Tumble On Outfitters

Tumble On Outfitters is a Chama, New Mexico, hiking-gear shop and fleece maker built around the Continental Divide Trail. The company describes itself as a partnership between Tumble On Fleece and Exotic Backpack Company, serving CDT hikers who pass through Chama before heading into the San Juans.

The ownership story checks out. Tumble On's own site says the fleeces are sewn by Mitch "Tumbleweed" Collins and the packs are designed and sewn by Jonathan "Janis Joplin" Thomas. Garage Grown Gear profiles Mitch as the founder, a thru-hiker who saw that northern New Mexico needed a CDT-focused gear stop. The Trek also identifies Tumble On Outfitters as founded by former CDT thru-hikers in Chama. We found no acquisition record, corporate parent, or exclusion-list match.

The catalog is narrow in a good way. Tumble On makes Alpha Direct fleece pieces, grid fleece customs, combo hoodies, sleeping-bag liners, in-stock layers, and connects customers to Exotic Packs for custom backpack builds. This is cottage gear: small runs, hands-on sewing, hiker feedback, and products shaped by people who actually use them.

That matters for clean buying because the alternative is often imported technical apparel with little repair path and no clear maker. A made-to-order fleece from a trail-town shop is not automatically perfect, but it gives buyers more visibility into who made the garment and why it exists.

The brand also fills a real infrastructure gap. Chama is not a lifestyle backdrop; it is a working trail town at a critical CDT transition point. Tumble On is serving hikers where decisions about warmth, fit, pack comfort, and replacement gear actually happen.

For buyers who want independent outdoor gear with a clear maker behind it, this one belongs on the map. It is not polished mass retail, and that is part of the appeal. You can see the trail culture, the maker names, and the use case without decoding a corporate sustainability page.

Products

• Custom Alpha Direct fleece layers
• Grid fleece and Alpha-grid combo hoodies
• Fleece sleeping-bag liners
• In-stock trail apparel
• Custom backpack access through Exotic Packs

Why We List Them

• Hiker-owned New Mexico gear brand based in Chama
• Founder and maker story verified through company and trail sources
• Small-batch fleece and pack work tied to CDT use cases
• Made by named makers rather than an anonymous supply chain
• No corporate parent or acquisition record found