From the Archives: Company like the man ... out of the ordinary

Editor's Note: This is a story that appeared in The Modesto Bee in May 1993 and written by former Bee sports writer Rick Weber.

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In this age of over-the-top crassness and ostentatious glitter, Royal Robbins, Inc., is a model of unadorned simplicity. That is the man. That is the company.

If you were to drive by the headquarters on Coldwell Avenue in Modesto, you might even miss the obscure white brick building. No neon sign. Not even a hand-lettered sign. Just a glass door with the company's name and logo.

Inside, there is no grandiose waiting area, no barricade separating the public from the employees. You might be greeted by Robbins' dog Betty – "We're guessing she's half-whippet, half-German shepherd or Doberman, " he says – or two cats. You'll hear the chirping of three parakeets.

And you probably will see Robbins on first glance. He does not sequester himself in an office behind a closed door, plotting moves to improve his company, which produces outdoor clothing and has six factory outlets around the country.

He doesn't even have an office.

"We don't like to be in offices, " he says. "I tried that for a while and then it was like, "God, I can't stand it.' Liz (his wife and the company's co-founder) moved into my office and added two windows to open it up. But she couldn't stand it either.

"If you have important work to do, you want to shut all the stuff out so you can concentrate. ... Well, it shuts it out all right. But it cuts you off. And these days, you can't afford to be cut off from the lifeblood of the company."

The atmosphere is open, vibrant and congenial. Good vibrations circulate. Which is not to say that he hasn't fired an employee; he has.

But he has created a feeling of camaraderie among people who have a passion for the outdoors.

"It's one of the things that drives this company, " he says. "If you don't have a sense of adventure, you'll be unhappy here, because we move so fast. We're looking for people with spirit, who want to do what they love. If you're not doing what you love, you're a slave."

How unique is the company?

• Robbins offers employees $1 a day to walk or ride a bicycle to work. And for each employee who leaves the car at home, the company contributes $1 to Stanislaus Partners in Education, which promotes relationships between businesses and schools. Last year, Royal Robbins, Inc., received Gov. Wilson's "Keep California Moving" award, and also the Stanislaus / San Joaquin County ride-share award.

It recycles, in the words of Robbins, "everything."

• It is integrally involved in The Yosemite Fund, a non-profit organization working to restore and maintain Yosemite National Park, where Robbins did most of his historic climbs.
• Every time a customer says "no" to a plastic bag, the company contributes five cents toward a wildlife care center.
• Buttons are made not from plastic, but from Tagua nuts that grow on palms in Ecuador.

The company name has changed from Mountain Paraphernalia (1969) to Robbins Mountain Sports (1970) to Robbins Mountaingear / Mountainwear (1979) to Robbins (1981) to Royal Robbins, Inc. (1982). In the process, Robbins stopped dealing in mountaineering gear and started concentrating solely on clothing.

Just as his business has evolved, so has the man.

Businessman or rock climber? Which is he these days? He hates to be pigeonholed.

"I'm an adventurer – business is part of that, " he says. "But I've always tried not to be strictly anything. I need to be uncomfortable. If I start feeling comfortable, I know something is wrong and I'll go flat and start slipping."

This story was originally published March 15, 2017 at 7:27 AM with the headline "From the Archives: Company like the man ... out of the ordinary."