What’s Up and Coming in the World of Outdoor Gear from the Outdoor Market Alliance Show
The Latest Trends and Tech in Outdoor Gear for 2023 and Beyond
Published March 13th, 2023
If you're a gear nut, like we are, then you’re always looking for the latest and greatest in gear, we got a chance to see it in person months, if not years, before most of it hits the shelves.
The Outdoor Market Alliance’s Denver Media Show is a chance for outdoor journalists and gear editors to see the latest and greatest innovations from nearly 200 leading-edge outdoor brands—from Black Diamond and Outdoor Research to La Sportiva and Therm-a-Rest. This show was its second ever, and it definitely delivered. Here’s a peak at what piqued our interest at the show, some evolutionary and some revolutionary, and the gear you’ll lust for on your next adventures soon.
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The Swiss Wool backsheets on the Ortovox Peak packs
Ortovox incorporating Swiss wool into their padded back sheets
Treeliners are big wool fans; its insulation and wicking properties are among the best! So we were intrigued when we heard Ortovox was incorporating it into their Full Contact back sheets on their Peak alpine touring backpacks, like the Peak Light 32.
The thick wool padding (like thick wool felt) on the back sheet is covered with perforated material. This feature allows the back sheet to absorb 29 times more moisture than foam while drying faster, being more breathable, and reducing odor retention. We also like that it comes from wool that otherwise wouldn’t be used.
The DB Snow Pro Vest forces air toward your nose and mouth in an avalanche.
Db Snow Pro Vest improves air supply to avalanche victims
Backcountry riders have a few tools available to help themselves and others in a potentially deadly situation. Asphyxiating under tons of snow that sets like cement around an avalanche victim is one of the leading causes of death when a victim isn’t found quickly.
The Db Snow Pro Vest is the first commercial integration of the Safeback SBX system, which uses a fan and a perforated hose to force more air around a buried avalanche victim’s face. The Safeback SBX system won an ISPO Award in 2022 but until now wasn’t integrated into anything. While we never want to be buried, we look forward to seeing how this is integrated into future avalanche safety equipment.
Black Diamond’s new Distance headlamp on the left, next to a new, smaller headlamp.
Black Diamond’s Distance 1500 headlamp
Road running at night and want to return the favor to the car that’s blasting its high beams at you? You might relish flashing them with the Distance 1500, a 1500-lumen headlamp from Black Diamond. That’s about as bright as the high beams of a halogen car headlight but less than the modern LEDS they use.
What’s even more impressive about the Distance is its battery should last 225 hours (over nine days—enough to do a long arctic winter trek through endless nights or weeks on a thru-hike in normal conditions) on low. But Black Diamond also made the rechargeable battery pack extremely easy to exchange, making them easier to use in ultra-endurance races by allowing users to quickly change batteries when they run out of juice. Oh, and did we mention that it weighs about 205 grams, about the weight of a smartphone?
The Tapeless Jacket from Jack Wolfskin has welded seams to eliminate seam tape.
Jack Wolfskin with the rain jacket that doesn’t use seam tape
Germany’s Jack Wolfskin is on an innovation tear—from last year’s 3D-printed backpack back sheets to this year’s new waterproof Tapeless Jacket. We already knew this won an Innovation Award from the 2023 Winter Outdoor Retailer Show (which we didn’t attend this year) and we're looking forward to seeing it in real life.
The company says its new Zero Tape Technology eliminates 60 feet of seam-sealing tape per jacket. Instead of using seam tape, Jack Wolfskin welds the seams. It also says that seam tape is one of the most likely parts of a rain jacket to fail, so this should be more durable than what most brands are using. The jacket also is designed with no shoulder or hip seams, so there’s less likelihood that it will cause any irritation while wearing a backpack.
The line of pace-specific running shoes from Vimazi
Vimazi’s pace-specific running shoes
We thought we’d seen and heard it all when it came to running shoe design—Vibram’s barefoot-style shoes, Altra’s zero-drop cushioning, Hoka’s maximum cushioning, Reebok Pumps, Nike Airs, etc.
But Vimazi has introduced ‘pace-tuned’ shoes that meet you at your running speed. The company explains that runners pushing a 10-minute mile have very different strides and place forces on their feet differently than those pushing a sub-5-minute mile.
They’ve designed midsoles and soles that provide the best cushion for each pace, reducing fatigue and improving energy use. We haven’t had a chance to get our tootsies in them yet, but we’re intrigued. We wouldn’t recommend most of these for serious trail runners as their soles are super-soft. Moreover, the shoes designed for faster paces have a very thin tread over the midsole layer.
The Norbo from Outdoor Vitals promises a less plastic bag-like windshell.
Outdoor Vitals introduces a better windshell and ultralight pack
Outdoor Vitals is still a smaller brand, but they have a unique business model with their Live Ultralight Membership, which is a sort of subscription and discount program. They also keep introducing interesting innovations, like the 3DeFX breathable insulation in their Vario midlayer jacket.
This time around, they showed us the new Nebo Windbreaker and the CS 40 ultralight backpack. If you’ve ever worn an ultralight windbreaker, you know it’s like wearing a trash bag while running—ya sweat. A lot. The 4.4 oz. Nebo (Men’s Large) is coming to market soon and is designed to be more breathable so you can hike or run through a gale without feeling the effects of sweating out inside. It’s a DWR-treated single-layer ripstop nylon shell, so it won’t fend off a downpour but can handle inclement weather.
The CS 40 backpack promises to be one of the lightest ultralight packs.
Outdoor Vitals CS 40
The CS 40 is a 1-pound, 11 once backpack made of Ultra fiber that can be further stripped down by removing the carbon stay that serves as a frame and the belt. It also has load lifters, side pockets, and a generous shove-it pocket. That puts it among the lightest packs for thru-hiking we’ve seen, and a couple of Treeliners and other writers at the show were curious about it.
Outdoor Research’s use of Y-Warm insulation looks interesting.
Outdoor Research’s use of Y-Warm in new gloves
We’re looking for a better, lighter, thinner insulator. We’ve seen demonstrations where a thin layer of aerogel was able to protect a piece of chocolate from melting when a blowtorch was applied. We’ve also seen a jacket with aerogel insulation blasted with liquid nitrogen while worn and the wearer didn’t feel it. However, aerogel isn’t good at compression.
A new material called Y-Warm from Beijing MatrixTech that Outdoor Research is incorporating into some of its upcoming gloves aims to fix that. Beijing MatrixTech claims that 1mm of its material provides as much insulation as 5mm of down. We’re looking forward to seeing how effective it is in ice climbing and ski gloves as they come out. The company that makes the material also claims it’s sustainably produced in a zero-emission process.
