Venture feature: Conscious Gear

VENTURE FEATURE

Conscious Gear

Founded by Charlotte Bowens

Over the past two years of shutdowns and isolation, many people around the world found refuge outdoors, often becoming first-time trekkers. With that arose a problem that Charlotte Bowens, an administrative director at the Center for Bio-mediated and Bioinspired Geotechnics at ASU, wanted to help solve.

For bigger-bodied people who may naturally not fit into the clothing and gear of popular brands or who are suffering from health problems and want to use the natural environment to get into good physical shape, Bowens created Conscious Gear, a merchandiser of outdoors items that seeks to center bigger-bodied people in the design process. Bowens, who in the mid-2010s struggled through a diabetes diagnosis and the fallout from it, understands firsthand how hard it can be to find the right things to wear or use while hiking, running and walking.

After completing a 15-mile ultramarathon less than a year after the diagnosis, Bowens found herself frustrated. “It was bittersweet, because I had just done 15 miles, but I struggled to find outdoor gear,” she said. “For years, my friends told me to start a business and I said, ‘no, that’s not what I’m doing. Someone else better figure this out!’”

But once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bowens had the extra time and energy to put into her startup and took matters into her own hands. As with any new firm, Conscious Gear faced challenges. Bowens struggled to find manufacturers, and with a full-time job on top of being an entrepreneur, time was hard to come by. And of course, the company needed money to grow. In the fall of 2021, Bowens competed at the Global Sport Venture Challenge after joining Venture Devils a few months prior and won $10,000. That reinvigorated Bowens and inspired her to keep going. From there, she applied and was accepted into REI’s Embark program for founders of Color across the outdoors industry.

The 12-week virtual program provided another $10,000 and education sessions that centered on business basics in the outdoor industry as well as networking and mentorship opportunities from REI executives and other industry leaders. After Bowens completed the program, REI invited her as a representative on a panel at Outdoor Retailer, an industry convention held in Denver in June 2022.

Now, Bowens is working with a Phoenix-based manufacturer to develop a hydration vest designed for bigger-bodied hikers, runners and walkers. She aims to produce an initial production run of 200300 before eventually developing a supply chain that will allow Conscious Gear to begin negotiating a purchase order from the likes of REI or Dick’s Sporting Goods, both of which she was able to get in touch with through the Embark program.

“I never thought I would be in this moment, but I do love the beauty of being in this moment, because I do get to do something special for the world,” she said. “For all those folks like me who sat around for decades, then decided to go outside and found healing and health and wellness, I want them to know that, too. I don’t want them to be discouraged by the lack of gear, the lack of outerwear, to support the change that they’re going to make in their lives. ”

Photos courtesy of Charlotte Bowens