It isn't easy to start an outdoor gear brand. The competition is fierce, and customers notoriously particular. After you've designed something worthwhile, navigated the intricate supply chain of materials suppliers and production facilities, and come up with the cash to fun it all, you've got to find your audience. These are high hurdles for the small-scale maker, but newly launched Raide, which debuted with a backcountry ski and snowboard backpack called the LF 40L, appears to be clearing them.
Based in Carbondale, Colorado, Raide is the brainchild of Kyle Siegel, a multi-hyphenate whose work history includes engineering at SpaceX as well as a stint on The North Face's technical outerwear team. (He's also a fully certified ski instructor and is trained at the American Avalanche Institute's PRO 1 level.) "I'm a big gear tinkerer, it's kind of where my love for skiing and engineering intersect," he says.