The Best New Gear We Spotted at Outpost Was Pure Outdoors Inspiration
From recycled and upcycled goods to brilliant tools for hiking and camping, these are the coolest products we uncovered
Courtesy of Outpost
Last weekend’s Camp Sunset at Outpost was a nonstop blur of ceviche, ice cream, flower-topped cocktails, wine-fueled arguments about wine, and deep investigations into why adventure (still) matters. But because this was Outpost, which bills itself as a festival-style outdoorsy trade fair, it was also about the merch—dozens of vendors hawked everything from no-show socks to stylish bongs. After taking a stroll around the expansive grounds, editor-in-chief Matt Bean and special projects director Matt Gross reported back on the coolest gear they uncovered.
Sunglasses You (and Your Wallet) Will Love
Hey, it’s great when you spend $400 on a pair of designer sunglasses and keep them for the rest of your life. That’s not us! Fate has a fickle way of crushing, disappearing, or otherwise reminding us that glasses, gloves, umbrellas, and sometimes wallets are ephemeral possessions. That’s why we love Sunski‘s fun, cheap-ish, and fashionable glasses, made from recycled plastic. (And their teardrop trailer setup at Outpost was on point.) —MB
We ❤️ National Parks
Our friends at the Parks Project had some new gear to show off, including T-shirts, hats, and more. We love the brand not only for its smart designs and shout-outs to legendary parks and monuments, but also because every purchase includes a donation to the parks system. Wear your heart on your sleeve! —MB
Camp Anywhere? Camp Everywhere!
I’m obsessed with car camping, but throwing a topper on your vehicle can be prohibitively expensive. That’s why I love Luno Life‘s inflatable solution, which pairs designs for hundreds of vehicles with a smart shape for fitting around wheel wells. The result? A cushy mattress anywhere you travel. There’s even a “comfort valve” on the side so each inhabitant of your insta-cabin has a Sleep Number-style adjustment. Brilliant. —MB
The Bag Makes the Man
Look, I’m obsessed with bags: backpacks, suitcases, duffels, totes. No matter that I have a dozen of each, every time I see a new one I feel a thrill—each is so specialized, so thoughtfully designed, it offers a fantasy of mobility, adventure, and independence. And so when I happened across Mission Workshop’s booth at Outpost, I was instantly captivated. We’d featured their sling in our best camping gear story, but here they presented The Rhake VX, a weatherproof backpack with metal clasps (so satisfying to click and unclick!), a laptop sleeve that keeps your MacBook from thumping on the ground, and a side passport pocket that doubles as a water-bottle holder. Plus it’s lightweight, holds a ton, and would look damn good on the train or out in the Black Hills of South Dakota—where I’m living out my Deadwood fantasies these days. —MG
Skate or Die-and-Be-Reborn
As a teenage skateboarder, I must have destroyed dozens of seven-ply maple decks—but I never gave a thought to what happened after I dropped them in the trash. It’s a concern that Art of Board is dealing with by recycling old boards into all sorts of materials for home construction and decoration, from usable pieces of wood bearing the remnants of skate art to ceramics, tiles, and even fabric, some of it so transformed that it bears little of its Bones Brigade origins. —MG
Because Life Is a Collage
I’m a sucker for Japanese fashion, particularly when it blends denim and other indigo-dyed fabrics with boro, a technique for turning damaged garments and scraps of fabric into whole new garments. In other words, I could probably spend all day drooling over the creative clothing from Kaban+, designed by Malibu-based Yoshimi Radstrom. Rebuilt jeans, Frankensteined T-shirts, upcycled and reprinted shorts—these clothes combine a meticulous attention to detail with a commitment to casual, unself-conscious frugality. Honestly, I might look ridiculous in most of this stuff, but I’d be so comfy and relaxed I wouldn’t even care. —MG
