Colorado-Made Gear Guide
04 Oct 2025
For winter and beyond, these top picks boost your outdoor spirit
By Lexi Marshall
Every storm, icy slope and bluebird day here asks something of us—and of the gear we trust to carry us through it. In Colorado, outdoor brands don’t design for the showroom. They design for the slopes of Eldora, the ridgelines of the San Juans and the long, cold nights above tree line. The mountains are where gear is imagined, tested and pushed to its limit before it ever makes it into our packs or onto our backs.
“Colorado—and the Rocky Mountains—are our workshop, our testing lab and our muse,” says Dustin English, chief experience officer of VOORMI, the Pagosa Springs–based company known for durable apparel built to survive punishing weather. “The same mountains that inspire us also demand the most from our gear … crafted for durability, refined for performance and proven in the wild before it ever reaches a hanger.”
On the slopes, that same balance of durability and performance is the obsession at Larry’s Bootfitting in Boulder. Co-owner Dan Vardamis explains: “While we certainly want folks to be comfortable in their boots, we also want to get people in boots that make them better skiers.”
And in Steamboat Springs, Smartwool continues to reinvent how a simple material can transform the outdoor experience. “Our passion for the outdoors is at the core of everything we do, driving us to continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with Merino wool and create products that enable people to feel good outside,” says Neil Baker, senior director of global design and brand. From the first performance ski sock to cutting-edge body-mapped knits, Smartwool’s innovation is rooted in Colorado’s landscape.
These are just three of the many brands shaped by this place, each driven by the same idea: The outdoors isn’t just a backdrop. It’s the bar we have to meet—and beat—every day. This Colorado gear guide celebrates the makers, designers and experts who are reimagining what it means to play outside here, and everywhere our mountains inspire us to go.
