Brand Chat vol.3: Hikerkind
On outdoor style, old Patagonia catalogs and more...
Fall, at least here in New England, is prime hiking season. What better way to take in the foliage than tramping about in the woods? I’m more of a day-tripper than an intrepid thru-hiker (maps are hard), but as my conversation with Chelsea Rizzo, co-founder of women’s outdoor brand and community Hikerkind, underscores: there’s space outside for all comers.
Rizzo worked in fashion as a stylist assistant for folks like Kate Young before blazing her own path (pun intended) to found Hikerkind with fellow outdoorsy fashionista Allison Levy. She shared her perspective on dressing for performance and building a brand for women who hike.
Of note – Hikerkind just released their Fall Collection, which includes incredibly covetable Merino staples and some on-trend barrel-cut hiking pants I am eying for every day. Use code LEE15 at checkout to take $15 off your purchase.
The Trail is My Runway
In Conversation with Chelsea Rizzo of Hikerkind
What was your introduction to sports and hiking specifically? Do you remember what you wore?
My first introduction to sports came through competitive cheerleading in my youth. I loved how our uniforms combined femininity with technical performance—perfect for executing challenging tumbling passes and stunts while still looking polished and put-together. When I first started hiking in my 20s, however, I had no idea what to wear, and my gear choices definitely reflected that. I remember tackling Giant Ledge in the Catskills in a pair of jeans and a Schott shearling coat—definitely not ideal for the trail!
Over time, I gravitated toward old workout clothes, including my trusty Soffe cheerleading shorts, though I quickly learned that comfort and functionality were key.
It wasn’t until I began preparing for my thru-hike of the Colorado Trail in 2018 that I truly began to appreciate the importance of investing in the right gear. I was disappointed by the lackluster and uninspiring options available in the women’s department, so I turned to menswear—opting for all-black pieces and having them tailored to fit me. This allowed me to maintain a sense of personal style while feeling prepared for the month I’d spend hiking in the same outfit.
You launched Hikerkind because you saw a void in the market for hiking apparel tailored for women. What was the "aha" moment that led you to create the brand?
Before launching Hikerkind, I spent 10 years working in the apparel industry, mostly as a stylist assistant. My job was all about curating wardrobes to fit any creative brief, so when the ‘brief’ in my personal life called for women’s hiking attire, I naturally took a critical look at what was available. That’s when I noticed a glaring gap in the market—there just wasn’t gear that catered to women in a functional yet stylish way. Although at the time, I didn’t think of it as a ‘white space,’ I knew something was missing.
The real ‘aha’ moment came during quarantine when Allison Levy, Hikerkind’s co-founder, and I started taking this shared frustration more seriously. What began as a conversation about the lack of well-designed women’s hiking gear quickly evolved into the realization that we could be the ones to fill that gap. That’s when Hikerkind was born—a brand created to redefine women’s outdoor apparel.
How do you approach designing for the needs of the trail. I know you think a lot about the spectrum of hiking needs from day trippers to someone tackling the Pacific Coast Trail.
Our design process always starts with asking key questions: Will this piece perform well for the thru-hiker or athlete while also looking stylish enough for the day hiker to want to wear it off the trail? Striking that balance between functionality and aesthetic appeal is crucial for us. As we move through the design process, there are inevitable compromises—finding the sweet spot between technical performance and visual appeal can be challenging. But for us, it’s essential that every piece toes the line between function and form, ensuring it works as hard on the trail as it does in town.
Hikerkind is very community oriented. How do the women you hike with inform your designs? Have you gotten any interesting insights or feedback?
Community is such a core part of outdoor experiences that when we launched our first product, we simultaneously launched the Hikerkind Hike Club. We knew one of the biggest challenges for many women was the lack of accessible, welcoming trail communities. Personally, I struggled to find an outdoor community in NYC and often ended up hiking alone, which made me realize how important it was to create that sense of belonging for others. By positioning Hikerkind as a resource, we wanted to inspire more women to get outside, build their skills, and form connections with fellow adventurers. Today, we have five chapters of Hikerkind Hike Club across the U.S., and we’re excited to keep growing and evolving the program based on the feedback and needs of our community
You got your start in fashion, how has that influenced your perspective on performance-wear?
Our backgrounds in fashion have profoundly influenced Hikerkind, shaping our approach to design, storytelling, and brand identity. Coming from the luxury fashion world, we bring a meticulous eye for detail, an appreciation for quality materials, and an understanding of how clothing can make someone feel. These insights have helped us create outdoor gear that performs exceptionally well and offers a refined aesthetic.
How would you recommend someone new to hiking go about building their hiking wardrobe? What's a necessity? What's a nice-to-have?
I love this question! When building a hiking wardrobe, it’s important to think in layers: base, mid, and outer. Your base layer is the foundation, and it’s crucial to choose something that’s both comfortable and durable against the elements. For instance, Hikerkind’s Trail Sun Shirt 02 and Trail Trousers 02 are great options that keep you protected while feeling good next to your skin.
Next, you’ll need a midlayer, like our Midlayer 01. This is your insulation layer, designed to keep you warm when the temperature drops—something that always seems to happen unexpectedly on the trail! Finally, outer layers are key. A puffer like our Packable Down Puffer and a rain or wind jacket, depending on the conditions, will ensure you’re prepared for any weather.
Don’t forget essentials like wool socks—our Trail Socks 01 are a great choice—and a comfortable, supportive pair of hiking shoes or boots. You can build this system over time, but any serious time spent in the mountains requires these key pieces to stay safe and comfortable.
As for nice-to-haves, or ‘luxury’ items as we call them on the trail, these are anything beyond the essentials—things that add a little extra comfort or style!
Are there brands in different sporting verticals you admire? Or any athletes you draw inspiration from?
Absolutely! We really admire the timeless designs of Tracksmith for their ability to combine style and performance seamlessly. I’m also a big fan of when designer brands collaborate with performance companies, like Jacquemus x Nike or Loewe x On Running—it’s exciting to see fashion and function come together in such innovative ways.
As for athletes, we draw a lot of inspiration from thru-hikers. These women who spend months on the trail, hiking thousands of miles day in and day out, embody the strength, resilience, and passion that truly motivate us. Their dedication to the trail is what fuels much of our design philosophy.
Where do you see the outdoor market going, especially in terms of catering to women?
I see the outdoor market evolving to offer more diverse options, not just in terms of gear for women, but in acknowledging and catering to the full spectrum of outdoor participants. With new brands like ours and others finally addressing the needs of women, who make up nearly 50% of outdoor enthusiasts, it’s an exciting time. But it’s more than just ‘catering to women’—it’s about shifting the outdated archetypes that have dominated the industry for so long. The typical image of who enjoys the outdoors no longer reflects reality, and we’re proud to be among the brands, organizations, and individuals actively redefining what it means to be part of the outdoor community.
Trail Notes
Googling “hiking gear” leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to blending style and performance. There are the stalwarts like Patagonia, North Face and Arc’Teryx with roots in mountaineering and brands like PrAna, Outdoor Voices and Vuori that embrace the “outdoor lifestyle,” but only a handful that focus specifically on the needs of hikers, women especially. There are even fewer that do so with a fashion-forward lens like Hikerkind. But a handful of newer brands have caught my eye (and my Instagram feed).
I recently stumbled upon Seniq, an outdoor brand founded by two Backcountry alumnae that launched in spring. Where Hikerkind leans into the founder’s New York fashion perspective, Seniq delivers colorful, trend-forward kits that stand out from classic trail attire. It reminds me a bit of what Halfdays has done in skiing. (Though it looks like Seniq is working on a snowsports collection, setting up a bit more competition between the two.)
Past “Brand Chat” guest Amanda Greeley of Spence clued me into RC Outdoor Supply, which brings a streetwear perspective to outdoor apparel. I like the look of their Parachute Pants, Waffle Knit, and Anorak – especially in dusty lavender.
Of course, the idea of outdoor gear mixing with high fashion is hardly new. One only has to follow the rise of “gorpcore” and interest in brands like Salomon among city-dwellers.
But there’s a world of difference between what Hikerkind is doing and say, Gucci x North Face. It’s hard to imagine someone attempting a thru-hike in the latter.
There’s been a lot of buzz – on both social and traditional media – about the return of the J.Crew catalog and what it means for the direct mail business writ large. As I was working on this newsletter and thinking about hiking, I was reminded of just how epic the early Patagonia – or rather Chouinard Climbing Company – catalogs of the 1970s were.
I learned about the catalogs via the founders of District Vision. While the purpose of these mailers was to sell climbing equipment (namely, aluminum chocks), they did so by opining, at great length, on the merits of climbing “clean.” (For more on what that looks like, you can find the whole of the 1972 issue digitized here.) The 1975 issue included an essay romanticizing the art of talus running. More than just mere “content marketing” these were meandering ruminations on movement as meditation:
“But the most far-reaching effects of talus running do not lead in the direction of the competition that characterizes bouldering today. Escalating from walking to loping, to a quickstep, to a gracefully dancing run, already anticipates a personal and noncompetitive kind of mountaineering. Its concentration accelerates attention closer to the present moment, where clinging to a stray thought in the instant between perception and motion can lose the climber his finely tuned edge and send him crashing. Staying on that edge, however, breeds mindfulness.”
You can’t find writing like that in the J.Crew catalog! I want to open my mailbox to wordy mailers with essays and quotes by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Eintstein.
On the topic of thru-hiking, Tara Dower recently set the fastest known time for the Appalachian Trail. She ran and hiked the 2,200 mile journey in just 40 days, during which she only took three showers (more on this in Runner’s World.) I DM’ed her to get some more intel on the gear she wore for the trip, but haven’t heard back. From what I can see it looks like a combination of Altra, Iniji and … a white, pleated running skirt?
Quick Thoughts
Things that Drew My Eye or Ire…
In a previous newsletter, Racquet’s Caitlin Thompson wondered what Lacoste’s new creative director was getting up to. Here’s our answer:
Performance is in fashion. Last week Reformation and Hoka collaborated on a color-up of the Mach 6. This week, Saucony partnered with Nordstrom to make a cow-print pony hair version of their new Triumph 22. Riffing on a performance silhouette for lifestyle wear isn’t novel, but it’s interesting to see brands remixing on these just-released trainers. It feels like they’re trying to reverse-engineer fashion relevance.
Speaking of relevance, I find this Reebok x Set Active collaboration deeply boring.
Paris isn’t quite done with the Olympics hype. Christian Louboutin heroed France’s artistic swimming team in an over-the-top fashion show that looked like an old Hollywood fever dream.
Allyson Felix is Glamour’s Face of Change as part of their 2024 Women of the Year Awards. Fellow Olympians Serena Williams and Suni Lee join her on the list.
I’m into this M.M. LaFleur strategy to dress sportswomen (they sponsored Team USA at the Solheim Cup.) It’s a smart, values-driven way to get in front of their audience: career-minded women.
Coco Gauff continues to wear outfits with echoes of Serena Williams (though she’s stated that the twinning is unintentional). She became the second American woman to win the China Open since Williams did it in 2013. Call it lucky lavender?
I still can’t get over the way the models ran in this Adidas x Avav fashion show.
