The design of the umiak, refined over centuries, was optimal for Arctic conditions: flexible enough to flex with ice rather than break against it, light enough to be hauled over sea ice, made from locally available materials (driftwood, animal skins), and constructed using techniques that women primarily learned and practiced.

The sewing of the umiak’s skin covering — a waterproof stitch technique specific to this purpose — was women’s knowledge, and it was essential to the vessel’s function.

They developed the kayak — the qayaq — as a single-hunter vessel for seal and walrus hunting, a design so effective for its purpose that it became the template for modern recreational kayaking after Western explorers and manufacturers adopted and adapted it.

They developed clothing systems — the layered parka, the mukluk boot, the mittens and snow goggles — that provided better insulation and mobility in Arctic conditions than anything Western technology produced until the synthetic materials of the twentieth century.