Kassondra Cloos

The first time I went to Outdoor Retailer, my eyes bugged out. The multi-story booths, abundance of plaid flannel shirts, and general scale of it all were sights to see, to be sure. But I was focused on the swag. I had just started as an editor for SNEWS, and this was my first ...read more

If it’s not a big-box store and it’s not an independent specialty retailer, then what exactly is it? REI Co-op defies easy definition. It’s a builder of brands and a risk to them. It competes with smaller shops around the country while throwing its weight around to protect ...read more

It’s unclear who instituted the rule. It might have been Robert Chesebro Jr., whose grandfather, Herbert, founded Wigwam as Hand-Knit Hosiery in 1905. Or maybe it was Margaret Newhard and Chris Chesebro, his kids, who came up with the idea. But one thing is for sure: It didn’t ...read more

Varying levels of excitement, hope, and anxiety reached fever pitch last week as Americans went to the polls in record numbers for what many considered to be an extremely consequential election. With the fate of public lands, climate change action, tariffs, and more in the ...read more

To put it bluntly, Supreme is the cool kid on the block. The one whose lack of effort seems unattainably chill, whose attention you’re dying to grab but can’t ever seem to figure out how to get. Even if you think you don’t know them, you’ve almost certainly seen riffs on their ...read more

Buena Vista's The Trailhead is smack in the heart of Colorado Fourteener country—a short drive from 15 of the monster peaks. But for all outdoor recreation in the area, the shop's marketing manager, Susan Wood, and other businesses felt the town still lacked opportunity for the ...read more

Len Necefer has a Ph.D in engineering and public policy. It might not surprise you, then, that his outdoor apparel company is about far more than the gear. Natives Outdoors is a B Corp that shares profits with Native communities, and Necefer is working to take back ...read more

Joe Prebich has a theory: Emerging outdoor enthusiasts come for the lifestyle apparel and stay for the technical goods. As climbing gyms explode and the more seasoned indoor climbers literally seek new heights, Mammut—and the industry as a whole—have an opportunity to help ...read more

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is the kind of guy who will stand up in front of a room of outdoor industry professionals, realize he’s overdressed, pause to take off his tie, and then keep speaking as if nothing happened. Before he was governor, before he and three friends ...read more

Ever since Hawaii banned sunscreens with coral reef-damaging chemicals earlier this summer, there’s been a new focus on all-natural alternatives. At Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2018, there were quite a few brands with “reef-safe,” “reef-friendly,” and “oxybenzone-free” ...read more

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, columnist, and author Timothy Egan spent years covering the West—past and present—as a correspondent for The New York Times. His books have covered everything from the origins of the U.S. Forest Service to exploration of the Pacific Northwest to ...read more

If you’ve been to even just one Outdoor Retailer show, you know exactly what happens come mid-afternoon every day: the kegs come out, the beer starts flowing, and the entire show turns into a massive happy hour spanning hundreds of thousands of square feet. For some, it’s great ...read more

On a Thursday night in Boulder, hundreds of outdoor enthusiasts crowd into crooked rows of metal folding chairs amid shelves of shoes, racks of sleeping bags, and a wall modeled after Eldorado Canyon and the Flatirons. They’ve paid $5 to watch a screening of Dirtbag: The Legend ...read more

In celebration of the amazing women in the outdoor industry, and of March as Women's History Month, SNEWS has featured a number of female leaders in stories about Camber Outdoors' Deanne Buck to 10 rad women-led companies. In this new Q&A series, we asked women in all sorts of ...read more

In celebration of the amazing women in the outdoor industry, and of March as Women's History Month, SNEWS has featured a number of female leaders in stories about Camber Outdoors' Deanne Buck to 10 rad women-led companies. In this new Q&A series, we asked women in all sorts of ...read more

In celebration of the amazing women in the outdoor industry, and of March as Women's History Month, SNEWS has featured a number of female leaders in stories about Camber Outdoors' Deanne Buck to 10 rad women-led companies. In this new Q&A series, we asked women in all sorts of ...read more

We’re not complaining that women are at the forefront of challenging conversations, from properly-fitting gear to sexual harassment in the workplace. There’s a lot of catching up to do, but a few sources stand out for their honest perspectives, genuine voices and compelling ...read more

Ibex Outdoor Clothing, which plans to close its doors in February, might be revived under the leadership of Terry Bicycles CEO Liz Robert. She confirmed Thursday that Vermont Works, a private equity firm of which she is a director, is exploring a bid on the Vermont-based apparel ...read more

Rocky Mountain Underground, or RMU, is not your standard retail store. Aside from the gear shop--which sells its own line of high-end ski gear and apparel--there’s a full-fledged bar, complete with near-daily live music and specialty cocktails. And instead of hiring someone to ...read more

We all know the outdoor industry is hardly as diverse as it needs to be. It's something we've discussed time and time again, yet there's so much more work that needs to be done.  Jeff Wiguna, co-founder of pocket pour-over brand Kuju Coffee, has been working on a way for outdoor ...read more

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended President Donald Trump decrease the size of at least four national monuments, according to a leaked memo obtained by the Associated Press. Aside from Bears Ears, which Zinke recommended shrinking earlier this summer, he also proposed ...read more

People don’t buy gear to have new stuff. They buy it because they need it. The Adventure Travel Trade Association, with member gear companies, tour operators, and destinations, typically focuses on the experiences people have with the stuff you sell them. But Casey Hanisko, who ...read more

A couple of years ago, Cotopaxi was a small brand with five backpacks. Now, the company makes more than 150 SKUs, and the stories behind some of its products have gone viral. Cotopaxi is a colorful company in ways that go way beyond its signature neon hues: It runs a highly ...read more

Backcountry.com isn't just an e-commerce site. Sure, you can browse the website, full of a massive variety of product choices. But unlike other websites (and even many brick-and-mortar shops), you can also get access to a personal shopper who will help you find exactly what you ...read more

Liz Carlson grew up in Virginia, but the millions of annual visitors to her blog, Young Adventuress, know her better for her life in New Zealand and her travels around the world. Since she started the blog in 2010, Carlson has become a powerful influencer. She knows from years of ...read more

The world of travel insurance can be confusing and complicated. If you're an individual traveling on your own and you have good health insurance, you may wonder if you should bother paying for it. But what if you need to cancel your trip, or your luggage gets stolen? And what if ...read more

We recently had a heated debate in the Backpacker and SNEWS office over a very silly question: What food would you eat if you could only bring one for a 100-mile trip? It's an innocent enough question, but it got dicey when we tried to figure out the rules. Does a breakfast ...read more

The flooding from Hurricane Harvey is like nothing Texas has ever seen. The full scale of the destruction is likely not yet known. We're in the perfect position to help, and many outdoor industry brands have stepped up to the plate to send boats, supplies, and cash.  Here are a ...read more

Apparel that used to be seen as functional with zero fashionable elements has quickly become the haute couture of the outdoor industry—also known as “Colorado business casual.” The Mountain Lifestyle category at The North Face is a prime example of how far the aesthetics of ...read more

It is 2017, and we are now #adultsummercamping. Don’t judge: That’s pretty much the No. 1, unspoken rule of the wild and wonderful new CamelBak Pursuit Series. It is the opposite of the “Gore-Tex Vortex” you’ll find in places like Boulder, and it’s a beginner outdoorist’s ...read more

It is 2017, and yet it's extremely rare for climbing films to feature women as lead characters. Never Not Collective, a new media group formed by four outdoor industry veterans, plans to change that in short order. But they need your help. They're currently fundraising for ...read more

In an open letter released on Tuesday, more than 350 veteran National Park Service employees pleaded with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to deny proposed oil and gas leases adjacent to park borders. "National parks represent the best of America," the letter says, adding that they ...read more

In totality towns, where the sun would be completely blocked out by the moon for just a few minutes, the solar eclipse was all anyone could talk about for weeks.  Even in places like Boulder, where SNEWS is based, we couldn't stop talking about where we'd drive and how far we'd ...read more

Arc'teryx announced Thursday that it is recalling first generation Procline backcountry ski boots. In some boots, it has been reported that the axis pin near the heel has dislodged, which can cause a skier to fall or lose control. No injuries have been reported. Last year, ...read more

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is expected to recommend to President Donald Trump that he should decrease the boundaries of some national monuments. Zinke told the Associated Press Thursday morning that he would not recommend eliminating any monuments, and that none of the land in ...read more

National Geographic Society Fellow Joe Riis travels 11 months out of the year. It’s hard to be away from home so much, but he believes deeply in his mission to inspire society to build infrastructure more thoughtfully. He’s constantly working around national parks to film and ...read more

The National Park Service turns 101 on Friday. You can celebrate by heading to any national park for fee-free entrance, but why not say "Happy Birthday" by buying an annual pass? It's the best $80 you'll spend all year, we promise. We took a look at the list of least-visited ...read more

Before Phil Oren revolutionized bootfitting, he was a shoe salesman in a retail shop at a time when it was standard practice to X-ray kids’ feet to see if their shoes fit. He spent more than two decades as a sales rep for The North Face and, later, Mountain Hardwear, but it took ...read more

In a first for the brand, Patagonia will air a commercial throughout the state of Montana this week, aimed at Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke.  Zinke has just a few days left before he must give President Donald Trump official recommendations on the monuments currently under review. ...read more

Jägermeister has caused a bit of confusion with a new campaign urging customers to "find a kühl spot" to drink. The word is German for "cool," as you might assume, but it's also trademarked by the Salt Lake City-based clothing company of the same name. KÜHL has filed a lawsuit ...read more

Hundreds of outdoor industry businesses have banded together to show that our public lands, and particularly the monuments in danger, are vital to the recreation economy. On Aug. 24, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will make his official recommendations to President Donald Trump ...read more

Jainee Dial and Lindsey Elliott opened Wylder Goods in 2016 to create an online outdoor retail experience targeted toward adventurous women. The Salt Lake City-based business got started with the help of $54,000 from 600 backers on Kickstarter. At first, their motivation was ...read more

Sam D’Aoust started working at Escape Route in British Columbia when he was 17. He started out with a simple enough task, just watching the doors during the holiday shopping season. It was meant to be a seasonal gig. But as the weeks went on, he started selling jackets. It ...read more

The Utah State University has established an advisory board of iconic industry brands for its Outdoor Product Design and Development (OPDD) program, the first of its kind. The board will meet twice a year to guide the OPDD program. Member brands will be able to offer suggestions ...read more

To drum up excitement over the new season of Game of Thrones, a British TV network hosted the ultimate marathon: an epic ultra across Italy. To watch the show, you had to keep up. Sky teamed up with ad agency M&C Saatchi Milan to pull a massive TV screen through the Italian ...read more

Scott Kerslake, CEO of prAna, will step down next week to take on a leadership position in an adjacent industry, the brand's parent company, Columbia Sportswear Company, announced Monday. Kerslake has been CEO of prAna since 2010, and was previously its president. The brand has ...read more

It’s not often that you hear of a Congressman hiking the Appalachian Trail. But Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat representing part of Northern Virginia, has been at it since long before the outdoor industry became the political force it is today. He’s been section-hiking the trail ...read more