Philip Curry: Revolutionizing the adventure gear industry By Jack Igelman
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ore than two decades ago, Philip Curry ’95, founder of Astral Designs, was paddling whitewater in Idaho when he saw a German-made life vest that was the finest piece of gear he’d ever seen. Its design was simple and elegant; its fit, snug. At the time, most whitewater boaters were settling for life vests designed for sailors rather than paddlers—a problem in tight-fitting cockpits on testy rivers. This new life vest could change all that. Curry recalls that everything about the jacket was perfect. Everything but the price. It was over $300, says Curry. “I knew I needed to go back to Asheville and make these and sell them for $120.” He started out small, crafting homemade life vests one at a time and selling them from the backseat of his vehicle. Curry launched his first company, Lotus Designs, from his apartment near campus. Fastforward a few years, and now he’s head of a worldwide enterprise on the cutting edge of innovation in the outdoor adventure gear industry. Not only is Curry on the sharp end of functional design, he’s making it greener. While his journey has been exhilarating, it wasn’t easy at first. “The amount of work in starting a business and cultivating a unique idea can’t be understated. It takes every gram of energy you have,” explains Curry. “There are no shortcuts. If you’ve got an idea or a product, you’ve got to be its biggest advocate; you have to understand why it is a necessary purchase. I knew that the world needed this type of PFD (personal flotation device).” Curry put his studies on hold in his third year to nurture his enterprise. Over the next few months, he dedicated himself to designing and making PFDs. “He closed the door, and that’s all he did,” says Scott Albright ’93, an early Lotus employee and now the sourcing and development manager at Gregory Mountain Products. Eventually Curry did take a break and sold Lotus to outdoor giant Patagonia in 1999.
SPRING 2013
on we literally knew how to make our product. We were craftsmen. We could cut it up, sew it and modify it,” says Albright. “All of the material came from the United States. All of the labor was local. None of that’s here anymore.” That reality has forced Curry to reexamine his concept of managing a sustainable, compassionate business; what started as a local grassroots outfitter in the Swannanoa Valley now spans the globe. Philip (far right) reviewing the design philosophy of Astral footwear with his staff in Asheville.
Three years later—one day after a noncompete clause with Patagonia expired— Curry launched Astral Designs. “I was fired up,” he says. “I already knew I could design a functional PFD. This time I wanted to do it sustainably.” In the early 1970s, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) became the standard fill for PFDs because it molds well, it floats and it’s economical. In other ways, however, it is far from ideal. Besides releasing toxins during production, the material is hard to recycle. And because the fill is cut from sheets, its use generates considerable waste. “When Lotus started there were no options; the life vest industry was confined by a world of plastic and glue,” says Albright. “Philip revolutionized the industry.” Curry and his collaborators can take credit for setting an industry standard by shaving 35% of the material from a PFD, in addition to eliminating the use of PVC—feats once deemed insurmountable. Curry continues to strive for ways to reduce toxic materials from the production of Astral’s products. He has experimented with a variety of renewable materials and eventually hopes to produce a compostable life jacket. Curry has bucked industry trends from the inside out, but there’s one trend that he can’t paddle away from—globalization. In recent years Curry has had to adapt to global economic forces that are as unrelenting as a Class V rapid. “Early
While Astral’s operational headquarters remain in Asheville, Curry orchestrates the enterprise from his home in Bali, Indonesia, where he lives with his wife and three children. He chose Indonesia because it puts him closer to Astral production facilities in Vietnam and China. “A huge part of what I do is manage our human resources: 150 people earn their living off of our products,” he says. “Most brands have an agent check on production once a year. To me that’s not satisfactory. You have to make sure that you are using the business for good.” Curry credits his time at WWC for helping forge his business philosophy. “Warren Wilson has the ability to be a cozy Appalachian campus and at the same time have a world view and a presence from the outside. That was a model for what I’m doing now,” says Curry. Recently, Astral has successfully diversified its product line by introducing a popular dog bed and a line of footwear. National Geographic Adventure and Outside magazines have recognized one of the shoes, the Brewer, as among the best new pieces of gear in 2013. That’s good news for Curry, who has to manage the day-to-day finances and realities of keeping a business afloat. Still, he hasn’t lost sight of his endgame: to make the world better. “Astral’s position is that we accelerate change,” he says. “Business has been the most powerful tool in my lifetime to improve lives. I take it very seriously.” On the Web: astraldesigns.com 27