Berghaus, the UK-based outdoor owned by Pentland Brands, appointed Paul Anderton as head of category for product and innovation.

Anderton joins Berghaus after holding senior European product management roles for Patagonia and, most recently, Columbia Sportswear. He has also worked for Hurley, Nike, Quiksilver and Salomon over his more than 30-year career. He also spent four years on the Berghaus sales team from 1999 to 2003. Recent titles include senior merchandise manager at Columbia Sportswear and EMEA head of product, merchandising and planning, Patagonia.

Anderson will work closely with head of design James Hodgson, leading the product and innovation team at the Pentland Brands headquarters in Sunderland.

Earlier this year, Pentland Brands announced a major investment to double the size of the Berghaus product team and support the brand’s long-term business strategy. As well as expanding its outdoor lifestyle offer, Berghaus has put renewed focus on creating ground-breaking products for the specialist outdoor sector through its Extrem range, continuing a thread of technical cutting-edge innovation that stretches back to the early 1970s. The brand has also introduced a dedicated ‘Sprint Team’ to bring certain lines to the market quicker than through the standard process.

Kev McFadyen, Berghaus brand director, said: “Paul started his outdoor industry career with us 20 years ago and has since gone on to work for some of the biggest global brands in our sector. We look forward to him using his extensive experience in the category to lead our product team as Berghaus gears up for the next exciting chapter for our brand.”

Paul Anderton comments: “I have a long-standing passion for Berghaus and I’m proud to be returning to the business and its people. Kev and the team here have a compelling, bold vision, and I share their determination to harness the elements that are so special about Berghaus and deliver the next era of great success for this amazing brand.”

Pentland Brands president EMEA and Americas, Carl Davies, will leave the company after 10 years at the end of September.