7 MORE Cool Female Founded Outdoor Brands

Welcome back to Part 2 of our series on female founded outdoor brands. We’re super inspired by all the rad women entrepreneurs who are shakin’ up the outdoor industry and this is our way of giving them serious props.

If you missed it, be sure to check out Part 1: 5 Cool Female Outdoor Brands. The series will wrap up next week with a few thoughts from Garage Grown Gear’s very own female founder, Amy Hatch.  

  

Jennifer Scism – Good To-Go Backcountry Meals

After 10 years as the owner of one of New York’s top-rated restaurants, Jennifer Scism moved to the southern coast of Maine. It was here she decided to combine her love of backpacking and outdoor adventures with her years of creating delicious cuisine, to establish Good To-Go, taking backcountry meals to new heights. 

Fun Fact: In 2005, Jennifer appeared on The Food Network’s Iron Chef program. Her and her team became the show’s first all-women team to win, beating the Iron Chef Mario Batali. 

 

 

 

Katey Lane – Wool-It Blister Prevention

Wool-It – literally a pile of hygienic New Zealand wool that you slide between your toes or slip into your socks – prevents blisters and helps with hot spot management.

This simple, light, and natural moisture-wicking remedy was developed by Katey Lane. After impulsively deciding to hike the Camino de Santiago, she decided to forego heavy and expensive stick-on blister prevention products, and instead use wool. Amazingly, she finished the journey with intact feet! 

This led her to turn her attention from her 14-year career in corporate real estate to establishing and running Wool-It.

 

 

 

Melissa Lieser – Backpackers Bistro

What happens when you present a trained chef with a subpar backpacking meal?  She starts making her own meals! Backpacker’s Bistro was founded after Melissa Lynn Lieser realized that others would also appreciate eating “real” food on the trail. 

Backpacker’s Bistro meals contain fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade stock, hand-rolled pasta, grass-fed beef and quality whole grains. The company wants to provide delicious, quality meals that are not only enjoyable to eat, but also refuel your body. You, too, can eat well on the trail!

 

 

 

Corinne Prevot – Skida Hats and Headbands

The story of how Skida got its start is pretty rad: then high school student Corinne Prevot picked up some fun fabrics and started making ski hats for teammates and friends. Word got out. Requests came in. Mom helped to keep the business crankin’ while Corinne finished college. The duo grew the business together. Now Corinne is focused full-time on running a thriving business that supports cottage industry sewing in Vermont. Just to punctuate that last point, all Skida products are made in Vermont!

 

 

 

Mandy Bland – Purple Rain Adventure Skirts

Mandy Bland had so much fun hiking the Appalachian Trail that she started planning a trip on the Pacific Crest Trail as soon as she returned home. On that second adventure, she wanted to try hiking in a skirt, so she made herself one.

“A few miles in I knew I was onto something,” Bland said.

After Bland returned home from the PCT, she started Purple Rain Adventure Skirts. The skirts are set apart by their comfortable yoga-style waistband, large Velcro-closing pockets and stretchy but durable quick-dry material. Bland makes each skirt herself in her home in Oregon.

 

 

 

Heather Kelly – Heather’s Choice Meals for Adventuring

Heather Kelly is the founder of Heather's Choice® Meals for Adventuring. With a small five-tray dehydrator, Heather started out by making meals and snacks for her own packrafting trips. Her friends soon encouraged her to turn her obsession into a business, and in 2014 Heather's Choice was born. Heather now spends her time managing a small team in Anchorage, Alaska, making healthy, delicious, dehydrated food for adventurers worldwide.  

 

 

 

Abby Paffrath – Art 4 All Trucker Hats

Batik artist Abby Paffrath wants people who connect to her artwork to have it, affordably. So she decided to put her prints on trucker hats and call her business Art 4 All. Each year Art 4 All makes 24 limited edition artist series trucker hats out of fabrics like wool, corduroy and denim. The hats feature scenes inspired by the West, using an artistic technique from Indonesia. Abby creates her art using wax and layers of bright colors. “My work has a sense of freedom in it,” Abby said.