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Peter Kinnoch Noone, Sr.
April 6, 1943 - July 2018
Residence: Ojai, California
Trailblazer of retail, Peter Noone of Patagonia, dies at 75
With a knack for scouting the next best retail location, Noone also set the company’s high standard for hiring and customer service.
AMELIA ARVESEN JUL 17, 2018 SNEWS
"Noone’s gruff exterior—most of his overtures to conversation began with a complaint—belied an uncompromising sense of honor, a sharp sense of justice, respect for the dignity of others, a readily helping hand to those in need of one, and a desert-dry sense of humor", says long-time friend, Vincent Stanley.
Longtime Patagonia employee Peter Kinnoch Noone, who was known for his gruff exterior, sharp sense of justice, and down-to-earth style of the outdoor industry’s early days, died of recurrent cancer on July 9 at his home in Ojai, California. He was 75.
Unlike so many of the '70's trailblazers, Peter Noone's career in the outdoor business had few twists and turns. In fact, his career path was fairly straightforward; 50 years specializing in outdoor retail with only two employers.
His outdoor retail career began when he was a 21-year-old downhill and cross country skier, rock climber, and fly fisherman. Desperate for money, he went looking for a summer job in 1968 on Berkeley's University Avenue and walked into The Ski Hut. On the spot, he was hired for $2 an hour by Allen Steck under George Rudolf, the first U. S. importer of European ski and climbing gear.
"I started on the retail floor, and by the end of the summer realized that if I continued to work there, I'd get free alpine and ski gear and free transpotation to the mountains to use it. I stayed," Noone said.
“About two years into my retail stint, Klopp left and I took over as general manager,” Noone said. “John Schelling was running Donner Mountain, but I still made about 10 trips to Italy to work on the Pivetta boots that Donner imported.”
It was an amazing time for Noone. “When I first got to The Ski Hut, it was like you were working with so much history. There were all the famous Yosemite climbers, like Allen Steck, Chuck Pratt and Jim Bridwell, and innovators, like Bob Swanson and George Marks,” he said. “Then there was Rudolf who set the precedent for everything in outdoor retailing. He was always in the forefront, and unlike so many outdoor retail entrepreneurs who would follow, was a highly educated businessman. What an opportunity and privilege it was to work with him.”
Many who worked in the early days of the outdoor industry looked at working at The Ski Hut as the equivalent of getting an MBA. This was especially driven home when store alumni, like Klopp, Swanson, Marks and countless others, started their own successful outdoor enterprises.
During his years as general manager, Noone was known to be direct and often abrasive…as well as clever. When REI opened its Berkeley store and offered Sigg pots at what Noone considered ridiculously low prices, he went to REI and bought every Sigg pot REI had in stock, “so the only place people could find them was at The Ski Hut.”
In the late 1970s, Rudolf decided to sell The Ski Hut and Trailwise while keeping Donner Mountain. Saska Sports, a San Francisco peninsula-based importer of Austrian-made Kneissl skis and European ski apparel, made the buy.
“The deal was in trouble from the very start,” Noone said, “because as I was trying to open a new Ski Hut retail store in Palo Alto, the banks there were telling me Saska was out of money.”
A white knight appeared in the form of Chicago-based Boss Manufacturing. Known as a glove maker, Boss had a CEO who considered himself an outdoorsman. Boss kept The Ski Hut open in Berkeley and moved Trailwise to the Southeast. Noone stayed on for four years after Boss took over, then left in November 1982 when The Ski Hut was sold to general sporting goods retailer Copeland’s, which declared bankruptcy in 2006 and is now gone.
Biding his time as he looked for something new, Noone was approached by Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard who was looking to create a retail presence for his brand. “I basically hid out from Chouinard for a time, but by March, I was at work with Patagonia as head of retail and mail order,” Noone said.
In 1985, Noone opened Patagonia’s first retail store in San Francisco’s Italian North Beach area at 700 North Point. “The store breaks every retail rule, especially when it comes to parking, which is horrible,” Noone said, “but we did $6,500 the first day we were open and have been prospering there ever since.”
By 2010 Patagonia had 46 stores worldwide and Noone continued to love his work. “It’s wonderful working with so many great people and in a retail business that’s become so much more sophisticated over the years. There’s also the way Patagonia does the retail business with a strong emphasis on the employees and making the workplace special for them.”
Noone, was an avid fly-fisher and golfer. After a battle with cancer in 2007, he continued to drive for more retail profits. “Afterall, the more money we make, the more the company gets to give away,” he said. -- Bob Woodward
Noone quickly rose to general manager of the store's catalog and retail divisions until the business was sold at the end of 1982. But during that time, he and his lifelong friend Kate Larramendy created the model for the modern outdoor specialty shop by expanding offerings from hard goods and classic heavy woolen clothing to more unexpected items like snowshoe chairs, alpaca ponchos, Icelandic sweaters and colorful rugged sportswear, according to long-time friend, Vincent Stanley.
The shop was one of Yvon Chouinard's favorites, Stanley said, and he hired both Noone and Larramendy when they left. It was Noone's idea to create Patagonia's retail presence and make the catalog the best it could be.
Noone went on to work at Patagonia for 35 years in various executive roles and as a consultant until, and through, his last illness. More informally, Stanley says, he served as trusted advisor to Malinda Chouinard, Kris Tompkins, and Rose Marcario, as well as to three generations of Patagonia employees.
Lover of the Sierras, southern Utah, and Sun Valley, Noone spent his later summers camping in an Airstream at Riverside Camp, slot 2A within earshot of Henry's Fork.
A celebration of Noone's life will be held in the fall.
Donations in Peter Noone’s memory may be made to:
Nature Conservancy Silver Creek Preserve
Additional articles: https://www.patagonia.com/blog/2018/07/remembering-peter-noone/