Yes, we are a UK company, but we’ve got a lot of US customers, so we’re using that as our excuse to celebrate Inventors' Month this August and highlight our love of creativity.
What is Inventor’s Month?
It began in August 1998 and came about so we could celebrate ingenious people, whether they’re with us today or lived hundreds or thousands of years ago; who’s inventions have benefited our lives.
This month we’ve taken the time to consider the amount of out-of-the-box thinking that’s gone in to inventing things. And the bravery of inventors who’ve dared to dream up and create something nobody had ever heard of before. Or as Henry Ford(Founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of assembly-line mass production) puts it:
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Inventor’s Month is intended to recognise “those talented, brave individuals who dare to be blatantly creative, and therefore different” as Joanne Hayes-Rines, editor of Inventors’ Digest and a sponsor of National Inventors Month, puts it.
When you think of inventors, you can’t help thinking of people like Henry Ford or Alexander Graham Bell or their modern day equivalents like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Stephen Hawking; we’ve looked a little closer to home too. In an age of gadgets, gizmos and electronics, it’s easy to forget that there’s still incredible progress being made outside of technological innovation.
So we’ll be writing a few articles oveer the month dedicated to recognising the creativity of inventors within Northern Diver, those who’ve helped shape the company we are today and continue to help our company progress.
Ideas can pave the way to your fortune.
It is estimated that the average person has one or two ideas every month that could make them rich
Over 40 years ago, Northern Diver’s founder had the courage to make one of his ideas a reality! His innovative designs turned out to be game-changing and built the foundations for Northern Diver as it is today.
“The heart and soul of the company is creativity and innovation.” - Bob Iger (Chairman & CEO of The Walt Disney Company)
Our first inventor
It all started when Mike Armitage tried to buy a made-to-measure drysuit, and what he received was a wetsuit with seals. At this point, he’d already been diving for five years. Mike had made many wetsuits for himself and friends, so he started with a hypothesis, how difficult could it be to adapt that knowledge to make a drysuit? The rest, as they say is history.
Today Northern Diver manufactures in excess of 16,000 drysuits a year for a broad spectrum of uses; from the North Sea to the Gulf; rescue drysuits for fire services, anti-chemical and biological suits as well as the elite sport drysuits we’re infamous for. The list is endless.
As many military, commercial and sport diving customers can attest, if you want to stay dry, safe and especially comfortable you contact Northern Diver.
Still inventing, developing and evolving today.
We haven’t rested on our laurels at any point during our 43 years. While drysuits and wetsuits remain the core of our business, we’ve used that passion and know-how to expand our range to include other diving equipment and more sectors. Today we’re proud to provide an extensive product portfolio including boats, bags, lighting, BCDs and so much more.
Our aim? To be the quality, one-stop-shop you can trust for all your diving equipment!
We’re also proud to be the chosen manufacturer for many Military, Rescue and Commercial organisations. We supply over 200 organisations across the UK and overseas with water rescue drysuits and equipment – this includes over 95% of the UK’s fire services. Our specialist commercial diving drysuits and equipment are in use by divers and schools around the world. We were awarded our first military contract 11 years ago. We now hold several contracts worldwide and we are the prime contractor to the British Ministry of Defence for drysuits and equipment.
However, retail is where we began and continues to be a key focus for Northern Diver. Our Cross sector technical expertise has enabled us to consistently invent – launching new innovative products for sport divers. A well as our large and diverse product range, we pride ourselves on continuously embracing new materials and technology.