Camping It Up

Finding millions in the wild

The strapping old gentleman with the shock of white hair bounces his canoe off rocks in Wyoming's Powder River, then runs it aground. He gives a sharp kick to a cooler and stomps on his spanking new backpack. Eccentric behavior, it would appear, but Sheldon Coleman, 77, has an ironclad defense if forest rangers should arrive with a straitjacket: "Is there any reason why the chairman of the board can't test the products?"

This kind of attention to quality has helped make the Coleman Co. of Wichita, Kans., the world's leading manufacturer of camping equipment. Its dependable gas-fired lantern, as revered as L.L. Bean's Maine hunting boot in the woodsmen's pantheon, helped farmers work after dark during World War I and provided light for Admiral Richard Byrd in Antarctica; more than 33 million have been sold since the lantern was introduced in 1914. Almost as popular are the company's various camping stoves. One famous model was the pocket stove developed for American G.I.s in World War II. Few well-equipped hunters will venture into the wilderness this fall without a Coleman stove or lantern -- or at least a Coleman sleeping bag, tent, cooler or sturdy canoe.

Although best known for its camping lines, the diversified company, founded in 1900 by William ("W.C.") Coleman, father of the present chairman, generates 40% of revenues with other manufactured goods, ranging from Hobie Cat catamarans to a new home heat pump that can be converted to an air conditioner in warm weather. In the past five years company sales have risen from $176 million to almost $300 million, and profits have surged from $4 million to $18 million. Coleman now has four plants operating in Wichita, six elsewhere in the U.S. and more than 5,000 employees. The Coleman family still owns 27% of the company's outstanding stock, a holding that is worth about $31 million.

Despite occasional setbacks -- flings with snowmobiles and minibikes in the early '70s skidded in red ink -- Coleman does not hesitate to take on the big boys, even in their specialties. For example, the company has made impressive headway against Thermos (coolers) and Grumman (canoes). When Coleman engineers learned how to make seamless plastic coolers and jugs, the company almost immediately challenged the industry leaders in the growing field.

Higher oil prices have clobbered sales of recreational vehicle equipment, but Coleman maintains that "two-thirds of our business is either unaffected or helped" by the energy shortage. Says he: "We don't believe people are going to stop camping, but they are going to camp close." Then too, the number of active outdoorsmen is rapidly expanding. Coleman says happily: "Our target audience is great big Middle America." Still a vigorous hunter, fisherman and tennis player, although he has given up climbing mountains, Coleman plans to stay on as chief of the company dedicated to recreation as long as his health is hearty, his work is fun and his interest is keen. Says he: "I have told my employees that I intend to retire no later than the year 2000." That way he can embark on a life of leisure one year shy of his 100th birthday.

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