Outdoor Research

Outdoor Research was founded in 1981 in Seattle, Washington by Ron Gregg as a small outdoor-equipment workshop specifically focused on producing technically-engineered mountaineering gloves, gaiters, and accessories for the Pacific Northwest mountaineering community. The brand's foundational thesis was specific and survival-driven: produce the most technically-engineered, longest-wearing, hand-built outdoor accessories possible — Gore-Tex shell mittens, expedition gaiters, hand-crafted alpine-climbing gloves — at the level of high-altitude expedition performance specifications. The Outdoor Research vocabulary settled around several specific product categories: the iconic Outdoor Research Crocodile Gaiter (the brand's defining product since the early 1980s — a Gore-Tex-bonded protective gaiter that became standard issue for US military mountain-warfare units), the Alpine Bivy alpine-survival shelter, technical mountaineering gloves and mittens, hard-shell Gore-Tex Pro alpine shells, the Foray rain shell, and a colour palette anchored to military-olive, washed-navy, ecru, oxblood, washed-charcoal, plus the brand's recurring use of saturated red-and-yellow safety colour combinations. The brand has supplied technical gear to the US Marine Corps, US Special Operations Command, US Army Special Forces, and numerous high-altitude expedition teams. Outdoor Research is owned by Bain Capital (the US private-equity firm that acquired the brand in 2014 from the Gregg family). The brand operates flagship retail at the Seattle headquarters (the Outdoor Research Pioneer Square flagship), Portland, Boulder Colorado, plus international wholesale through REI, Backcountry, the major US-and-European outdoor-specialty retailers, the long-running US-military-and-government-supply distribution, and a substantial Japanese-and-Korean wholesale presence through the broader 'gorpcore' streetwear conversation. The Crocodile Gaiter alone has anchored the brand's technical-outdoor reputation for over 40 years.