'Toxic Gear Culture': How One Small Retailer Is Combatting the Industry's Darker Half

Do you remember your first time with a full-suspension mountain bike, ultralight rack, or fat skis on pow? Gear can elevate any outdoor experience, but it can also be a barrier. One company aims to hook more people up with gear and make the industry more inclusive at the same time.

It’s a life-changing experience to have access to the right gear. It can mean the difference between having the time of your life outside and being in pain because products don’t fit. But gear is expensive, and because of that, it’s inaccessible to many people.

If you have been lucky enough to have access to the right gear from the get-go, you may not know what it feels like to have the “wrong” gear. But no one thinks the best gear should be a gatekeeper to the outdoors.

Having the “wrong” gear could mean wearing sneakers on a hike instead of waterproof boots. Or it could mean buying off-brand gear at a thrift or big-box store because that’s what you can afford. So how do people access gear that elevates an outdoor experience if it’s always been out of reach?

Enter Isella Outdoor (and founder Mallorie Estenson), which offers a glimpse of a potential solution.

What Is Toxic Gear Culture?

What qualifies some gear as right or wrong? And at what point is the industry keeping people out instead of welcoming everyone in?

In my own experience, for the first year that I started climbing, I used my school backpack as a climbing pack because I couldn’t afford a dedicated climbing pack. It was awkward, not big enough, and my gear was always poking me in the back. Still, somehow I crammed all my climbing gear into that 26L pack.

At the crag, I felt pressured, out of place. I received strange looks and offhand comments about the bag. Honestly, it probably wasn’t meant maliciously, but it still made me feel that my gear was “wrong.”

This feeling has a name: toxic gear culture. It refers to the suggestion that some people don’t have the right to belong in outdoor spaces unless they have the highest-quality, or proper, gear. If you have ever judged someone for wearing jeans at a ski resort, or sneakers while hiking, you have — albeit unknowingly — contributed to toxic gear culture.

I’ll admit it: I’ve done it. I’ve also been a victim of it. And I still sometimes catch myself feeling that some gear is better than others. I make excuses for my love of gear (heck, I write about gear for a living). But I’ve also felt the sting of not belonging because I couldn’t afford the right gear.

Note: There is no such thing as “the best” gear — a Walmart-brand hiking boot might be fine for hiking in moderate climates or beginner hikers, as long as the boots fit well, have a good tread, and provide some durability.

But sometimes, that $200 SCARPA or Lowa (a more technical brand boot) is the best for the terrain and your needs, and in that case might be the “right” gear. Brand recognition alone shouldn’t dictate decisions on gear. Find what fits the sport and fits you well.