Endurance. Ingenuity. Legacy.

Endurance

Long before High Country became a brand, it was a test of character.

Australia’s alpine regions were shaped by cattlemen moving stock across brutal terrain—snow-covered ridgelines, deep river crossings, and long, freezing nights on the move. These were not leisurely routes. They were multi-day transits through some of the toughest country on the continent. Horses, dogs, drovers, and cattle pushing through the Victorian and New South Wales High Country in conditions that would stop most people in their tracks.

This is the heritage anchoring the trade dress.

The visual identity of GREEN TAB High Country reflects that history of endurance:

• The three-peak mountain arcuate mirrors the skyline those drovers rode beneath—a stitch pattern drawn from the very ridge systems they crossed season after season.

• The Green Tab, sewn flush into the pocket seam, echoes the functional mindset of the era: no loose parts, no snag points, no excess. Everything had to survive the ride.

• The STORM | TOUGH | STRETCH textile technologies parallel the principles that governed the old High Country transit gear—equipment that had to hold up under relentless strain.

High Country apparel isn’t inspired by a myth. It's inspired by the real endurance of real people who moved livestock through some of the harshest alpine country in Australia.

By grounding the trade dress in this authentic history, the brand stands apart — not just visually, but culturally. And because this identity indisputably clear, those elements are protected through registered designs, trademarks, and enforceable trade dress rights under Australian law.

Ingenuity

Ingenuity in the High Country was never theoretical — it was survival.

The early cattlemen who worked the Victorian and New South Wales Alps weren’t hobbyists. They were improvisers, engineers of necessity.

They had to be.

Moving stock across remote alpine routes meant solving problems on the fly:

• Tack repaired with whatever tools were on hand

• Tracks found or forged through dense snow-gum country

• Makeshift shelters built to withstand sudden weather turns

• Clothing adapted for long hours in cold, wet, punishing conditions

Their ingenuity was practical, quiet, and constant. They made gear last, they adapted, and they pushed through terrain that respected no one.

This mindset forms the backbone of High Country’s design language. Every decision in the trade dress reflects the same logic: purposeful, minimal, reliable.

• The Green Tab sewn flush into the seam — engineered to avoid snags and failure points.

• The precise arcuate placements — a distinct identity created without compromising function.

• The Green Tab performance materials — modern solutions distilled from old principles: make it simple, make it strong, make it work.

To the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme

Australian ingenuity then evolved into something bigger — a national demonstration of what determination and engineering could achieve.

The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme (1949–1974) became the High Country’s defining proof of human capability. A world-class infrastructure project carved into mountains, powered by native and migrant labor, built with the same qualities the cattlemen embodied:

• Resourcefulness

• Problem-solving under harsh conditions

• Precision engineering in unforgiving terrain

• A quiet commitment to “get it done” no matter the obstacles

This was ingenuity on an industrial scale — tunnels through granite, vast dams, complex power stations — all created in some of the most difficult geography in the country.

High Country’s trade dress draws from this lineage. It takes the ingenuity of the cattlemen and the vision of the Snowy engineers and translates them into garment design:

• Functional details with purpose

• Signatures built on clarity, not noise

• A design language that solves problems rather than creating them

• A construction ethos that respects the land it’s made for

This is what sets GREEN TAB High Country apart: a visual identity born from generations who shaped, worked, and engineered Australia’s alpine frontier.

And with that originality comes the responsibility — and the right — to protect it through registered designs, trademarks, and enforceable trade dress.

Legacy

Legacy, in the High Country, has never been about nostalgia. It’s about continuity — carrying the best of the past forward with responsibility for what comes next.

The Human Legacy of the High Country

Generations of Australians shaped the alpine frontier long before it became a brand. The cattlemen who crossed the Bogong High Plains, the stockmen who moved herds along narrow ridgelines, the drovers who worked the alpine valleys in rain, sleet, and bitter cold — they built a legacy of resilience and stewardship.

These were people who lived with the land, not against it. They understood the seasonal rhythms, the grass cycles, the snowmelt, the fragile sub-alpine environment. Their legacy was one of respect, not exploitation.

Later, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme added a different kind of legacy — engineering, innovation, multicultural collaboration, and the foresight to harness renewable power at national scale. It showed that ingenuity in the High Country could serve generations.

This human history is part of the identity that High Country carries today.

The Modern Legacy: Sustainability With Integrity

Legacy now has a second meaning: What we leave behind.

GREEN TAB High Country is built for modern conditions — ecological, ethical, and long-term. The trade dress isn’t just a symbol of heritage; it stands for a sustainability framework that reflects responsibility to the same environment that shaped the brand.

• Traceable cotton aims to ensure supply chains honor the land as much as the drovers did.

• Low-impact dyeing reduces water stress on fragile environments much like the Snowy engineers balanced hydro impact with national benefit.

• Vegetable-tanned leather and recycled brass trims follow the principle of using durable, natural, recoverable materials — nothing disposable, nothing careless.

• Green Tab performance technologies (STORM | TOUGH | STRETCH | TransDRY®) are built to extend garment life, not accelerate replacement cycles. Longevity is sustainability.

• Precise stitching and seam-flush tab construction reduce failure points and extend functional lifespan — modern engineering echoing old High Country pragmatism.

This is what legacy means in High Country: Taking the strengths of the past — endurance, ingenuity, respect for the land — and turning them into a product that will stand up for years, not months.

A Protected Legacy

A legacy has to be protected to survive. That’s why the distinctive trade dress, the three-peak stitching, the Green Tab seam integration, the High Country branding, and the broader visual identity are all safeguarded under:

• Registered Designs (202315413, 202315416, 202315412, 202315414, 202315415, 202418219)

• Registered Trademarks including the High Country master logo and the phrase “Heritage Gear for the Next Frontier”

• Common law trade dress and passing-off protections

High Country’s legacy — historical and modern — is both cultural and legal.