Outdoors

FORLOH is a Whitefish, Montana outdoor apparel brand built around one strict premise: technical hunting, fishing, and outdoor gear sourced and manufactured in …

Red Ants Pants makes women’s workwear from White Sulphur Springs, Montana. Sarah Calhoun started the company in 2006 after years of farm work, trail crews, and …

Initial Ascent makes backcountry hunting pack systems from Middleton, Idaho. Joe Elliston and Dennis Stokes built the company around a specific problem: hauling …

Rugged Seas turns worn commercial fishing gear into bags, wallets, backpacks, clutches, hats, and coastal apparel. Nikki and Taylor Strout started the Maine …

NoSo Patches makes stick-on repair patches for torn jackets, tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, and other synthetic gear. The idea came from founder Kelli Jones …

Grain Surfboards builds wooden surfboards in York, Maine, with a simple premise: a surfboard should not be disposable. The company began in 2005, when Mike …

FisheWear is an Anchorage, Alaska, fishing apparel brand started by Linda Leary in 2015. The short version: Leary wanted women's fishing gear that actually fit, …

Jack's Plastic Welding is an Aztec, New Mexico, outdoor gear maker best known for inflatable boats, dry bags, river gear, and Paco Pads. The company traces its …

Tom Beckbe is a Birmingham, Alabama, outdoor apparel company founded by Radcliff and Mary Menge in 2015. The brand started with the Tensaw Jacket, a waxed …

Turtle Fur is a Morrisville, Vermont, outdoor apparel brand that started with one practical invention: a fleece neck warmer. Millie Merrill designed the …

Tenkara Rod Co. makes simple, packable fishing rods based on the Japanese tenkara style: a rod, a line, and a fly. The company was established in 2013 by Drew …

Mountain Meadow Wool is a family-operated wool mill in Buffalo, Wyoming, founded by Karen Hostetler and Valerie Spanos in 2007. The company started with a …

PEAX Equipment is a Bozeman, Montana, outdoor gear company built around backcountry hunting and camping. Founder Brice Bishop started the product journey after …

Skwala is a Bozeman, Montana, fly-fishing apparel company launched in 2022 by Kevin Sloan. The brand sits in the technical end of the category: waders, rain …

Vargo makes lightweight titanium backpacking and camping gear from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The company traces back to Brian Vargo, a long-distance hiker who …

Vermont Glove has been making leather gloves in Randolph, Vermont, since 1920. The company spent most of its life as Green Mountain Glove, a regional work-glove …

Zpacks is an ultralight backpacking gear maker in West Melbourne, Florida, founded by thru-hiker Joe Valesko in 2005. The company began in an apartment after …

LiteAF is a New Jersey ultralight backpacking brand making custom packs, frameless packs, full-suspension packs, fanny packs, stuff sacks, and small trail …

Cordova Outdoors makes hard coolers, soft coolers, wheeled coolers, drinkware, and replacement parts from its base in Nampa, Idaho. The brand takes its name …

YAMA Mountain Gear is a Montana ultralight backpacking brand built around the workshop of founder, owner, and seamster Gen Shimizu. The company began in 2006 …

NOMAR is a Homer, Alaska sewing shop that makes gear for people who work and travel in rough, wet places. The company started in 1978 as Mitchell's Marine …

Argali is a Boise, Idaho outdoor-gear company built for backcountry hunters. Its catalog covers tents, tarps, titanium stoves, knives, trekking poles, game …

Bedrock Sandals started in 2011 when Nick Pence and Dan Opalacz began making simple sandals for themselves and friends while working river-restoration jobs in …

Alpine Fit began in an Anchorage workshop, not a boardroom. Founder and owner Jen Loofbourrow built the brand after years of testing outdoor layers on cold, wet …

Exo Mtn Gear is an Idaho pack company built for backcountry hunters who need one system to hunt, carry camp, and haul meat without swapping frames. Steve Speck …

Kifaru is a hunting-pack and backcountry shelter company with a long paper trail. Patrick Smith established Kifaru International in 1997 after decades of …

Flowfold started with a broken wallet and scrap sailcloth. Founder Charles "Charley" Friedman was working at a sail loft in Maine when his grandfather's old …

L.L.Bean is not a tiny discovery brand. It is a 1912 Maine institution with a giant retail footprint, a catalog legacy, and a Freeport store that has become its …

Brunton is an old outdoor name with a newly local ownership story. The company dates back to 1894, when D.W. Brunton invented the pocket transit used by …

Fringe Sport is the official supplier of the garage gym functional fitness movement, headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded to serve lifters, WOD enthusiasts, …

Red Oxx Manufacturing started in 1986 when Jim Markel Sr., a retired Green Beret Captain, opened a shop in Billings, Montana. He was later joined by his son Jim …

Cassie Abel spent years working in the outdoor industry — managing global communications for Smith Optics — and kept running into the same problem every time …

Atmosphere Mountainworks operates out of a small storefront on Second Street in downtown Laramie, Wyoming, where co-owners Lindsay Olson and Jeff Hubell have …

Rogue Life Maine traces its roots back to 1969, when Lionel and Diane Rodrigue bought a small trophy and awards shop in Lewiston. Over the decades, the family …

Maven exists because three friends refused to leave Lander, Wyoming. In 2013, co-founders Brendon Weaver, Mike Lilygren, and Cade Maestas faced a buyout at …

Mike St. Pierre started Hyperlite Mountain Gear in 2010 out of Biddeford, Maine, driven by a single obsession: build the lightest, most durable packs possible …

Eric Parsons started Revelate Designs in Anchorage, Alaska in 2007, before "bikepacking" was a product category anyone recognized. At the time, it was just a …

Kurt Racicot started Stone Glacier in Bozeman, Montana because the backcountry hunting gear on the market didn't work the way he needed it to. Racicot is a …

Darn Tough Vermont knits Merino wool socks in Northfield, Vermont — the same small mill town where the Cabot family has been making socks since 1978. The …

Enlightened Equipment is an ultralight backpacking gear company based in Winona, Minnesota, specializing in custom sleeping quilts and insulated apparel. Known …

Seek Outside is a family-owned outdoor gear company based in Grand Junction, Colorado, creating cutting-edge equipment for hunters and backcountry adventurers …

Six Moon Designs is a family-owned and operated ultralight backpacking gear company founded in 2002 by Ron "Fallingwater" Moak and now run with his son Brandon. …

Skida began as a personal project on a ski team and has since grown into a staple of Vermont's outdoor culture. Founded by Corinne Prevot in 2008 while she was …

Duckworth is the world’s only source-verified, single-origin Merino wool clothing company. Founded in 2014 by Robert 'Bernie' Bernthal and fourth-generation …