Starting as a fur and feather trading company in the Northeast in 1891 and later shifting to canvas production, Diamond Brand has since expanded to manufacturing and government contracting with a commitment to quality and local production.

Diamond Brand relocated its factory to Fletcher in 1942. The brand continued a long tradition of supplying military products when it was contracted to produce tents supporting Gulf War efforts. It also continued making backpacks for organizations and brands including the Boy Scouts of America and later L.L. Bean, REI, and The North Face through the 1960s and 1970s. 

In 2015, Diamond Brand Gear was created. “Before 2015, there were two divisions — retail and manufacturing,” Diamond Brand Gear CEO John Delaloye said. “With two very different customer bases operating independently of each other, there were two different industries, goals, and models. That was when Diamond Brand Outdoors, the retail sector, and Diamond Brand Gear, the manufacturing sector, were established separately. The names were important to both businesses, especially in the WNC community, so the ‘Diamond Brand’ name stayed for them both.”

Diamond Brand Gear is now focused on sustainable tent making. Crafting products which utilize a lot of material, the company’s leadership focuses on improving, recycling, or upcycling the material they use in order to present a positive impact.

“It’s not that we have the most innovative fabric or the most innovative items; it’s the breadth of the sustainability in our processes from the beginning to the end,” Delaloye said.

As the Asheville area is known for its outdoor amenities and enjoying them in a responsible way, Delaloye said the company’s location has a lot to do with its values and sustainability focus.

When the pandemic encouraged a significantly larger percentage of people to the outdoors for recreation opportunities, Delaloye and Diamond Brand Gear’s leadership noticed a spike in the amount of debris and waste left in campground and recreation areas, which even forced a local campground to close because of all of the trash, including tents, that were left behind.

“What we’re trying to do is to lead people away from a one-time use mentality for things that should last a very long time,” Delaloye said. “We’ve always been about making durable, long-lasting things, and we also want to make sure we are making a positive contribution in that the things we leave behind do not cause more of a problem. It’s the way businesses should think in general going forward, especially a business like ours that’s built around the outdoor industry.”

Sustainability is not just a focus within Diamond Brand’s materials and products, but also within its employees and company culture. They also place a focus on the community, allowing children’s camps to tour the facility and see a  demonstration and introducing those in the community to their products and processes to encourage an understanding of what manufacturing is like in the region.

Diamond Brand is also intentional in their product sourcing, looking to the best options for quality and environmental friendliness, not necessarily the cheapest choices. This focus intensified during supply-chain issues which happened as a result of the pandemic. Framework is produced in nearby Hendersonville, but while they’d love to source fire retardant coatings nearby, the most sustainable products are more available in areas like Europe, and durable hemp used in their fabrics comes from China, which Delaloye said has been perfecting hemp production for more than 50 years.

“We’re not chasing costs; we’re chasing quality,” Delaloye said. 

While Diamond Brand Gear still makes items for Scouting America, there is an increasing trend for glamping materials which facilitate owners assembling and dismantling the tents with relative ease. The company also helps customers with repair and maintenance of their tents, and upcycles used tents by cleaning the material and using it to create bags, which they sell to fund their upcycling program.

“We are different from a traditional manufacturer in that we have an emphasis on creativity and we have a lot of creative people on our team,” Delaloye said. “From our products and materials to our programs and employee communication to how things are laid out on our production floor, we keep that as part of our culture. It all goes back to our goals and focus on sustainability in all aspects of our company.”