OUR STORY
Hyde was founded by two friends with a passion for the outdoors, adventure, and equipment that is built to last. We were born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where we continue to live and work. Our mission is to blend staple outdoor products with innovative designs and modern technology in order to enhance the user experience; the outdoors has been a crucial part of our growth and development as people and we’d like to bring more people outside and off the beaten path so that they experience the same. We believe that equipment which makes adventuring easier, more comfortable, and more fun is key to spreading the outdoor lifestyle.
THE NAME
THE MOUNTAIN LOGO
Life is full of mountains, some bigger than others but mountains no less, obstacles that test your will, challenges that build your strength. Most people will never climb, content to enjoy the view from the bottom, but the few who do experience the view from the top and become forever changed, bonded together by the victory of a seemingly insurmountable challenge conquered. George Mallory uttered the most famous three words in mountaineering when asked why he wanted to be the first to summit Mount Everest in 1924, “Because it’s there”. The public gets to see your actions but they aren’t entitled to your reasons. Mallory perished on his third Everest attempt in 1924, 29 years before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to summit the world’s highest peak in 1953, but left the world with insights into the mind of a true pioneer and adventurer, “Everest is the highest mountain in the world, and no man has reached its summit. Its existence is a challenge. The answer is instinctive, a part I suppose of man’s desire to conquer the universe. Have we vanquished an enemy? None but ourselves."
THE WINGMAN LOGO
The Wingman Flying Fish Logo is a nod to the brave and distinguished military personnel that make up the Goldfish Club. The Goldfish Club is a worldwide association of people who have jumped by parachute from an aircraft into the water, or whose aircraft crashed in the water, and whose lives were saved by a life jacket, inflatable dinghy, or similar device. It was formed in November, 1942 by CA Robertson, the Chief Draftsman at the United Kingdom’s PB Cow & Co., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of air-sea rescue equipment. After hearing of the experiences of airmen who had survived a ditching at sea, Robertson decided to form an exclusive club for airmen who owed their lives to their life jacket, dinghy, etc., enabling members to meet and exchange experiences. By the end of World War II, the club had 9,000 members from all branches of the Allied Forces and the club continues to grant new memberships to this day. A journalist summed it up best in 1945, “Money, position or power cannot gain a man or woman entry to the exclusive circles of the Goldfish Club, to become a member one has to float about upon the sea for a considerable period with nothing but a rubber float between one and a watery death.”
The Wingman shares many of the same design principles with the first inflatable life jackets used by Airmen during World War II. Though deployment of your Wingman won’t be enough to gain you access to the exclusive Goldfish Club our Flying Fish Logo adorns every vest in honor of the innovators of the past who made the product possible and the heroes who fought to protect our freedom.
