Outdoor Research

A passion for human powered adventure inspired the birth of Outdoor Research, an outdoor gear company based in Seattle, Washington. And 27 years later, this passion remains as strong as ever. But our goals have expanded to embrace a greater mission: our customers’ experiences of human powered adventure. Over the years, we’ve learned it’s not simply about what we think. It’s about listening to our customers and building their ideas into our products.

Our focus is on creating functional solutions for human powered adventure and how we do it is the fun part! Through our Lab Rat program, any user of OR gear can report back to us on how our product worked during their adventures. Lab Rat feedback is sent directly to our product development team and has affected individual products as well as entire product lines, from hats and gloves to bivy sacks and apparel.

Truly useful gear is the result of a process that begins by paying careful attention to the needs of outdoor adventurers. By listening to these people, we achieve a clear purpose for the functionality of each product. From this, we deliver what is the hallmark of OR products: functional gear that works and lasts. As a result of placing quality and function first we offer the finest guarantee in the industry – OR’s Infinite Guarantee®.

For us, Outdoor Research products are Designed By Adventure® and every day we work to make our gear reflect the adventures for which they are designed. To keep our focus true, we look to the following sports for inspiration:

• Alpinism

• Backcountry skiing / riding

• Hiking

• Backpacking

• Ice climbing

• Rock climbing

• Trail running

• Paddling

Of course, our gear can be used effectively for many activities, but we start with these core sports when we look to solve the problems faced by outdoor enthusiasts.

As outdoor enthusiasts, we know people are designed by their adventures, changing as they pursue their sports. We also know, because our customers have told us so, that the gear they use should also be Designed By Adventure®.

With this inspiration and our passion for adventure, we continue to develop gear that helps our customers reach the top, find a new edge, discover new adventures and environments and uncover new parts of themselves along the way.