The first question asked to gear designers when a new project is started is, “What is your target price point?” This question is critical because when you're designing gear for a store shelf, you have to stay at the price point the store expects it to be. By the time you also pay distributors and the retail store marks up their profit, even the smallest increases in production costs are amplified.

At Outdoor Vitals we reject all of this so that we can make the best possible product without limitations. Due to our business model, there isn’t a fabric, technology, quality control process or any other option that is off the table for us to utilize.

So we use that to focus on Performance-First designs. Performance can mean a lot of things. But for us, it means that your gear flat-out works in the field while staying as lightweight as possible. We know this because our team hikes thousands of miles and spends weeks sleeping in tents each year. We design and test…design and test again…and again…because that’s what award-winning products require.

Another critical part of gear design is who we partner with. Over a decade of business we have developed relationships with industry leading fabric mills, trim providers, and sewing facilities. These partnerships allow us to design with the best materials and processes available.

Thanks to the direct-to-consumer model we were founded with, we can design whatever tool we need for the job without restrictions on price, timelines, or even investors pushing for profits.