About Gerbing's
'The worlds warmest clothing'
In the 1970's Gordon Gerbing owned a small machine shop just south of Seattle that primarily produced parts for Boeing airplanes. Several of his employees rode motorcycles to work all year, even through the Seattle winter chill and dampness. Gordon noticed the discomfort of these employees when they arrived at work after a cold morning's winter ride. His goal? Look for a way to keep these riders warm. His answer? Wire motorcycle clothing with heating pads and connect the pads to the bike's electrical system.
In 1976 Gordon founded Gerbing's Heated Clothing, Inc. For the first 10 years of the business Gordon spent more time running his machine shop, but slowly the demand and interest in his heated clothing began to grow. Finally, in the late 1980's Gordon's "hobby" became his full-time passion. He and his wife Marilyn sold the machine shop and moved to Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Here Gordon and son Jeff by themselves literally built the first building for Gerbing's Heated Clothing.
As time went on, more and more riders realized that they could ride warm and comfortable on even the coldest, windiest and rainiest days. Much of the growth of the company in the early 1990's resulted from Gordon tirelessly doing the summer and winter motorcycle show and rally circuits, showing customers first hand the benefits of heated clothing. One of Gordon's most effective displays was to hook up his heated gloves to a common automobile battery charger. That way customers could directly feel the inviting warmth. The result was sale after sale and many, many satisfied customers. Some customers would walk by Gordon's booth during the following years at a particular rally and enthusiastically announce to everyone within range how happy they were with their heated clothing, and how much Gordon cared about making sure each of his customers was personally satisfied.
