1979
Clothing and tent production began on Amble Industrial Estate, as Phoenix Mountaineering
Directors were Alan Waugh, Ken Rawlinson (who'd all previously worked for Ultimate Equipment) and Pam Sandford (ex-Karrimor)
starts off with hillwalking and mountaineering tents, before adding Gore-tex clothing
????
Later add range of Gore-tex tents
tent range has names mostly beginning with 'Ph', derived from brand name Phoenix,
soon has first fully taped seam tent collection in Britain
transverse hoop tents like the Phreerunner and Phreebooter win design and outdoor awards
sponsors British Alpine and Freestyle Teams with ski uniforms
company eventually grows to 150 staff
1982
receive inaugural Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild's Golden Boot Award at the Camping and Outdoor Leisure Association Show
1993
Phoenix operations taken over by Karrimor
1996
company had reduced in size by 90% and production mostly offshore
1997
Directors form Omega Outdoor, which opens 200 yards down the road from old Phoenix factory
focuses on British manufactured industrial sales (police, military, television, ski schools, etc), rather than retail
1998
supply Odyssey tent to the BBC TV series, The Leisure Hour
make uniforms for the British Winter Olympics Team, which the began for the Calgary games in 1988
1999
Omega supplies clothing for officials in the Tour de France bicycle race
also supply clothing for Pierce Brosnan's role as James Bond 007 in the movie The World is Not Enough
2000
Omega make outdoor shellwear for skiers and snowboarders from Sympatex waterproof breathable fabric
begin customer direct sales of outdoor shellwear made from three layer, polyester faced, Sympatex fabric
about this time the Phoenix brand, bought by Karrimor, is sold to the AMG group of companies. Name later used for a line of ski gloves
2002
Omega Outdoor Ltd is closed with the loss of 50 jobs, due to poor sales resulting from the UK's Foot & Mouth outbreaks
Omega Performance Clothing is established under auspices of new Scottish parent company WeatherMac
2004
Omega Outdoor Agencies founded by Alan Waugh and Pam Sandford, as an independent outdoor design consultancy
team up with with the Shark Group and their Northumberland factory
Shark Group were said to be capable of short and medium sized production runs of technical clothing but longer runs sourced offshore.
Alan Waugh is the exclusive sales agent for Shark Corporate and Pam operates as the design consultant.
2007
Pam Sandford joins fishing tackle manufacturer Hardy and Greys in Alnwick, Northumberland
work in progress. more coming in due course.
Phoenix now (ski gloves only)