In January this year, the outdoor industry veteran Mr. Knut Jaeger suffered a fatal heart attack in Hong Kong and passed away despite medical efforts. The entire outdoor industry was shocked and saddened by the news.
Mr. Knut Jaeger was a German national and the founder of the renowned German outdoor brand BIG PACK. He was a veteran in the industry, holding a significant position not only in Germany, Europe, and China but also globally within the outdoor community. He was not only an avid outdoor sports enthusiast but also a developer of outdoor gear. Across Europe and China, he was not only a leader in the outdoor market but also a practitioner in gear application, revered as a mentor by many in the outdoor field.
Over the past month, many in the outdoor community have been immersed in a somber atmosphere of grief. To carry on Mr. Knut Jaeger’s legacy and promote the healthy development of the outdoor industry, Mr. Sheng, CEO of Toread, proposed holding a memorial event in Beijing to express the industry’s condolences and remembrance for Mr. Knut Jaeger, and invited me to attend. To express my heartfelt remembrance and admiration, I am reposting here an introductory article I wrote in 2003 to promote the BIG PACK brand. I hope more colleagues in the industry can learn more about Mr. Knut Jaeger, a friend of the Chinese people and a mentor to outdoor enthusiasts, to study his spirit and strive, strive, and strive again for the advancement of the outdoor industry!!
Mr. Knut Jaeger and His Outdoor Passion
I first met Mr. Knut Jaeger about eight or nine years ago when I had just entered the world of outdoor sports. From our very first meeting, I was drawn to his polite and amiable demeanor. Though we couldn’t communicate directly due to the language barrier, his kind gaze and genuine smile quickly bridged the gap between us. After several interactions, I was even more impressed by his rich and colorful outdoor life experiences, and thus we became friends. Today, among those in the outdoor community who have met Mr. Jaeger, everyone feels that he is not only a friendly senior in the outdoor field but also an admirable mentor.
Due to having a joint venture in China, Mr. Jaeger visited the country multiple times each year. Because Pegafar East Company had business cooperation with us, we had more opportunities to meet and communicate. Over the years of interaction, I found myself benefiting immensely. Through him, I learned a great deal about outdoor sports-related knowledge and gained considerable insight into outdoor gear basics. Under his influence, my passion for the outdoors also took deeper root.
To be precise, Mr. Knut Jaeger was a businessman, but in my interactions with him, I rarely saw any traces of a typical businessman. What I felt more was his special passion for outdoor sports and his pursuit of perfection in outdoor gear. In the eyes of many, he seemed more like an outdoor enthusiast and a meticulous outdoor gear designer. His deep passion for the outdoors was not only reflected in his life experiences but also in his compelling outdoor philosophy, as well as in the products of the brand he dedicated his life to creating—BIG PACK.
My initial contact with Mr. Knut Jaeger was through work in the outdoor industry. My initial interest in Mr. Jaeger may have stemmed from curiosity, but what drew me closer was his unwavering passion for the outdoors. As I delved into BIG PACK products, I gradually got to know Mr. Knut Jaeger—a foreigner with a deep affection for China, an elder with a profound love for the outdoors, and an expert deeply involved in the research and development of outdoor gear.
By now, Mr. Jaeger has passed the age of sixty, which many might consider a time for retirement and leisure. Yet, what we often saw was the ever-busy Mr. Knut Jaeger, traveling around the world to pursue his outdoor dreams. New outdoor gear products launched by Mr. Knut Jaeger could frequently be seen in the outdoor market, and we can imagine the tireless effort he put into perfecting his designs. Some might wonder why a man over sixty would push himself so hard—he could have chosen a more relaxed and leisurely lifestyle. Perhaps we can find the answer in Mr. Knut Jaeger’s life journey. If we were to summarize his life in one sentence, it would be: from an extraordinary sporting career to a colorful professional life.
An Extraordinary Sporting Career: It is fitting to describe Mr. Knut Jaeger’s youth as extraordinary. In the early 1940s, Mr. Knut Jaeger was born in Lindau by Lake Constance in Germany. Lake Constance is Europe’s largest inland lake, adjacent to the famous Alps, with short distances to the Austrian or Swiss Alps. The Alps are the birthplace of mountaineering, and locals have a special affinity for the sport. The rich mountaineering culture has influenced generations of indigenous people. Perhaps due to this unique environment, even as a child, Knut Jaeger developed a special fondness for mountains and nature. As a boy, Knut Jaeger learned mountaineering, skiing, and canoeing skills from his parents, mastering skiing techniques by the age of six. At twelve, Mr. Knut Jaeger undertook his first solo mountain climbing trip. By sixteen, with a decade of skiing experience under his belt, Jaeger had become a skilled skier. That year, he successfully participated in his first skiing competition and, with outstanding results, joined the national (18-and-under) ski team. From then on, even during hot summers, he often trained on glaciers and in the Alps. In the later stages of Mr. Knut Jaeger’s remarkable sporting career, he mainly focused on ski instruction and coaching, using the income earned from his work to continually reinvest in sports. His long-term dedication to outdoor sports further solidified his passion for the outdoors. After completing his athletic career, Mr. Knut Jaeger moved to Stuttgart and immersed himself in the outdoor gear industry, beginning a new and colorful professional journey.
Mr. Knut Jaeger’s colorful professional career dates back to the 1960s. In 1967, at the age of 25, Jaeger began his entrepreneurial journey, initially organizing a sales team to distribute and represent numerous top European brands. Rossignol, Hifly, Koflach, and Ess were among the brands Mr. Knut Jaeger represented. After a decade of entrepreneurial groundwork, in 1976, Mr. Knut Jaeger founded BIG PACK in Stuttgart, starting to develop outdoor gear independently. A year later, the backpack designed by Mr. Knut Jaeger earned its first patent. In 1978, he established a factory in Bissingen/Teck, approximately 30 kilometers south of Stuttgart. By 1980, he began manufacturing products in China, which helped complete the product line of BIG PACK, developing a full range of products including backpacks, sleeping bags, and down apparel. Notably, the down apparel series named HAPPY PACK became one of the market-leading products at the time, marking the beginning of the rapid growth period for the BIG PACK brand.
In 1981, Mr. Knut Jaeger took over a fifty-year-old ski equipment company—ESS—and developed the VAR safety system related to ski safety. This invention continues to serve as a fundamental component in many high-performance ski binding systems to this day.
In 1985, Mr. Knut Jaeger introduced a patented backpack frame system to the outdoor market; that same year, he also developed a portable travel boat.
In the 1990s, Mr. Knut Jaeger began producing functional outdoor clothing, launching the C.C.S multi-climate clothing system. In 1993, he established a subsidiary in China—Nanjing Pegafar East Outdoor Products Company. In 1997, he developed the TCS backpack carrying system and obtained patents for it worldwide. This bold innovation and reform were recorded in the history of backpack development. The application of this advanced carrying system made the BIG PACK backpack a standout winner in the 1998 German outdoor magazine tests, ranking first. Since then, the TCS carrying system of BIG PACK dominated the carrying design evaluations for six consecutive years.
Entering the 21st century, Mr. Knut Jaeger accelerated the research and development of outdoor gear by integrating his lifelong insights and experience. In 2001, he developed the Active Aircondition clothing system and secured global patent licenses. In 2002, BIG PACK launched the first batch of AAC system clothing to the market. These garments were defined by their high-tech and multifunctional features. Dr. Umbach from the German Hohenstein Institute remarked after testing: “The AAC system improves the human microclimate by nearly 35%.”
In 2003, Mr. Knut Jaeger and his partner Rubner developed the latest carrying system for hiking backpacks, which was also the most groundbreaking innovation at the 2003 European Outdoor Show. This globally patented carrying system featured an elastic suspension back panel based on human anatomy, a dual-frame adjustable shock absorption system, a highly elastic and twistable structure, an elastic ventilated back pad, Dupont ultra-light ripstop synthetic materials, and was set to propel outdoor carrying gear into a new era of development.
On Mr. Knut Jaeger’s 60th birthday, a reporter asked him what he would do if he were to start a new life from that moment. Mr. Jaeger’s response was heartwarming. With his strong connection to China, he spoke about his career plans, saying he would spend several years in China working with local friends to develop the outdoor market. He said he saw tremendous challenges there and predicted that China would become one of the world’s largest outdoor markets. His goal was to design more perfectly functional products for the outdoor market. He hoped to have more time for outdoor travel in his lifetime to fulfill his passion for returning to nature...
Afterword:
This is an excerpt from an article published in the September 2003 issue of an outdoor lifestyle magazine. At the time, it was the peak of Pegafar East’s backpack development in China. To promote the BIG PACK brand, I discussed with President Qiu Lin the idea of creating a new column called “Brand Interpretation” to introduce a brand to readers from multiple perspectives. The article was titled “Mr. Knut Jaeger and His BIG PACK Brand.” It included four parts: 1) Mr. Knut Jaeger and His Outdoor Passion; 2) The Comprehensive BIG PACK Gear Series; 3) The Intelligent Carrying System TCS; and 4) a print advertisement. This article received considerable attention within the industry.