By Terry Mitchell, Pro Deals Team Member (terry.mitchell@skipatrol.ca)
Outdoor Research is long-time and popular pro deal partner with the Canadian Ski Patrol, recognized for innovative, award-winning design, and stellar social responsibility values.
The story of Outdoor Research begins with its founder. Outdoor Research founder Ron Gregg was a nuclear physicist who spent as much time as possible exploring the edges of the map. He referred to the outdoors as The Big Office, taking his work and research into the backcountry as often as possible.
In 1980, Ron watched his frostbitten partner get airlifted off a glacier on Denali. He’d spent months planning a new route in the purest style, skiing 100 miles from the road to the base of the climb. Halfway to the summit, their trip ended with the failure of a simple pair of gaiters. Stubborn to the end, Ron refused a seat on the helicopter and descended alone for two weeks, pondering what had happened.
Somewhere along the way he realized he could fix the gear problem and devote his life to pursuing his passion for adventure. By the end, he knew one thing for sure: He wasn’t going back to his old job.
Back in Seattle, Ron reacted by searching for a solution to keep this situation from happening in the future. The result was a functional, insulated gaiter, the X-Gaiter, which held snug and was versatile enough to fit a variety of boots. From this original inspiration and its resultant innovation, Outdoor Research was founded the following year.
Outdoor Research was born from Ron’s research-led approach to problem solving. He believed that the research method could be applied to solve the outdoors’ biggest challenges. Today, Outdoor Research carries that ethos forward.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Outdoor Research built a reputation on functional, quality outdoor gear that pushed the limits of innovative possibility. Ron led a function-forward approach to creating solutions that allowed people to safely explore the outdoors with the very best protection. Today, Outdoor Research still manufactures, sells, and earns awards for these same products year after year. This gear stands the test of time.
Protecting the environment and being socially conscious are just as important to Outdoor Research as the gear you’ll see on its website and in stores. A lot of hands, materials, and travel goes into the products it makes. They felt it was their duty to make these processes as safe and with as little impact as possible.
Responsibility
Outdoor Research relies on only the most trustworthy organizations and certifications to hold the company to the high standards that they’ve set for themselves. Some of the practices in place are:
Climate Action Corps
Outdoor Research is a proud founding member of the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) Climate Action Corps. Together with the OIA, Outdoor Research is making changes that aim to make the outdoor industry the world’s first climate positive industry by 2030. Climate positive means to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions in line with a science-based target (SBT) that addresses all scopes, to remove more green house gases from the atmosphere than you emit, and to advocate for broader systemic change.
Renewable energy
Outdoor Research is committed to taking action to power its direct-owned and controlled North American operations through the use of renewable energy.
Through their partnership with Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), Outdoor Research purchased approximately 1,000 MWh of renewable electricity in 2022 through renewable energy certificates (REC). Each certificate traces energy production back to its source and certifies that 100 per cent of Outdoor Research’s energy usage in North America originates from renewable energy facilities through the purchase and retirement of RECs.
Each REC purchase contributes to the growth of the renewable energy market and supports BEF’s mission to restore freshwater ecosystems, prepare the next generation for clean energy jobs, and catalyse a renewable energy future for all.
bluesign® System partnership
bluesign is a system that provides safer and more sustainable environments for people to work in and everyone to live in. Powered by a holistic approach, bluesign traces each textile’s path along the manufacturing process, making improvements at every stage from factory floor to finished product. Simply put, bluesign changes the environmental impact of textiles for good.
To ensure Outdoor Research is a better corporate citizen, bluesign provides Outdoor Research with a chemical framework to allow it to take ownership of supply chain inputs and reduce the impacts of the products it sells. They are the partnership of choice for mills, brands, and retailers that desire a true “chain of custody” approach for their supply chain, and augment Outdoor Research’s efforts in the areas of safety, quality, risk, integrity, and more.
Responsible Down Standard (RDS)
The Responsible Down Standard (RDS) safeguards the welfare of geese and ducks that provide down and feathers for the products we all love, independently certifying down and feathers against animal welfare requirements and tracking it from farm to final product. One hundred per cent of Outdoor Research products that use down comply with RDS – you’ll notice a stamp of approval on each of its down product pages, and on each product’s hangtag. It has exclusively used down certified by RDS since 2016. It received its first RDS Down Brand Certification in 2017 and recertifies RDS certification on an annual basis.
The Canadian Ski Patrol is happy to continue our longstanding partnership with Outdoor Research. To see more info about our pro deal with Outdoor Research, please visit the “current pro deals” page on the members website.