I come by my abiding love for outdoor clothing honestly, if a little circuitously. Starting in the 2000s, I lived in Utah for nine years, spent thousands of days in the mountains, and approximately the same amount of time poring over the gear I needed. Back then, you wouldn't really see that type of clothing below 4,000 feet of elevation, aside from, say, the occasional North Face fleece or Patagonia shorts.
How times have changed. Thanks to broader distribution, a deeper understanding of fabric utility, a softening of dress codes, and a philosophical lean toward functionality (people like being dry, for instance), outdoor clothing brands have spelunked their way from Big Sky to city streets around the world. So I drafted a trail map of sorts to make bushwacking through the landscape a little easier, compiling a globe-trotting list of brands I trust to make clothing suited for all manner of outdoor adventures, even if, perhaps especially if, those adventures are somewhere you could easily Uber to.
