These days, community is the biggest buzz word in brand building; how to create it, how to keep them engaged, and ultimately how to convert them into customers. But for Michael Washington, founder of Usal, customers aren’t his goal. His curation of community-led outdoor experiences, events, and workshops is more about bringing people together to bond over a shared love of the outdoors. For him, “a natural, magical thing happens when things aren’t about money, but being together.” Washington aims to foster this magic with Usal.
(Though of course, there is a retail space in the trendy Silver Lake neighborhood in Los Angeles, and plenty of merch for sale, too. Because even the best intentions need funding.)
“I very much had a transcendental experience when I stumbled upon Usal,” Michael tells me, referring to a remote beach on an uninhabited stretch of Northern California coastline for which his brand is named. “It’s just one of those places that really leaves a mark on you.” This mark is akin to the one someone gets when attending one of Usal’s events. Washington invited me to a recent class so I could “really see what they were building,” he emphatically told me. And I accepted with equal enthusiasm.
Usal Founder Michael Washington
With activities and classes ranging from fly fishing and hiking to overnight backpacking, rock climbing and surfing (meetups typically range from $35 to $250 per person to attend), it was tough to choose which would be give me the best opportunity to understand what Usal is building. Ultimately, I decided on an incense making experience class led by multidisciplinary artist Hyungi Park. The creative energy was palpable in the room as we learned the ancient history of incense before hand rolling our own sticks and cones. This tactile experience was informative enough to satiate the most curious parts of myself yet playful enough to ignite my childlike wonder.
Usal was born of Washington's own youthful instinct to explore. Growing up in San Antonio, "I was curious and really liked trying new things," he tells me. "And what better place to try new things than outdoors." With this foundation, and spurred on by pandemic-induced downtime and introspection, Washington officially launched Usal on Earth Day 2022, tapping his own network of friends and local guides to help lead classes for him and the community he’d built in Los Angeles. About a year after hosting their first set of classes and activities Usal caught the eye of REI and received a strategic investment through the brand’s Path Ahead Ventures, an initiative supporting Black, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, Asian American and Pacific Islander founders as they start and scale their businesses in the outdoor industry. With this support Usal will expand its workshops and outdoor excursions to new areas of California, and eventually to other parts of the country, including New York.
