dispatch; a whole warehouse dedicated to industrial gear and institutional hire.
It wasn’t always this way. In November 2004, a small electrical fault became a huge blaze that completely destroyed the previous factory. Everything burned: the building, the machinery, raw materials, the designs and patterns. All that remained was a mess of charcoal and 23 dedicated, talented staff. This was a crossroads for ONE PLANET: most local brands had moved their production offshore, and there was pressure to do the same. Instead, the decision was made to rebuild the factory in Melbourne, maintain the company’s fierce dedication to local manufacturing, and focus on developing high-end outdoor equipment specifically for Australian conditions. The company didn’t waste any time: the contract for the current factory was signed three weeks after the blaze; the first packs dispatched five weeks later.
According to Andrew, what followed was, ‘A year of honest and hard work, late nights and moments of golden support.’ As ONE PLANET rebuilt from the ashes, it tightened up its business practices and philosophies, increasing the focus on environmental and social sustainability. These values are firmly embedded within the company; things that are lived rather than just talked about. The factory has great lighting and layout, and new, ultra-low energy machines. The company has been buying Green Power and offsetting the factory’s energy use (including work-related staff travel) since 2006. Solar panels were installed in 2023, aiming to generate more electricity annually than is consumed by both the factory and the retail shop in Melbourne.
Pitching the Goondie 2 overlooking MT Feathertop, Victoria. Photograph: Pat Corden
It seems that for ONE PLANET, everything is built on the long game – the company, products and reputation. The retail shop at 377 Little Bourke Street is part of this plan, stocking the entire ONE PLANET range, as well as a carefully curated selection of products from companies with a similar focus on reliable, durable and responsibly-made gear suitable for use in the antipodes. Like all staff in the company, the shop crew know their stuff, dispensing wisdom, gear chat and cracking stories.
“Buff” Farnell overlooking the Razorback, Victoria. Photograph: Andrew Barnes
Located in a historic gear shop in Melbourne’s outdoor epicentre, the shop closes a circle for ONE PLANET. In 1988 a young Andrew worked at the Mountain Designs shop here, before he was politely told he was better at fixing gear than he was at selling it and began repairing gear in the room upstairs. Fast-forward a very full 35 years and the ONE PLANET shop is a beautiful, community-focused space full of light and reclaimed-wood with light-fittings made of tent poles and hooks constructed from tent pegs. It’s a showcase of ONE PLANET gear, as well as its driving values.
ONE PLANET’s inclusion as ‘art’ at the NGV was a great acknowledgement of its history, innovation and exceptional product design. But it’s not a full stop. The company continues to innovate, developing its ‘practical lightweight’ range – gear that weighs less but still works here. ONE PLANET’s story shows that manufacturing great gear is both an art and a passion, and the bright future for local design and manufacturing.
Header image: Descending from Rams Head, NSW. Photograph: Nick Covelli
This story was originally written for ONE PLANET.
Mountain Journal 
Leave a comment