GEAR LEGENDS

PHOTO CREDIT ADAM FINKLE

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THE DO-GOODER

Davis Smith says his formative years growing up in various parts of Latin America cemented his dream to balance profit with purpose.“I’d see kids on the street without clothes and without places to go,” he says of growing up in the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru—wherever his father’s job in construction took them. “Even then, I knew the only difference between me and those kids was where I’d been born.” Smith was born in the United States. Smith founded Cotopaxi in Salt Lake City with the intention

of building people and humanity into the core and heart of his brand.

Each year Cotopaxi donates a portion of its revenue to initiatives alleviating poverty, and its designation as a B Corp ensures fair practices and sustainability in every link of its supply chain.

Smith remembers first sharing his idea with a trusted mentor. “He told me, ‘So you know, people won’t buy your product just because you’re doing good in the world,” he recalls. “They have to love the product.”

He says he has always loved the outdoor lifestyle, (as a kid he spent time hiking with his dad near the Cotopaxi volcano in the Andes Mountains), but outdoor clothing? Not so much. “This is a massive industry

ver the years, Utah has become an outdoor industry hub, acting as mission control while providing pristine backdrops that bring gear to life with the ultimate field test—from backcountry boots to climbing quickdraws. Hosting everyone from ski junkies in search of that powdery white stuff to cyclopaths hunting red rock playgrounds, it’s no wonder—though often a surprise— that our state has birthed some brag-worthy companies.

We talked to four founders who’ve stuck around to watch their trailblazing idea disrupt the industry. With dogged determination, they’ve busied themselves crafting snowboards with more pop, mountain bikes with more grit, pants that won’t ride up and packs that don’t sink down. They live by credos worth contemplating—whether it’s sticking to one’s roots, combating world poverty, cleaning up the planet or making gear affordable for amateurs, these founders have maintained course and refused to compromise their vision.

Cotopaxi Founder Davis Smith.

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with a ton of really big companies that are 50—even 100 years old,” he says. “I wanted to build something new for millennials and GenZers that didn’t look like their parents’ and grandparents’ brands. I saw an opportunity to do it differently with bright, color-blocked jackets and backpacks, fluorescents that convey joy, optimism and youth,” he says. The result was a bold, retro aesthetic that possessed an ethos of “doing good.”

Smith didn’t have a background in clothing design but plenty of experience in creating digitally native companies. In 2004, the freshly-minted Brigham Young University grad founded PoolTables.com with his cousin Kimball Thomas and watched it quickly grow into one of the largest independent pool table retailers in the U.S. Six years later, the cousins sold it, and Smith went on to attend Wharton Business School. In 2011, he rejoined Thomas to launch a second company, Brazil-based babies.com-br.

“But just like I didn’t want to be a pool table guy forever, I didn’t see babies.com as my final stop, either,” he says. So, in 2014, he left the business in his cousin’s hands and together with his then family of four (now six) moved from Brazil back to Utah to launch Cotopaxi.

He tapped a friend from Wharton, Stephan Jacob, and outdoor industry veteran CJ Whittaker to be his co-founders. They raised venture capital, hired a small team, then went to work creating five multicolored backpack designs and a couple of water bottles, all printed with their company mascot, the Andesnative llama. Next, they bought actual llamas.

“We found the llamas on Craigslist and took them around to college campuses to advertise our company-launch event called Questival,” a 24-hour adventure race where teams are given challenges that range from picking up trash to summiting a peak. “It was a huge hit. Everyone got a backpack made of remnant fabrics for participating.”

Now, Questivals happen all over the country annually. Cotopaxi has grown from six to 126 employees and sells all sorts of travel gear and apparel, including duffels and packs, jackets, T-shirts, hats, sweaters, you name it. Although most of its products are sold online, the company has added five brick-and-mortar stores in Utah, Colorado and Washington.

Creating the first venture capital-backed Benefit Corporation and Certified B Corp, Smith not only admits there’s profit in this digitally-driven new age of activism but preaches that mission-based companies build trust and value. He says his (modest) raison d’etre is to change the face of capitalism. “Right now, it’s fashionable to fix things,” he says. “I hope it stays that way. We’re making money and we’re helping to alleviate poverty. It shows other companies what’s doable.

TECA HALF ZIP WINDBREAKER (UNISEX)

Wind doesn’t stand a chance against this100% remnant-fabric windbreaker. With aform-fitting scuba hood, it’s easy to battendown the hatches when the winds kick up. Itstuffs into itself, making it ideal for travel...or

a spontaneous game of hacky sack.

GEAR GUIDE COTOPAXI.COM

TECA CÁLIDO JACKET

Don’t be fooled. Even though this lightweight jacket stuffs into its own chest pocket for easy storage, the Cálido packs a serious punch—warming your core and keeping drafts at bay. Made from 100% repurposed fabric and insulated with 100% recycled polyester.

LUZON 18L DEL DÍA DAY PACK

These one-of-a-kind wonders are made of repurposed remnant materials, meaning no two packs are alike. Its simple, no-fuss design features a roomy main compartment so you can fit anything and everything, plus a few side pockets that keep keys, phone and snacks out of the way.

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GETTING ON BOARD

Even though Kirsten Kolter and Ana Van Pelt met while working for a company to develop a new type of horse harness— Kolter in product development and Van Pelt in design—neither of them actually rode horses. They discovered, however, they both rode powder.

“Snowboarding was our community,” Kolter says of their meeting 15 years ago. “There weren’t as many female boarders out there, so we became fast friends.” That chance meeting would forge not only a friendship but later a business partnership pioneering hand-crafted, environmentally-friendly, zero-waste snowboards bearing the name Niche.

As a New York transplant who came out West a few years before attending the University of Utah, Kolter says she found solace on the slopes. For Van Pelt, who grew up in California and moved to Idaho as a teenager, she credits snowboarding with saving her life.

“I was suffering from a severe eating disorder when I first strapped on a board and realized, ‘Whoa, I love

this...I really love this,’” says Van Pelt. It struck her that great snowboarders were strong, athletic and took care of their bodies. “That motivation just changed me. I knew I needed to get healthy—and after a lot of hard work, I did.”

After their first foray working together, an acquaintance looking to invest in a custom-graphics snowboard company asked the two women to sit in on the pitch. “We came out of that meeting and said to ourselves, ‘We could do this better. We both know the industry and each of us has a set of expertise it needs right now,” says Kolter. “More importantly, we felt we could bring something new to the table that existing board companies were overlooking.”

That “something” was environmental responsibility. Both women shared a grievance regarding the industry’s harmful environmental practices, describing the toxic resins and nonrecyclable plastics that make up a typical board. They thought it ironic that, while celebrating the outdoor lifestyle, most snowboard companies seemed to care little for their impact on the planet.

“We knew our boarding community was made up of many like-minded people who were passionate about the environment and the outdoors,” says Van

GEAR GUIDE NICHESNOWBOARDS.COM

FATHOM

MINX

The super lightweight and poppy Minx is the perfect freestyle board for all-day sessions on and off the park. It floats well in powder, is soft enough to press, yet stable enough to hit jumps. Plus, the flat camber makes it virtually impossible for you to catch your edge.

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Not bound by resort operating hours, the classic all-mountain shape of this splitboard works for any conditions and every rider. Plus, it’s the only zerowaste splitboard on Earth.

MAELSTROM

Taking snowboarding back to its roots with traditional edge control and a tapered, directional, camber, this board features new-school twists like edge-tracing traction bumps and a hybrid directional camber profile.

Cruise, carve, float and charge with ease.

Pelt. “So why were big-name snowboard companies unapologetic about the war they waged on the environment and why was no one looking to do it differently?”

They went back to the investor with their own proposal, and in 2010, Niche Snowboards was born. With help from Van Pelt’s husband Todd Robertson, creating zero-waste prototypes of an eco-friendly snowboard became “a real family affair,” says Van Pelt. They used recycled bases and sidewalls and edges. They replaced carbon fiber with basalt fiber, created sustainably sourced wood cores, applied bio-resins and used hemp composite instead of carbon fiber stringers for reinforcement, springiness and pop. The final touch was lacquer-free, beautiful graphics made from non-toxic, water-based inks and environmentally friendly printing methods.

“Our initial aim was to ensure performance every bit as good as the competition without the waste and toxins,” says Van Pelt. “We weren’t expecting the alternative materials to actually feel superior and outperform—but that’s exactly what happened. They’re lighter, snappier and more durable than most traditionally-constructed decks.” She admits to skepticism, confusion and “more than a few side-eyes’’ from folks when Niche was starting out. The sustainability “trend,” as she calls it, wasn’t yet in full swing. Thankfully, their silent investor wasn’t among the skeptics.

Eleven years later, Kolter and Van Pelt are thrilled at the success of Niche Snowboards. As the world’s first and only completely zero-waste snowboard company, it has gained serious traction, selling globally through a network of retailers from REI to backcountry.com to specialty boutique shops like Milosport, with a list of big-name riders like current

Freeride World Tour athlete Erika

Vikander. The plan for Niche over a decade ago was simple: make boards that perform, look beautiful and love

Niche founders Ana Van Pelt and Kirsten Kolter

the planet. Niche has never graced the Olympics or sponsored XGames, yet this Salt Lake City company has carved up the snowboarding industry by setting the standard and forcing even the giants to answer for—and improve—their practices.

“Some of the response is, of course, greenwashing,” says Van Pelt, who

adds that despite this, she sees it as a ‘win’ any time a beneficial technology becomes trendy and inspires change.

“Ultimately, it’s a great thing. Even if it’s driven by money, it doesn’t matter where their heart is. If the demand for more transparency in manufacturing is there,” Van Pelt says. “We are making a difference.”

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Chris Washburn founed Fezzari Bicycles.

THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME

Chris Washburn remembers a singular, clarifying moment that led to the birth of his company, Fezzari Bicycles. With degrees in both business and law from Brigham Young University, he seemed destined for corporate life, working in the newly-emerging electric bike industry with such giants as famed businessman Lee Iacocca and the U.S. military. But a decade into the drill,

commuting to the east coast nearly every week, a niggling sense that life was passing him by crystallized as he boarded yet another plane.

“I was missing every soccer game, dance recital, birthday—I was missing life,” the father of five children and husband to wife, Nancy, says. “I remember this one particular day—I was in turmoil, wondering what to do. At the moment my feet crossed that divide from the jetway into the airplane, it was like a light turned on and I knew I was crossing a threshold in my own life.”

Washburn decided to quit his job, and in 2005, he went to work creating Fezzari Bicycles, a web-based company specializing in customdesigned, high-end bikes for both road and mountain riders.

“I’ve always loved biking. I’m not a former Tour de France rider or anything. I just have a passion for it,” he says. “I’m a bike junkie, and I’m always looking for a high-quality setup.” But walking into a bike shop to explore custom bike options sometimes felt like sneaking into the country club. “There can often be an elitist mentality and a take-it-as-it-is attitude. Sometimes I was made to feel like I should be content with what was in the showroom.”

“You don’t have to be a world-class runner to want a running shoe that fits. You can buy the nicest set of golf clubs but they don’t do you any good if they’re not the right size. So why is it that getting a bike built and fitted to your specifications seemed so outlandish—not to mention obscenely expensive?”

Washburn set about hiring a team of designers, mechanics and engineers. He then secured partnerships with top-of-the-line component manufacturers, and they began building high-end bikes with dozens of customizable options. “We won’t enter a category unless we can make the best-in-class in a product,” Washburn says. “We knew we were going to be competing against behemoths, so we decided we’d offer really good products that make that elite, custom experience accessible to even the weekend warrior.”

Fifteen years later, Utah’s biggest bike company still operates almost entirely online, but it does have a factory showroom in its brand new Lindon, Utah headquarters, allowing locals to test ride, get custom fittings and order a bike.

Washburn says Fezzari’s direct-to-consumer

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GEAR GUIDE FEZZARI.COM

online model allows its bike builders to fit bikes, including frames, handlebars, forks, stems and seatposts to each rider’s measurements. A deeper dive can even amount to custom components from gear ratios to derailleurs all for about 40 percent less than similarly-specced competitor models. As a result, they have received three Bike of the Year awards and currently have a six-month backorder. Critics have likened Fezzari bikes to ‘a machine gun in a knife fight’ and eager customers seem content to wait months for that big box delivered to their doorstep. “People are willing to wait. They see the value in getting it just how they want it,” he says.

Fezzari allows customers 30 days to test ride it and send it back for free if they’re not satisfied. “It was originally seen as a risky model, and what we’ve found is that the only way we can offer that guarantee is to be 100 percent confident in our product and believe customers will love it, too.”

Washburn says jumping from the mundanity of corporate life to a creative venture came with many questions and few easy answers. “I wondered if I’d made a mistake because the whole point was to be able to spend more time with my family and enjoy my passions,” he says. In reality, he didn’t even get on his bike during his first year creating a bike company. Sixteen years later, however, life has settled into a rhythm of not just calls to suppliers and meetings with designers, but family dinners, graduations and daily canyon rides with Nancy on bikes that represent a passion built from the ground up.

THE DELANO PEAK

Fezzari’s newest premiere full carbon all-mountain/trail bike does it all, equally adept at climbing and descending.

THE EMPIRE

When “Iron Cowboy” James Lawrence looked for the right bike to help him complete 100 full-distance triathlons in 100 consecutive days, he turned to this full carbon disc brake road bike. Named ‘Bike of the Year’ by BikeRumor it’s light, fast and remarkably comfortable.

WHO’S MISSING FROM THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY?

Researching outdoor companies both in and outside of Utah, we noticed it too—a glaring lack of representation where people of color are concerned. This is true not only in the boardrooms but also on the bike trails and among the boulders. Research shows people of color are far less likely to engage in nature-based activities thanks to a history that locked them out of national parks and structural deficits that keep many feeling out of place. Pushing back takes many forms, including Utah-based Backcountry.com’s new “Breaking Trail” program, a commitment to supporting organizations like Latino Outdoors and Native Women’s Wilderness that improve access and promote exposure to the outdoors for the underrepresented. backcountry.com/sc/backcountry-advocate-program

THE WIRE PEAK

With this high-performance pedal-assist e-bike, mountain bikers get a great workout while taking their adventures faster and farther.

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KÜHL RUNNINGS

When a teenaged Kevin Boyle left his home in Pennsylvania to chase after Utah’s powdery slopes, he says he was reborn. “You gotta do what you love,” he says simply—and he did. Determined to ski 100 days that year even when his savings dried up, Boyle waited tables, sold ski hats in the Snowbird parking lot and sometimes even took shelter in a snow cave he’d dug with his ski buddies.

Fast-forward almost four decades, and he’s still writing his own playbook—being outside as often as he can—although now residing in an actual house. When he’s not on the trails, he’s at KÜHL headquarters in Salt Lake City, bouncing ideas around with a handful of his 140 employees for shirts with additional vents, pants with smoother stretch, and warm jackets that feel like a second skin.

Boyle’s long-ago move out west for the daily snow-worship eventually drew his brother, Jay, to join him on the Snowbird slopes. There, they made fast friends with mountaineer Conrad Anker and fellow skier John “Alf” Engwall. When Engwall designed a Peruvian-style ski hat with a fleece lining, it caught the attention of the other three, and together, they

began producing and selling the “Alf Hats” out of the trunk of Engwall’s car. They called their company Alfwear, and soon the multicolor, must-have ski hat of the 1980s dotted the powdery slopes of most Utah mountain resorts.

After a tragic car accident that resulted in the death of Engwall, the three remaining partners eventually set out to pursue individual passions. Conrad Anker received sponsorship for his climbing endeavors, Jay Boyle moved to Phoenix, Ariz. to earn an MBA and Kevin Boyle bought the business, renaming it “KÜHL” (cool in German) and pursuing new designs while expanding the product line. Today, it is the second-largest privately-owned business in the outdoor industry, growing at 30 percent year over year with 500 different products this season alone.

And while everyone wants in on KÜHL’s “technical sportswear”—high-performance casual clothing that moves effortlessly from ski runs to sales meetings—KÜHL remains purposely small-staffed, locally-run and committed to doing business with outdoor retailers over mega-companies. That it’s still independently owned and operated is due to one simple fact: it’s not for sale. But what else would you expect from a fiercely independent powderhound who found salvation on a pair of skis?

THE ONE JACKET

An enigma of seeming opposites, The One is lightweight, breathable, stretchy and features heat-releasing underarms while managing to keep out wind and water. Its synthetic insulation keeps you moving fast, feeling light and staying warm. In men’s and women’s sizes.

ESKAPE DUFFEL BAG

While typical adventure-duffels are made to hold everything, most require a complete dump-out to find anything. The Eskape carries like a comfy padded backpack but features easy organizational features and stow-away shoulder straps for checked luggage. Made of durable, waterproof, TPU-laminated nylon fabric

GEAR GUIDE KÜHL.COM

MEN’S RESISTOR LITE CHINO

Designed to feel weightless with moisture-wicking fabric even on the hottest, most humid summer days, these pants move seamlessly between a trek to an alpine lake, kayaking through the wetlands or closing a deal in the boardroom. Timeless chino styling masks performance patterning, rebound and a tough-as-nails weave.

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The close-knit team at KÜHL. FIRST ROW: Amber Shabanoff, Gustavo Gramajo, Stephanie Buschardt, Katelyn Ridgeway, Connie Davis, Yukie Melville, Sam Wellskopf. SECOND ROW: Kevin Boyle, Shelby McCashland, Kate Annis, Lauren Wright, Lissa Pooley, Amanda Scarsella, John Gartland. TABLE IN BACK: Stephanie Wildermuth, Tere Soltero, Linsey Lane and Sarah Scott. RIGHT: KÜHL Founder Kevin Boyle.

KÜHL tends to capture like-minded customers who are obsessed with performance and have come to trust its inventive design features and super comfy fabrics with special weaves and stitching that can withstand repeated blows. The company’s employees—who live and breathe the outdoors as well—field-test everything so nothing is left to chance.

“We have bikers, skiers, boarders, trail-runners. You name it. People that tend to work here seek balance and feel centered in the outdoors.” says Boyle, who has worked to make the headquarters homey by offering daily, chef-made meals for employees, ski passes for their use and an open-door policy for families and four-legged friends. “I owe the success of this company to a loyal, rainmaking team and I know we’re all happier and perform better when we have the space to pursue our passions.”

Not only has Boyle rebuffed potential buyers, but major retail giants who wanted KÜHL in their store. “You don’t walk away from people who have supported you,” he says of the specialty retail shops and outdoor companies that once took a chance on him. He adds that working with businesses compatible with the culture of his company keeps the brand from getting watered down—and Boyle is obsessed with keeping the brand as authentic as its origins.

“I want a life of quality, not quantity,” the founder says, adding that safeguarding KÜHL’s “born in the mountains” authenticity is akin to breathing. “Our team is all about doing the right thing the right way rather than just focusing on the bottom line. This company has deep roots, and I couldn’t watch it get watered down into something unrecognizable.”

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