Wintergreen Designs hand crafts the finest outdoor clothing. The outdoors is our way of life. We live, design, sew and sell our gear in Minnesota's Canadian border wilderness. Purchase our clothing online: Anoraks, Jackets, Pants, Mittens, and more.

Celebrating 25 Years on "The Road Less Traveled"

Call it an epiphany but ever since our founders experienced their first dogsled trip in 1979, winter became their way of life. They learned to stay warm, have fun and follow their dreams in some of the world's coldest locations.

1985: Paul Schurke & Will Steger begin plans for a dogsled expedition to the North Pole. Susan Schurke develops her design talents by crafting Eskimo-style apparel from new synthetic fabrics, to be used on numerous expeditions which then became known as Wintergreen Northern Wear.

1986: Paul Schurke, Will Steger, Ann Bancroft  and their team reach the North Pole by May 1st,  in the first confirmed trek to the top of the world without resupply.  Wintergreen clothing becomes a success, keeping the explorers warm throughout the 1,000-mile, 2-month journey, even as temperatures dipped to -70o.

1990: Paul Schurke and Russian colleague Dmitry Shparo lead the Bering Bridge Expedition from Siberia to Alaska to help reconnect arctic cultures long separated by the Cold War. The US-Soviet border in the Bering Strait firmly closed and known as the "Ice Curtain" for most of this century is reopened. Presidents Bush and Gorbachev congratulate the Bering Bridge team for its role in the process.

1992: Wintergreen Northern Wear grows to include manufacturing facilities, a retail store and catalog, on Ely’s main street.

2000: Wintergreen Northern Wear launches it’s first website.

2001: A Wintergreen group dogsleds across northwestern Greenland with the Inuit descendants of North Pole discoverers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson. The trek is documented by the National Geographic TV film "Ice Rider." Wintergreen assists in the production of a Dateline NBC/Discovery Channel film on the 1914 Karluk Expedition, one of the most tragic chapters in American polar exploration history.

2003: The NBC Today Show features Wintergreen and NBC Dateline premieres "Ice Master," an arctic docu-drama shot in part at Wintergreen.

2004: Smithsonian Magazine features Wintergreen's Greenland trips as it's January cover story. A February photo feature titled "Mush with the Best!" National Geographic Adventure magazine cites Wintergreen Dog sledding Vacations as the best in the business. Wintergreen opens a toy store (Toys in the Woods), in the log cabin adjacent to the Ely Wintergreen Store on Sheridan Street.

2005: Wintergreen opens a second store in the Historic Fitgers Building in Duluth MN .

2008: Wintergreen Northern Wear continues their efforts for ‘being Green’ and commits to mailing only one catalog per year. Samantha Brown of the ‘Travel Channel’ travels to Ely to embark on a Wintergreen dogsled adventure.

2009:  A year of transition - In order to focus more of their attention on their Dogsled Lodge and Adventures, the Schurkes sold Wintergreen Northern Wear to Curt and Becky Stacey.  

2010:   Wintergreen Northern Wear begins selling apparel to select wholesale accounts within Minnesota.  

2011:   Wintergreen Northern Wear opens third company store in Wayzata, Minnesota.