This is the fifth installment and renewed effort to empower and promote women-led businesses.

Wild Rye CEO and founder, Cassie Abel, is welcoming Boise-based goodbuy as a supporting partner for this year’s Women-Led Wednesday, an annual shopping holiday to support conscious consumerism in support of women-led brands. This is the fifth installment and renewed effort to empower and promote women-led businesses.

Women-led brands are encouraged to join the movement for this year’s Women-Led Wednesday, falling on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which is November 23, 2022. With only 2% of venture funds that go to female founders, there’s a scarce number of women at the top when it comes to Fortune 500 companies. “The ultimate goal is a massive ripple effect,” said Abel. “If consumers make a point to shop women-led, then women-led businesses are more likely to succeed, which means more women at the top, more female role models and thus more opportunities for young up-and-coming women in business to soar to the top in the future.”

The list of brands is over 500, ranging from outdoors and active lifestyle gear and apparel to artisan canned wine. Women-Led Wednesday shopping holiday includes names such as Title Nine, Wild Rye, Blueberry Bikes, Catalyst, Society Nine, Alpaca Raft, Dirt Chalk Bags, Liv Cycling, and so many more. The supporting partnership between goodbuy and Wild Rye, both female-founded brands, aligns with goals of raising up other women in business. “Joining forces and partnering on Women-Led Wednesday means diverting spending away from mega-retailers and into the pockets of small, women-owned businesses,” said Cary Telander Fortin, goodbuy co-founder.

You can help the list of brands grow if you’re interested to be included as brands can apply at any time, without cost. All you need to do is commit to promote participation and help raise awareness. It’s going to be a great day of holiday shopping from so many fantastic brands during Women-Led Wednesday! While extra savings will be promoted for the holiday, it’s encouraged for you to shop women-led throughout the year, and the website’s brand directory will provide easy access on an ongoing basis.

For those interested in joining the Women-Led Wednesday community, please visit here. To shop Women-Led Wednesday brands, please visit here.

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In an industry where many manufacturers still embrace ‘shrink it and pink it’  and call it a day, it denigrates women’s apparel and products as a mere afterthought. Fortunately, these twelve women-founded, women-led companies make products for you, your body shape and all your adventures, be it hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, skiing, climbing, adventure travel, cycling, surfing, running and whatever you feel like doing.

AdventurHER Travel Adventure

Most outdoorswomen today were introduced to the outdoors and mentored by family or friends who were outdoorsy. But what happens when you don’t have that conduit? Founder, owner and guide extraordinaire of AdventurHER Travel Alli Neal set out to be that conduit. That mentor who nudges or (gently) kicks women in the rear to get outdoors “capably, confidently, and comfortably.”

Talk about women-found, women-led companies! To say AdventurHER is woman-led is to be literal about it. Alli leads women outdoors from all skill levels to camp, climb, surf, hike, bike, ski, SUP, you name it, all while ensuring supportive environment to build skills, confidence and, really, just have fun–whether it’s a weekend ice climbing clinic in Winona, MN or climbing and canyoneering in Moab, UT, inn to inn cycling in Ireland or something completely customized for you. | Adventurhertravel.com

Freshly Minted Socks

Suzette Ayotte is a Maine native and transplant to San Francisco. She founded Freshly Minted socks because she happens to be an avid cyclist with a designer’s eye. All Freshly Minted socks, which are made in Italy, have mid-century modern designs and colors for the cycling life. The price point is a very affordable and reasonable $20 and a portion is donated to the National Interscholastic Cycling Association. Jump here to SpinCycle News to read more about NICA to get more kids on bikes. | Thefreshlyminted.com

Title Nine

If you’ve never heard of Title IX, it’s the much-needed legislation that passed in 1972 that opened up (most) sports to women. Missy Parks, the founder, saw that sports apparel manufacturers were in no hurry to accommodate women athletes. In 1989, Missy started Title Nine with the barest of bones office space in her Berkeley, CA garage: A rotary dial phone (with only 1 line) on her living room table.

Her first round of catalog distribution to 13,000 recipients netted a whopping 56 orders—of which only seven came from people she didn’t know. After several years of epic ideas and even more epic fails, Title Nine now has 23 stores in 11 states with a thriving catalog and website platform—and is still being led by Missy Parks. | Titlenine.com

Skirt Sports

Nicole DeBoom launched Skirt Sports the day after she won the 2004 Wisconsin Ironman Triathlon—wearing a prototype skirt she made at home. There are very few women founded, women led companies to begin with. Even fewere reach 15 years in business. Skirt Sports did just that in September 2019.

For active women of literally all shapes and sizes, Skirt Sports offers a vast line of running shorts, skirts, tops, leggings, bras and, for the cyclist, a skirt with a chamois. But the skirt that really hits the sweet spot is the Lotta Breeze Capri skirt with its flattering style and fun prints. | Skirtsports.com

Carve Designs

Carve Designs is an example of how the best ideas spring from lounging in hammocks, swaying in the breeze in San Pancho, Mexico. It was there that surfers Jennifer Hinton and Thayer Sylvester discussed the dismal prevalence of true surfing boardshorts for women—especially those of shapes and sizes that are never featured in catalogs.

Enter women-founded, women-led Carve Designs, which set out to fill the board short gap and then some. Today, Carve Designs, which is still run by Jen and Thayer, keeps true to their mission: Design athletic and casualwear for women of all shapes and sizes who push boundaries. Additionally, Carve Designs remains true to their sustainability initiatives by making a significant portion of their swimwear and activewear in California. | carvedesigns.com

Houdini

Like so many women athletes in modern dark ages, Swedish mountaineer and ski guide Lotta Giornofelice need clothes that didn’t exist: clothes climbing and ski touring that regulated body temperature for for start- and stop activities. So she made them herself, starting with fleece underwear for herself and some friends.

Today, Houdini creates minimalist styles that are functional for both women and men. But sustainability has—and always will be—the cornerstone of their brand: 100 percent of all the fabrics used in this season are recycled, recyclable, renewable, biodegradable Bluesign certified. | Houdinisportswear.com

Lightheart Gear

Not only is Lightheart Gear woman-founded and women-led, it was started as a sewing project by virtue of the Appalachian Trail. Founder and owner (and retired Air Force nurse, marathon runner, master sewer, AT and PCT hiker) Judy Gross was hiking the AT with a 4.5-pound one-person tent that was heavy and took up the bulk of her pack space. She believed that the current offering of lightweight tents on the market could be better so she approached her first tent design, a one-person shelter, with a problem-solving perspective.

She wanted lightweight. Had to be able to sit upright. Didn’t want to trip over guy-lines in the middle of night. And it couldn’t take up the bulk of the space in her pack. She designed and sewed the first prototype in her basement. Today, in addition to lightweight tents like the Lightheart Gear Firefly, the Lightheart Gear product line includes hiking skirts, rain gear all designed and produced in North Carolina. | Lightheartgear.com

Shredly

This woman-founded, woman-led company was started by Colorado mountain biker  (via a Kickstarter campaign) Ashley Rankin when she saw an opportunity to create a specialized niche of mountain bike shorts for women. And create she did! In a kaleidoscope of wild patterns with total trail functionality. There is no mistaking a Shredly short, especially the pro-unicorn Shredly Tina. In mountain biking apparel, Shredly is distinct. Today, she is still the designer and product tester and makes it all in Colorado. | Shredly.com

MuttRuk

Colorado native and outdoor/dog enthusiast Gretchen Dill founded MuttRuk because she wanted to create a backpack solution for hiking with dogs. After 12 years at a desk job as a Graphic Designer, spending lots of free time outdoors, and seeing a slew of local trails shut down to use by dogs, she felt it was about time to take action in both her career and impact on outdoor spaces.

Inspired by innovative gear, and using her background in design, she took the leap into the world of product design. MuttRuk represents an attitude of adventure as well as respect for our outdoor spaces. A brand that advocates for trail clean up by providing helpful solutions, and an advocate for rescue and training to help both owner and dog grow in confidence and bond together. After a successful Kickstarter campaign in June of this year, MuttRuk is now into production and the MuttRuck Hit the Trail Bundle Pack—which includes 14-liter pack and a rollout water dish for your dog! | Muttruck.com

Astrid Wild

Founder and owner of Maria Paulsson Ronnback designs outdoor clothing for women by women. Inspired by her Nordic roots, Astrid Wild Outdoor Fashion is 100 percent focused on design, the woman’s body, and versatile clothing made for wild adventures, recreation and the city outdoor life. Astrid Wild aims to inspire women to live a happier and healthier life, by spending more time in nature and connecting with like-minded women. | Astridwild.com

Blyss Running

Blyss Running hails from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Founder and owner Alyson Neel began running in her early forties by virtue of a Couch to 5k program. Running taught her that the athletic wear industry had no clue about what a woman needs and wants from her running apparel.

In 2015 Alyson used her background in fashion merchandising to design a pair of shorts. Then she made a running skirt. Today she designs and makes running wear for women like the Blyss Distance Short with deep pockets, longer lengths and higher waistbands—all while running marathons and designing and proudly making all her products in the US. | Blyssrunning.com

Krimson Klover

The heart and soul of Krimson Klover is adventure, which is what drove founder and creative director Rhonda Swenson to become a flight attendant. An unlikely beginning, yes, but connections she made while traveling soon morphed into designing sweaters and selling them through a small boutique sweater company—which she eventually purchased and became Krimson Klover.

Today, Krimson Klover remains a woman-founded woman-led company whose lineup includes slow-fashion style, like the Scandinavian-inspired Astrid Full-zip sweater for the adventurous woman. | Krimsonklover.com

Lo & Sons

Don’t let the “sons” trip you up. Helen Lo founded Lo & Sons to design and manufacture premium, thoughtfully-designed bags for travel and work. Helen, who has a PhD in social welfare, wanted a travel carry-on that was functional, not fugly, and environmentally-friendly. The first two points were easy to check off the wish list but the environmentally-friendly point wasn’t because it didn’t exist.

At 60 years of age, when many people are thinking about downshifting careers into the retirement, Helen gunned the accelerator. She believed it wasn’t enough to just“do no harm” when it comes to environmental impact. Lo & Sons is one of the growing number of brands that are leading the way to reversing decades of damage to the environment. | Loandsons.com

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TrailFork Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal compostable and burnable packaging burning in a campfire

*You still gotta pack out your trash, people. Leave no Trace.

I had the opportunity to try TrailFork Peanut Butter Banana Oats and Pizza Casserole the week of Memorial Day on a sea kayaking trip to Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands.

The weather was typical spring on Lake Superior. It rained. When it wasn’t raining the menacing sky threatening to rain. The water temperature was around 38 degrees. The nights down to the high 30s and the mornings were damp chilly. Hot food in the form of oatmeal and casserole makes nature’s adverse elements bearable.

What I Loved

Peanut Butter Banana Oats: Apple-n-brown-sugar-flavored Quaker instant oatmeal it ain’t. It’s more like the steal-cut oats that I buy in bulk at my co-op, cook for 40 minutes and then add bananas, peanut butter, walnuts and cranberries.

In Minnesota, we call this concoction “paddler’s porridge”. The TrailFork version took less time to cook and filled me up. As for flavor, it’s oatmeal. On its own its bland. But mix in some almond or peanut butter and some honey and voila.

TrailFork PIzza Casserole compostable and burnable packaging burning in a campfire

Pizza Casserole: It’s not what comes on the menu at California Pizza Kitchen but when camping it’s as close as one can get.

Still,  the veggie sausage, spiced marinara, red and green bell peppers, and the mozzarella cheese topping made a four-day sea kayaking trip on the Apostle Islands that much more of a slice of heaven.

Final Thoughts

Per instructions on the package, pour the freeze-dried food into a pot, add boiling water and cook or reconstitute accordingly.

Because TrailFork’s packaging is home-compostable and burnable in a campfire, it isn’t lined with foil to aid the reconstitution and cooking process. This is a culture shift from the days of Mountain House and Backpacker Pantry but one I have been waiting for and embraced.

A couple other notables of TrailFork that I have to call out.

• Woman-owned, woman-developed. Grit and Gear is a women-centric site and we promote women in the outdoors, women-run and led-companies, and women athletes. This is a product we can easily get behind because TrailFork hits all our hot buttons.
• Gives back 1% to the planet by donating to the Friends of the Cedar Mesa in Utah.
• Vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, and paleo friendly.
• Customizable. Tell them what you like and they’ll cook it up for you (for a fee).

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