Rohan

I remember the days when Rohan was absolutely grand for function and had a bit of flair to boot. What happened? It seems like the Rohan designers have been churning out the same olé style for at least the past ten years, and it’s not on.
I agree with the whole function over fashion when it comes to specialist gear, but at least put some effort in there. O’Neill makes some cracking gear, and it lasts for ages and ages, and it looks good, you don’t feel like your stuck in a time loop circa 20 years ago whilst wearing it.
Getting to the important stuff, this stuff really does last forever, and whatever it says it does on the label, it actually does. The walking trousers are strong and durable, without being too narrow on the leg, again with that whole they provide excellent function, even if it is in camel beige. The breathable tops are of a high quality, which is great if you’ve got a long walk, you don’t want to be freezing bits of your anatomy of and in equal measure you don’t want it boiling off.
It’s a nice little store with lots of technical items in it, it also caters to the die hard walkers, with boots, coats, layers, walking socks, and all the gadgets and gizmos that go with a place like this.
The staff could do with brightening up a little bit, every time I do venture in they seem to want to be put out of their misery. Cheer up!
Great technically, but rubbish if you don’t want to be embarrassed whilst on your jaunts.

Rohan is a specialist in highly functional clothing for all climates and weather. The clothing has a simple, under-​stated style and doesn’t shout about its careful design and technical prowess. Rohan also sells plenty of travel accessories from medical packs and luggage to insect repellent and water purifiers. This is the kind of shop you might imagine Ray Mears would visit to prepare for an expedition. Prices aren’t low but this reflects the careful design and technically high-​performance fabrics that are used in their products.
The products at Rohan aren’t fashionable or beautiful, but that’s not the point… the point is that they are highly functional and durable and their simplistic design means that they will not end up looking dated, thus increasing their lifespan.
From Rohan’s website they seem to take environmental and social responsibility seriously. They are members of the Ethical Trading Initiative, which, though not a gold standard for ethics, at least means that their progress on implementing improvements in their factories is being monitored and they are ensuring a basic level of acceptable working conditions — more peace of mind for customers than is provided by the majority of the high street.

It’s silly I know but whenever I think of this place, or walk past and see the name, it conjures up images for me of the Riders of Rohan. It also reminded me of the game a friend and I used to play, imaginatively dubbed «The Riders of Rohan», which involved simply trotting home at full speed when drunk. Warning: this may cause broken little fingers, especially when icy. Play with caution!
Anyway. I mostly think of Lord of the Rings when I see the name. Being transported away to a magical, exciting place would always make the reality seem a little less exciting, but in my opinion this isn’t the only reason I found Rohan dull. I wandered in on the ever more difficult Christmas shopping expedition, tasked with trying to out do last year’s gifts. A nice jumper? No. Rohan is filled with, I suppose, nice jumpers, and other outdoorsy style clothings but here is the problem. Not only are the clothes pretty grey — colour wise and excitement level wise, but they are very expensive. I can’t justify buying a simple jumper, with no real oomph about it, if it costs in excess of £60.
According to their website they are award winning outdoors clothes specialists. Perhaps it is my lazy-​bum way of life that deprives me of the special understanding of what makes their clothes worth the buy, but I just can’t see it. For now we could blame my ignorance, and say, 3 stars as the chap was particularly friendly to me. But that was it really. Good for high end outdoors style (perhaps more style over hardwearing?) clothes and shoes.