Mountain Designs primary claim to innovation was their application of international trends to the Australian outdoor market. This was particularly evident
in down sleeping bags, where their use of predominately American styles (box foot mummies, etc) and use of lightweight nylons and high grade down fills
set MD bags apart. Most of their contemporary Australian manufacturers (Paddy Pallin/Paddymade, Kimptons, etc) were comfortable using heavier cotton
japara fabrics in flatter, rectangular forms, and had been slow to embrace the lighter synthetics.
Their early Gore-Tex apparel also had a North American bent, such as handwarming slots behind cargo pockets.
More to come when I can find time to wade through Mountain Design's rather tumultous history and extract the salient milestones