{"id":39662,"date":"2022-07-01T18:37:21","date_gmt":"2022-07-02T00:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-outdoor-industry-knows-it-could-be-more-inclusive\/"},"modified":"2022-07-02T00:37:21","modified_gmt":"2022-07-02T00:37:21","slug":"colorados-outdoor-industry-knows-it-could-be-more-inclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-outdoor-industry-knows-it-could-be-more-inclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s outdoor industry knows it could be more inclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Michael
Michael Mojica, Martha Y. D\u00edaz, Charlotte Young Bowens, and Joey Montoya at the Path Ahead Ventures Panel discussion, sponsored by REI at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on June 9. (Steve Peterson\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Michael Mojica was up for anything, so when a neighbor asked if he wanted to climb a 14er, a surefire induction for any new Colorado resident, he agreed to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure,\u201d the transplanted Texan replied. \u201cWhat\u2019s a 14er?\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days later, Mojica topped out on the summit of Mount Yale. His eyes blurred with tears, exhaustion and the wonder of the world before him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember thinking, \u2018Why am I getting so emotional about this?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The outdoors can be a magical place. Mojica, for example, started his own outdoor gear company, Outdoor Element of Englewood, after his first 14er. There\u2019s a mountain of evidence that human beings need time outdoors to recharge their mental health.<\/p>\n

But Mojica\u2019s mission runs deeper: He designs gear, he said, to give anyone the confidence to venture out like he did. And he means anyone.<\/p>\n

Most others on Yale that day didn\u2019t look like him. Mojica\u2019s Native American name, Bodaway, means \u201cfire maker,\u201d and he knows he dodged many of the obstacles blocking other paths to the outdoors. He made a good living as a mechanical engineer, he was eager for the experience, and a neighbor made him feel welcome. He hopes his gear, his energy and encouragement and a touch of activism, make others feel like they belong, too.<\/p>\n

More than ever, the outdoor industry acknowledges that there\u2019s a large \u2013 and growing \u2013 population that doesn\u2019t feel included, and it\u2019s a diverse group of all colors, sizes and challenges.<\/p>\n

The Outdoor Retailer trade show in Denver, the largest in the country, explored inclusivity during the three days it was in town, June 9-11.<\/p>\n

There are many challenges, and that\u2019s because the group includes minorities as well as plus-size people (mostly women), those with disabilities, people with chronic illnesses and those in lower-income families. The LBGTQ+ community sometimes feels out of place, too.<\/p>\n

Yet there are also possible solutions, and many of them are created by those inspired by their own experiences. Mojica sat on a panel with three other minority entrepreneurs, including Martha Y. Diaz, who in July will launch Itacate Foods, a line of Latin backpacking food. Diaz has been through rough times, but she had the outdoors to help her. She said she has enjoyed the backcountry since she was 10, after her family migrated from Mexico.<\/p>\n

\"Mike
Mike Mojica, founder of Outdoor Element, speaking during the Path Ahead Ventures Panel at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on June 9. (Steve Peterson, Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine going through some of the things I\u2019ve been through, and not had the outdoors to help me through them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But the industry really is just getting started in opening doors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an extra burden,\u201d said Dan Kihanya, director of REI Co-op\u2019s Path Ahead Ventures, \u201cwhen you represent an underrepresented group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few familiar faces<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen we see someone who looks like us,\u201d said Luis Villa of Latino Outdoors, a nonprofit based in Oakland, California, with a chapter in Colorado, \u201cit gives us permission to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

But many say the outdoors isn\u2019t as full of shiny, happy people as the glowing models in photographs plastered all over the trade show lead you to believe. Others make them feel unwelcome, even judged, for being there.<\/p>\n

Bushman, a plus-size Black woman who is known to her hundreds of thousands of followers as Kween Werk on social media, preaches \u201cThe Outdoors Is For Everyone.\u201d She\u2019s enjoyed outdoor activities for nearly 25 years, and yet people are stunned when she confirms that, yes, she\u2019s the one leading the kayak trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cA microaggression can be a subtle comment or action directed toward someone from a marginalized community that can be intentionally or unintentionally harmful,\u201d Bushman wrote. \u201cMicroaggressions can range from brief comments to subtle insults delivered through dismissive looks, gestures and tones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chantelle Shoaee sees them all the time during her hikes. She is the executive director of Always Choose Adventures in Colorado, which works to increase opportunities in the outdoors with efforts such as a gear library that lets anyone borrow expensive equipment free of charge. She also has a chronic condition that causes her airway to collapse, forcing her to use an oxygen tank during physical activity or at higher elevations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey make jokes, like, \u2018I can\u2019t breathe either, can I have some of that?\u2019\u201d Shoaee said of her oxygen tank.<\/p>\n

Chronically ill people need the outdoors, she said, because they typically are depressed and struggle just to leave the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have no hope,\u201d she said. \u201cThey need to feel the sun on their face.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, she\u2019s working with Osprey, a company in Cortez, Colorado, that makes packs, to design a backpack made for carrying oxygen bottles. She also wants to design nose cannulas with different colors so they blend with all types of skin color.<\/p>\n

Kindra Roberts, a white plus-size woman, came out every year to Colorado to ski, something she\u2019d done since she was 3, but after she gained a significant amount of weight in 2017, others on the slopes made her feel self-conscious.<\/p>\n

Roberts started an online clothing company, AlpineCurves, in 2017 after she couldn\u2019t find ski clothes that fit. She had to special order men\u2019s clothing. Her friend, she said, had brand-new, cute pink clothes, and she had to wear a \u201cgross\u201d black-and-blue snowsuit that made her feel dumpy.<\/p>\n

When she went to the Outdoor Industry show in 2018, eager to present her idea to designers and companies, she was told \u201cthey didn\u2019t want someone like me representing their brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was horrible,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt like a fish out of water.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, Outdoor Retailer honored Roberts in its Inspiration Awards, which she downplayed.<\/p>\n

The industry, she said, ignores people like her at their own risk: More than 65% of all women are size 14 or above.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s billions of dollars,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThey have money to spend, and they are just being ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t go to store managers and demand plus sizes, either, Roberts said, because they\u2019re embarrassed. But some places are getting the message. At the show, Osprey showed off its brand-new line of backpacks called Extended Fit, which can accommodate hips up to 70 inches.<\/p>\n

Osprey didn\u2019t anticipate big sales for the new line, said Blair Volpe, who works in sales for Osprey and was managing the booth at the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I didn\u2019t realize how many full-sized people there are,\u201d Volpe said, \u201cand there\u2019s just no gear for them. We don\u2019t want the barrier to the outdoors being gear.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one called the company asking for the new line. But since news of Extended Fit broke \u2014 the line will launch in spring 2023 \u2014 Osprey has had many calls from people thanking them for making the new backpacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you make it, you take away that barrier,\u201d Volpe said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a really neat idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cheap but maybe not affordable<\/div>\n

Andy Hartman didn\u2019t get into the outdoors until he was in his late 20s, when he traveled the world and stumbled across New Zealand\u2019s \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d scenery. He became a guide and now is executive director of New Treks, a Denver nonprofit organization that takes students, mostly minorities, in Denver Public Schools and from a homeless shelter, on backpacking trips.<\/p>\n

Getting to those places is always an issue for families, a trip that requires a personal car most of the time. This alone means many Denver public students won\u2019t see the mountains up close in their childhood. Their parents, many times, haven\u2019t seen them either and don\u2019t see the point, Hartman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have the wonder for it,\u201d Hartman said. \u201cYou just have to light the flame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clothes and gear, however, are expensive.<\/p>\n

Hartman had to adjust his way of thinking about urban kids and introducing them to the outdoors. He prefers to stay unplugged during his adventures, but watching the kids record and post about the outdoors on their phone told him they were engaged. Some hadn\u2019t seen a chipmunk before.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the kids wrote a rap song about rock climbing,\u201d Hartman said. \u201cHe\u2019s asking when he can go back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minority groups don\u2019t want to stereotype, but many minority families still face lower incomes, said Villa of Latino Outdoors, and simply won\u2019t spend hard-earned money to, say, go trekking in the Grand Canyon. So it helps to broaden the perspective of what can constitute an outdoors trip.<\/p>\n

Vanessa Herrera with Latino Outdoors said thinking about the outdoors in broader terms could encourage cities to develop more parks near Latino neighborhoods. Greeley, for instance, developed a park with trails, natural tree limbs and a concrete slide in an area where many Latino and refugee families live.<\/p>\n

The terminology Herrera uses could also reassure those uncomfortable in the outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the framing of all of it,\u201d Herrera said. \u201cWe want to see ourselves as a part of the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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