rohan trading name rohan type private company industry outdoor clothing and footwear manufacturer founder paul and sarah howcroft headquarters milton keynes england website rohan.co.uk rohan is a british designer and supplier of outdoor clothing and footwear that has 61 stores and an annual turnover of 30 million . their products are designed in milton keynes buckinghamshire and manufactured internationally . 1 contents 1 history 2 products 3 external links 4 references history edit the company was founded in 1972 by research chemist paul howcroft and his wife sarah who had met in scotland . they were both in their early twenties at the time their start up capital was 70 and they operated from a small house in skipton yorkshire having chosen that location because of its proximity to west yorkshire textile mills . their first product was a pair of quick drying mountaineering salopettes . the name of the company was based on the popular book the lord of the rings by j. r. r. tolkien . citation needed the riders of rohan were the free spirits of middle earth . in 1978 one of their jacket designs was worn by the austrian climber peter habeler on the first climb to the summit of mount everest without bottled oxygen . soon afterwards the lightweight travel range was launched including rohan bags that are still in production today . the howcrofts lost control of the company in the wake of black wednesday after a period of decline in the 1980s 2 and from 1988 it was owned by clarks until a management buyout . in 1993 paul howcroft was killed aged 42 in a recreational motoring accident after the couple had separated . 3 the cann trust and colin fisher took control of the company in 2007 and set about improving the product range and simplifying the management structure . the company was hit by the recession and made an operating loss in 2009 of 400 000 but that had been turned into a 384 000 operating profit two years later with a turnover of 17.9 m. sarah howcroft continues to run a website called rohantime for fans of the company and its products . 4 products edit the company has introduced fabrics not previously used for clothing tailored to their own designs . products include trousers and shirts made from mosquito repellent and uv protection fabrics thermal fleeces hats socks and shoes . 1 the company also introduced a system for rating the suitability of their clothing for different climate zones . the clothing has been rated for its practicality rather than stylishness . 5 external links edit rohan website rohantime rohan community website rohan community forum references edit a b rohan website retrieved 1 march 2014 rohan at telegraph fashion . retrieved 1 march 2014 rohan evolution of outdoor gear chronology at compass . retrieved 1 march 2014 rohan at the yorkshire post . retrieved 1 march 2014 rohan review at the guardian fashionadvice . retrieved 1 march 2014 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rohan clothing & oldid 724339530 categories outdoor clothing brandsbritish brandsclothing companieshidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 8 june 2016 at 16 16 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view