Gear Companies

Elevator Pitches are written by the company and edited for space and clarity. They do not express the opinions of SNEWS or its editors. Ride the elevator with Randy Campbell, founder and president of Hotcore. I worked for one of Canada's oldest sleeping bag manufacturers for 10 ...read more

It's summer break and a family of four with two teenage kids is driving to Yellowstone National Park. Noticing they need gas and knowing they need to stock up on a few camping essentials, the driver seat suggests that one of the kids find a good gear shop nearby. An ad for the ...read more

A log will do just fine, but a chair literally elevates the way you camp whether you're doing it out of a car or heading deep into the woods. Vote for your favorite brand. Cast another vote: What's your must-have luxury backpacking item? A chair? Camp shoes? Chocolate? ...read more

Elevator Pitches are written by the company and edited for space and clarity. They do not express the opinions of SNEWS or its editors. Ride the elevator with John Cascarano, founder and President of Tame the Beast. More than 200 pounds of plastic are produced every year, but ...read more

If you were hanging from the edge of a cliff, a new business venture would probably not be at the top of your mind. But for Craig Payne—founder of Hustle Bike Labs and creator of the REM Pedal—it was a relevant thought. The mountain biker was enjoying a ride when he hit a boulder ...read more

Forming the Plastic Impact Alliance with our friends at Catapult Creative Labs has made us all the more aware of our plastic use—reusable water bottles and thermoses line our desks and bamboo cutlery and silicone snack bags fill our lunch bags. Even more than before, we think ...read more

Elevator Pitches are written by the company and edited for space and clarity. They do not express the opinions of SNEWS or its editors. Ride the elevator with Bret Rasmussen, founder, inventor, and CEO at KURU Footwear. KURU Footwear is an established online footwear brand that ...read more

On Feb. 28, 2015, Greg Thomsen held a reunion for about 60 former Wilderness Experience employees at his home in Malibu, California. He and his brother, Jim, founded Wild X as a guiding business in 1971 before it evolved into an iconic outdoor gear manufacturer with hundreds of ...read more

It's been nearly four months since Jerry Stritzke resigned as REI's CEO and president following an internal investigation that uncovered his “personal and consensual relationship" between him and a leader of another organization in the outdoor industry. But now, the co-op has a ...read more

Elevator Pitches are written by the company and edited for space and clarity. They do not express the opinions of SNEWS or its editors. Ride the elevator with Casey Zaugg, Chief Truffle Officer at Trail Truffles. For years, the trail food category has struggled with offering ...read more

Snowsports Industries America (SIA) and Colorado-based outdoor companies helped push a climate change bill through the Senate on Wednesday—a step closer to lowering statewide greenhouse gas emissions. It now awaits Democratic Gov. Jared Polis' signature. "Our Colorado members ...read more

You most likely have more than one drinking vessel. The dozen backups in your cupboard at home. The extra few at work. The forgotten one rolling around in the trunk of your car. Then, the chosen one you never leave home without. This summer, we want you to bring that one to ...read more

Ride the elevator with John Gage, co-founder of Appalachian Gear Company. Elevator Pitches are written by the company and edited for space and clarity. They do not express the opinions of SNEWS or its editors. The over-use of synthetic fibers in garments has led to microplastic ...read more

In front of a room of journalists in March, Jonathan Nielsen described himself as really good snowboarder, a frequent mountain biker, and an adequate climber. The audience chuckled and the Backcountry CEO took a pause before spilling his excitement over the company's biggest ...read more

An approach to a crag could be walking across a road or scrambling straight up scree, but either way, you want to feel safe and secure on asphalt or while traversing rocks. And you also don't want to be left lugging heavy, leather hiking boots up a route. These 11 brands seek to ...read more

Elevator Pitches are written by the company and edited for space and clarity. They do not express the opinions of SNEWS or its editors. Ride the elevator with Jordan Basile, founder of Deso Supply Co. Designed in the Sierra Nevada and manufactured in California, Deso Supply Co. ...read more

Elevator Pitches are written by the company and edited for space and clarity. They do not express the opinions of SNEWS or its editors. Ride the elevator with Kevin Kaiser, co-founder of Grand Trunk. TRUNKTECH is the new, rugged side of soft that is so finally woven, yet so ...read more

Now that it's officially spring, we're itching to get on a trail that's not covered by snow. Not far from our office in Boulder, the Flatirons and foothills beckon us to trek up its peaks and valleys on our lunch breaks or after work. A daypack is essential to hold our water, ...read more

Truth: Single-use plastic sucks. We all know it. So let’s do something about it at our biggest convergence as an industry: Outdoor Retailer. Minimizing our impact on the planet is central to so many of our brands, yet we consume untold amounts of single-use plastic at our most ...read more

Some snowshoers work up a sweat just by adjusting their bindings at the trailhead. MSR’s new Paragon binding system—launching September 2019—re-engineers and simplifies the task by introducing a pull tab for easier strap adjustments for the perfect fit. After sliding my boot ...read more

Elevator Pitches are written by the company and edited for space and clarity. They do not express the opinions of SNEWS or its editors. Ride the elevator with Alison Hill and Tara Lundy, the leaders at LifeStraw. The LifeStraw Home is a premium water filter pitcher that protects ...read more

A customer walks into a store and within seconds of the doorbell warning jingle, the store employees can identify a product to sell this person with a single glance; no conversation required.  It almost sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? According to the Vision Council of America, ...read more

Elevator Pitches are written by the company and edited for space and clarity. They do not express the opinions of SNEWS or its editors. Ride the elevator with Elizabeth Mirowski, CEO and founder of Shoe Defenders. At Shoe Defenders, we have reimagined the way we approach stink. ...read more

HOKA ONE ONE is known for its buoyant, 30mm outsoles and decorating the feet of trail and road runners. In its nine years, the France-born running brand has released hiking shoes as one-offs. But HOKA's first complete trail collection launches this week with these three models. ...read more