Rural is rad week
Support rural outdoor brands
Introducing the first-ever Rural is Rad week—a time to highlight and support rural founders & brands in the outdoor industry. But before that, let’s hear how this transpired.
Hanging out for West Slope Startup Week in Durango.
And it began…
It all began during this year's West Slope Startup Week, where I was asked to join a panel with Robin Hall of Town Hall Outdoor Co and Kelly Mazanti of Buttnski to discuss how rural outdoor brands collaborate and grow their businesses in more remote communities. We discovered that we all faced similar growth struggles, such as gaining awareness, building a stellar team, or spreading our products as the communities we lived in were inherently smaller. These obstacles are shared by many rural brands, and we felt the need to address them. During the discussion, we held an off-the-cuff collaborative workshop that generated some pretty rad ideas we had to follow up on.
A few months passed as we continued the conversation and got to know one another on a deeper level. Brainstorms came and went until we landed on the idea for a movement: a week held each year that focuses on rural brands in the outdoor sector. It’s a time to highlight these brands and provide them with an opportunity to further engage with the communities that have supported them along the way.
Meet the founders, Robin, Kelly & TJ
This year marks the kickoff, and there’s much to do as we grow this movement. Right now, we’re building momentum by offering a sale during Small Business Saturday—from November 25th to December 2nd—and opening up the signup sheet to start building a directory of other rural outdoor brands looking to grow. For the first year, we’ve decided to focus on the three founders (Town Hall Outdoor Co, ButtnSki & Stray Wild) of Rural is Rad before expanding the crew for next year.
