Twenty five years ago I was a hunting and fishing outfitter in Montana. For six months of the year, I was so busy taking care of clients, that I seldom had time to enjoy a meal with my family. From early June through Thanksgiving, my life revolved around providing hunting and fishing adventures for clients from around the world.

Early one June morning, while driving from our home in Missoula to my tackle shop in West Yellowstone, I was blessed with, what seemed at the time, an unusual inspiration. My life was about to change forever. During a twenty-minute time interval, the idea for a totally new jacket design entered my mind.

At that particularly busy time in my life, the very last thing I spent time thinking about was clothing. These inspirational thoughts were not only out of the ordinary, they preoccupied my thinking for the next several weeks. It wasn't until I "coincidentally" met a garment, pattern maker later that summer, that the idea took on a life of it's own.

By late summer, those jacket pictures in my mind, became a real garment. Naturally, I started wearing it while guiding and figured that was the end of the story. By the time hunting season began, however, I had clients who were so intrigued with the unique design that they wanted one. Now What? A new garment manufacturing business, "coincidentally" opened just 45 minutes from Missoula. An article in our local newspaper about this new business, compelled me to meet with the owner. In early December, my first production agreement resulted in my original prototype, becoming the first of 25 more innovative jackets. A hunting client, who purchased a jacket from me, "by coincidence", happened to be a patent attorney in a prestigious patent and trademark law firm in Houston, TX. He advised me that I better get my jacket design patented. Two years and 200 jackets later, the Ultimate Jacket, received patent #4,569,089

Today, Outdoor World provides "Made-In-Montana" clothing products to customers all over the world. Our family-owned business has survived and grown despite monumental challenges. Most significant among them has been the business education and personal growth of the man who was blessed with the original inspiration.

Good Hunting and Fishing,