Cheers to Five Years: Outdoor Tech and The Conservation Alliance

PARTNERSHIP SPOTLIGHT

Cheers to Five Years: Outdoor Tech and The Conservation Alliance

Since day one, protecting the places we play has been more than a tagline. Here is why this partnership matters, what it has helped accomplish, and why we are just getting started.

Today we celebrate partnership.

This year marks Outdoor Tech's 5th anniversary with The Conservation Alliance, a group committed to protecting natural places and outdoor spaces across North America. From day one, protecting the places we play has been at the core of what we do. Because without those places, well, we would be pretty homeless in our search for adventure.

We couldn't think of a better group to stand alongside on that mission than the TCA. Five years in, and we can't wait to see what the next five brings with this incredible coalition of businesses.

Cheers to five years, and many more.

Outdoor Tech exists because people love being outside. Every product we build, from the Range sitting at a campsite to the Chips in a snow helmet on a powder day, is designed for people who choose trails over television and rivers over rooftops. That relationship with the natural world is not just our marketing. It is the entire premise of the brand.

So when we say we are serious about protecting the places we play, we mean it in a very literal sense. The trails people ride, the rivers people paddle, the peaks people climb, those are the places our products live. If they disappear, so does the reason we exist. Joining The Conservation Alliance in 2022 was not a brand moment. It was a business decision that we believe every company operating in the outdoor industry should seriously consider making.

Founded in 1989, The Conservation Alliance is the leading business coalition for conservation in North America. It unites companies across industries, perspectives, and geographies, harnessing the collective power of its members to protect lands and waters for future generations.

What makes TCA's approach unique is its dual strategy: pairing corporate advocacy at the policy level with direct funding for grassroots conservation action on the ground. That combination, top-down and bottom-up working simultaneously, is what allows the Alliance to move with speed and scale that neither approach could achieve alone.

The results speak for themselves. Since 1989, TCA and its members have helped protect over 125 million acres of land and nearly 5,000 river miles by advocating for common-sense policies and granting $34.5 million to local groups working to improve and protect critical landscapes across the country. Those are not abstract numbers. That is 125 million acres of wilderness, watershed, climbing areas, river corridors, and trail networks that remain intact for the people and businesses that depend on them.

Conservation Alliance member companies have helped protect more than 125 million acres of land and nearly 5,000 river miles since 1989, with $34.5 million granted to local conservation groups across North America.

There is a narrative in the outdoor industry that conservation is a values issue, something a brand does to signal its character to customers. That is true, but it undersells the case. Conservation is also an economic issue, and the outdoor industry has more at stake in that argument than almost any other sector.

The U.S. outdoor recreation economy contributes over $1 trillion annually to the national economy and supports millions of jobs. Every dollar of that value traces back to the existence of accessible natural places. Close the trailheads, dam the rivers, develop the wildlands, and you do not just lose habitat. You lose the market. Investing in The Conservation Alliance is not only an investment in protecting the resources businesses depend on. It is a way to strengthen the outdoor economy, ensure recreational access, and build long-term business resilience.

TCA makes this easy to act on. Its coalition model means that even a small brand's membership contributes to a combined effort that carries significantly more influence than any single company could generate alone. The Alliance pools resources, amplifies advocacy, and puts grant funding directly into the hands of local organizations who know their landscapes best. For a brand like Outdoor Tech, that structure means our contribution goes further than it would if we were operating independently.

When Outdoor Tech joined The Conservation Alliance in 2021, we marked the occasion with two commemorative colorways of the Chips 3.0: blue for the waters and green for the forest. It was a small gesture, but an intentional one. We wanted our customers to see the connection between the product in their hands and the landscapes those products are designed for.

Since then, every purchase made on outdoortechnology.com has contributed a portion to the Alliance's conservation work. We have also moved to more sustainable shipping practices and committed to eliminating single-use plastics from our packaging, because protecting the places we play extends beyond land and water policy. It includes how we run our operations day to day.

Five years in, the mission has not changed. The urgency around it has. Natural places across North America are facing a growing barrage of threats, from development pressure to policy rollbacks to the cumulative effects of climate change. The Conservation Alliance and its coalition of more than 270 member businesses are on the front lines of that fight, and we are proud to be counted among them.

The Conservation Alliance is actively welcoming all brands that value North American landscapes to join them in leveraging the power of business to drive conservation. If your company's products, services, or customers depend on access to natural places, the case for membership is straightforward.

The outdoor industry has a responsibility that most industries do not: our market and our mission are the same thing. The places we sell gear for are the same places we are asking customers to support. That alignment is rare, and it is worth using.

We hope our five years alongside TCA encourages others in the outdoor space to take that step. The more businesses standing behind this mission, the stronger the coalition, and the more ground, literally, we can protect together.

To The Conservation Alliance and every organization and business that has contributed to 125 million acres, 5,000 river miles, and $34.5 million in grassroots funding: thank you. The work you do is the reason the places we play still exist.

Cheers to five years. We cannot wait to see what the next five brings.