The Rock Fight's Top 5 Outdoor Accessory Brands!

Today the hosts, writers and consigliere's of the Rock Fight universe gather to once again rank the top outdoor brands... only this time it's all about accessories.

Click to choose your podcast player and listen!

They've ranked footwear and they've ranked gear and today the Outdoor Media Avengers are assembling to do the same for accessories. Only for this round we don't have our own version of Thor as Producer Dave couldn't join the show.

In his place is the latest addition to the team, acclaimed author and outdoor journalist, Shawnté Salabert!

Shawnté joins Colin, Justin Housman, and Eoin Comerford to do the impossible and whittle down the hundreds of outdoor accessory brands and name the top 5.

Will our heroes pull it off? You have to listen to find out!

Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!

Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.

Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to myrockfight@gmail.com.

Click Here To Choose Your Podcast Player & Listen

Or Click The Player Below!

Episode Transcript

Colin True

00:00:00.320 - 00:01:56.198

All right, Rock Fighters, we're excited to present a new sponsor to the show. That new sponsor, Oboz. Yeah, no shit, really? Oboz. Many of you already know Oboz. They're that plucky little outdoor brand from Bozeman.

And that's their name, folks. Outdoor, Bozeman, Oboz. Get it? They stood up in 2007 in a crowded footwear space and said, you know what? There's room for me too.

They're an upstart outlier with a weird name, roomy toe box and well built offerings for committed hikers. A combination that has attracted a loyal following for going on 20 years.

And I'm happy to have Oboz join the Rock Fight because they are committed to shining a light on the core activities central to many of our outdoor pursuits. Hiking. You know the thing we all do but few talk about? We are unified by hiking. Everybody and Oboz, they love hiking.

That's something I can get down with. Over the coming months, we'll be sharing news and products from our friends in Bozeman. So welcome to the Rock Flight, Oboz.

And now let's cue the intro. Welcome to the Rock Byte where we speak our truth, slay sacred cows, and sometimes agree to disagree.

This is an outdoor podcast that aims for the head. I'm Colin True and you've heard us do the top five footwear brands in the outdoor industry.

You've heard us do the top five gear brands in the outdoor industry. That means that next up it's accessories and that's what we're doing today.

But before we get to that, if you subscribe to Rock Fight's weekly newsletter. If not, do it now and you'll get it tomorrow. This is a real newsletter, guys, with real content, not just another outdoor link aggregator.

Head to Rockfight. Click Join the mailing list to sign up.

We'd love for you, if you're new around here or even if you're not, to subscribe and join the Rock Fight by hitting the follow button on whatever podcast app you are listening to us on.

Also, give us that five star rating and come back to the Rock Fight this Wednesday where Justin Hausman and I will be taking our weekly turn through headlines to come out of the outdoor community. And then come back on Friday where Owen Comerford and I will be talking about the North Face and their latest investor day.

But for right now, let's start the show.

Chris DeMakes

00:01:56.254 - 00:02:00.290

Welcome to the Rock Fight. Rock Fight. Rock Fight.

Colin True

00:02:01.390 - 00:02:40.562

All right, everybody. Today our top and only story is brought to you by your hub for ultralight outdoor gear, garage, grown gear.

And if we've learned one thing while doing the Rock Fight, it's that our audience loves it and probably hates it a little bit too when we do big top five lists. So today we're going to be deciding what the top five outdoor accessory brands are.

And in order to do that, we've assembled almost the normal Rock Fight brain trust. One deviation. We got Justin Hausman here. We got Rock Fight consigliere Owen Comerford.

Producer Dave is missing today, but we're very excited to bring in the latest addition to the Rock Fight team. She's an author, a journalist, and perhaps most importantly, she's a backpacking bidet enthusiast. Shawnte Salabert is here, everyone.

Welcome to the show, Shawnte.

Shawnté Salabert

00:02:40.706 - 00:02:54.880

Oh, man, thank you. What an intro. I do love a bidet. So, guys, today, out of like, the literal hundreds of outdoor accessory brands, are you guys nervous today?

We're going to try to whittle down to the top five.

Colin True

00:02:55.340 - 00:03:11.236

That. That is true. I mean, it's. It is a. It is literally. There are hundreds of accessories.

We've done footwear, we've done gear, we're now we're doing accessories. I mean, are you nervous, actually is really the question.

Are you nervous about doing this, Shantae, your first time here and you got to go right into accessories.

Shawnté Salabert

00:03:11.428 - 00:03:20.324

Mostly deeply nervous, but it's mostly because I feel like I'm going to end up fighting you guys a little bit and I don't want to fight. Although it is the wrong fight. So I guess I'm not gonna. A little bit of fighting.

Eoin Comerford

00:03:20.372 - 00:03:20.964

Oh, absolutely.

Justin Housman

00:03:21.012 - 00:03:22.690

I promise I won't fight you, Shantae.

Shawnté Salabert

00:03:22.780 - 00:03:23.510

Thanks, Justin.

Justin Housman

00:03:23.590 - 00:03:28.326

I'm going to defer entirely to Shantae's opinion on everything here today.

Colin True

00:03:28.398 - 00:03:29.430

That's probably smart.

Shawnté Salabert

00:03:29.590 - 00:03:31.366

I love this podcast, Justin.

Colin True

00:03:31.398 - 00:03:36.610

Last time we did this, you said that ranking gear would be easier than footwear. What do you. What are you expecting this time around?

Justin Housman

00:03:37.230 - 00:03:41.462

Total chaos. I mean, I don't even use 90% of the things on this list, so.

Colin True

00:03:41.566 - 00:03:43.290

But that doesn't mean you won't have an opinion.

Justin Housman

00:03:43.710 - 00:03:48.130

True, but I won't have, like, an informed one, which is probably for the best.

Colin True

00:03:48.670 - 00:04:00.854

Oh, and given the breadth of accessory brands, could this category surpass the, you know, surpass Solomon Gate in the annals of Rock five top five pure misses. Do you think. Do you think there's a possibility that we'll beat the Salomon miss?

Eoin Comerford

00:04:00.942 - 00:04:32.236

I think the only thing that's guaranteed is that we will piss some people off. But I would say, I don't know that we'll miss like a Salomon level brand. That was pretty special.

But there's a lot of iconic brands in here and people get pretty, pretty picky about their accessories. Whether it's, you know, a multi tool or, you know, something, you know, what they like in terms of their backpacking, food.

I mean, people get pretty wound up about this stuff. So I'm sure we're going to get some people pissed off, which is half of the goal, let's face it.

Colin True

00:04:32.308 - 00:04:39.080

And should we tell the audience now that actually that's why producer Dave isn't here is because we're just blaming him for Solomon. The Solomon Ms. Now he's been kicked out.

Eoin Comerford

00:04:41.380 - 00:04:46.780

He was part of. He was part of. Yes, there we go. He was part of the research team, the crack research team.

Colin True

00:04:48.120 - 00:04:51.840

We traded Dave for Shantae. He's now over on a lesser than podcast.

Justin Housman

00:04:52.000 - 00:04:54.660

But that means you're already starting on Thin Ice, Shantae.

Colin True

00:04:55.240 - 00:04:56.740

We have big shoes to fill.

Shawnté Salabert

00:04:57.960 - 00:04:59.312

I'm just an eight and a half.

Colin True

00:04:59.416 - 00:06:13.660

Okay, so here's how this is going to work, especially for anyone who missed the previous two episodes. The rules are this. We're going to create a list of the current top five outdoor accessory brands.

Like we mentioned, there's a ton of brands we could consider here.

So to keep it relatively simple, we've created seven categories that we're going to discuss and those categories are camp socks and feet lighting and electronics, hydration, food, eyewear and hats and gloves. The goal today is to end up with our top five outdoor accessory brands.

So we will go through each of those seven categories, identify the brands in those categories who we think are, are worthy of potentially being on that top five list, and then from those finalists, we will determine which five are the winners. As we talk about different brands, we'll designate them as green, which means, oh, that's a brand that has to be considered automatically in yellow.

May, may, maybe they can make the list and then red automatically out. And then we'll go back and debate the greens and yellows to figure out who our finalists are.

And like we just were joking about, to the listener, we fully acknowledge we might miss some brands here. This is the Solomon corollary again.

This is back goes back to the time when producer Dave forgot all about Solomon and so send us the most glaring omissions to myrockflightgmail.com. by the way, that's a joke. We all forgot Solomon. That was not Dave's fault.

Eoin Comerford

00:06:14.750 - 00:06:20.614

It's a Billion dollar brand, Colin, it's just a billion dollar brand. It's no big deal. That's not that much these days, is it?

Colin True

00:06:20.622 - 00:06:20.758

Wrong.

Shawnté Salabert

00:06:20.774 - 00:06:21.942

That should have had me.

Colin True

00:06:22.046 - 00:06:27.638

I know I would have remembered. Damn it. This whole time she was just sitting there. We could have had her on.

Justin Housman

00:06:27.774 - 00:06:37.830

I'm already, I'm already a little bit now I've taken this is. You're coming with a lot of confidence here, Shantae. I, I, you're setting yourself up to be knocked down a peg.

I'm just gonna warn you right off the line.

Shawnté Salabert

00:06:37.870 - 00:06:42.530

You know, Justin, I went to the gym today and I bench pressed. So I'm feeling good.

Eoin Comerford

00:06:44.250 - 00:06:45.110

Okay.

Colin True

00:06:45.530 - 00:07:21.170

Strength is important, folks.

So Shantay, the one rule of thumb, and we said this the last couple times that we kind of when push comes to shove about what is the brand that you would stock in your store.

I know you're a fan of the more boutique maybe the more our sponsor Garage growing gear style of maybe unknown outdoor brands or lesser known, I should say. But ultimately we're looking for that. Kind of like that some brands people have heard of, but also some interesting things too.

But that's sort of, that's sort of one thing we kind of look at is a maybe to help you make your decision about whether you're voting for something or not. But any questions about the rules before we, before we get going here, guys?

Shawnté Salabert

00:07:21.330 - 00:07:30.466

I have one question and it's about the category socks and feet. Do socks not go on feet? Is this, this is a confusing category for me.

Colin True

00:07:30.618 - 00:07:45.022

Right off the bat, when we generated the list, Owen generated a list based off of sales data and within that list of accessories. And not only were there socks, there were also things like footbe super feet, things like that.

So for the sake of the conversation, I labeled it socks and feet because.

Shawnté Salabert

00:07:45.046 - 00:07:47.998

They'Re not all socks, but they all go on feet.

Colin True

00:07:48.094 - 00:07:49.294

They're all foot in.

Eoin Comerford

00:07:49.382 - 00:07:51.422

Yes, Foot related.

Colin True

00:07:51.526 - 00:07:52.318

Foot related.

Shawnté Salabert

00:07:52.454 - 00:07:54.670

In my head, this is now the feet category.

Colin True

00:07:54.830 - 00:07:56.142

Yes, exactly.

Eoin Comerford

00:07:56.286 - 00:07:57.502

All right, all right.

Colin True

00:07:57.526 - 00:08:38.390

Before we get started, we have to talk again about our friends at Garage Grown Gear. Who is your hub for ultralight gear. They've got some exciting news this week. Actually, Justin, you and I talked about this. On Wednesday.

They just launched ultralight trail running shoes from Norda. Norda, now available on Garage Grown Gear. Norda is a Canadian brand who is revolutionizing the concept of the trail running shoe.

It's made with biodyneema and designed for superior, superior performance and fit. These shoes are built to last some athletes and hikers Even push them up to a thousand trail miles.

Go and check out all their features and try a pair for yourself via the link in the show notes. Just head over to garage gro and gear.com and check them out. Are you a. Are you a Norda person, Shantae, have you tried Norda yet?

Shawnté Salabert

00:08:38.510 - 00:08:43.250

You know, I haven't. As much as I shop on garage grown gear, I'm going to have to check it out.

Colin True

00:08:43.870 - 00:08:50.342

Yeah, I got my first pair coming. I'm very excited to check to check them out. I've been a lone peak purist, so we'll see what happens here.

Eoin Comerford

00:08:50.446 - 00:08:56.102

So is it like if you, if you have Dyneema in your product, you're automatically on garage grown gear? Is that kind of the rule?

Shawnté Salabert

00:08:56.166 - 00:08:56.406

Yes.

Justin Housman

00:08:56.438 - 00:08:57.250

That makes sense.

Eoin Comerford

00:08:57.550 - 00:08:58.570

Just checking.

Colin True

00:08:59.150 - 00:09:04.330

The whole thing is an application. Do you use Dyneema, yes or no. In whatever box you check.

Eoin Comerford

00:09:04.960 - 00:09:06.968

Right. You're in. Yeah.

Colin True

00:09:07.064 - 00:09:39.236

All right, guys, let's get started. The order we're gonna go in, we're gonna go hats and gloves first, then socks and the foot category, as Shantae has renamed it. Food, feet.

Excuse me, feet, lighting, electronics, eyewear, hydration. And we're gonna end with camp, which I think is probably gonna have the largest, the biggest debate of the day.

So let's talk first about hats and gloves. So on our list, the two big brands to debate are really Cirrus and Hestra. There's other brands on there like Gordini and Excuse me.

And we should throw outdoor research in there as well.

Shawnté Salabert

00:09:39.308 - 00:09:42.388

Absolutely. Glaring omission. You almost Solomon that.

Justin Housman

00:09:42.524 - 00:09:48.692

I mean, it does say here Owen is dying to add them to the list for some reason. Not.

Colin True

00:09:48.876 - 00:09:51.508

It's a lot of work driving the spreadsheet, guys. All right?

Shawnté Salabert

00:09:51.564 - 00:09:53.044

It's you. You're the problem.

Colin True

00:09:53.212 - 00:10:06.462

Damn it. I just wanted to blame Dave. Now that Dave's not here, I've been exposed. So let's talk about hats and gloves. How do we feel about hats and gloves?

Actually, you know, Shantae, it's your first time kick us off with hats and gloves. Where do you fall when it comes to hats and gloves? When it comes to outdoor accessories, I.

Shawnté Salabert

00:10:06.566 - 00:10:54.712

I am a sort of middle ground hat and glove wearer. I love a. I love a wool beanie, but I love a technical glove. And honestly, outdoor research is my go to.

Like when I am looking for, you know, ephemera for other parts of my body, like away from my core self. Yeah, Outdoor research, they, they are hat people.

They've got gloves, they've got all sorts of things to put on your things and I think they do a pretty excellent job with it too. I mean I you know I have absolutely bought niche gloves.

Like I have a pair of wind gloves from Mont Bell that you know that's just my nerdy thru hiker thing. But Outdoor Research has always been my go to.

I have owned many nor product in my life and it honestly I've owned way more of their accessories than I've ever owned like jackets or anything else.

Colin True

00:10:54.856 - 00:11:03.950

Owen, went back to your moose jaw days. How important in the accessories category was Outdoor Research? Fairly dominant in that category and accessories in general?

Eoin Comerford

00:11:04.650 - 00:11:25.074

Yeah, pretty much. You know everything from obviously their, their gloves, a great glove line but a great hat line too. I mean their sun hats were top sellers.

Just a very, very broad range of products and a lot of, a lot of products that really just hung on forever. I mean just you know every season you'd sell the same stuff.

Colin True

00:11:25.202 - 00:11:31.714

I always think of them as my for gators by first and foremost honestly is when I think of well that's also an accessory. Yeah, exactly.

Justin Housman

00:11:31.762 - 00:11:38.930

Yeah. So that feet is that foot, feet, ankle category. Yeah, yeah. The coveted lower leg category.

Eoin Comerford

00:11:41.110 - 00:11:48.766

I do think brands do get sort of a check mark in terms of if you can only have five if they do help if they cover other categories as well. Just.

Colin True

00:11:48.918 - 00:11:52.782

Good point, good point. Justin, how are you feeling about hats and gloves here?

Justin Housman

00:11:52.886 - 00:12:24.852

I mean literally the only brand that I ever as far. Well as far as hats go, I don't really care as I have a bill I'll put it on.

I've never considered a hat brand in my life for like a standard cap but if I'm going to wear a sun hat it's going to be Outdoor Research. I own two of them and for some reason I have a pair of Outdoor Research gloves right next to me. They're the only gloves I own too.

So I mean I know Hestra. I don't know most of these other brands on here. I've had Gordini's, they were I guess fine.

But I would my go to for any either of these is going to be Outdoor Research.

Colin True

00:12:24.956 - 00:12:54.496

It's funny because Hestra is the dominant Again this is old data but they were the dominant player here in terms of revenue with Cirrus coming in second and Outdoor Research a little bit further down the line which is surprising to me and I know this is an older report but you would think that Outdoor Research would be the number one in this category.

One thing I'll give them though is they made A very famous hat out of Gore Tex, which I don't think any hat should be made that you'd wear in the sun should be made out of Gore Tex. That's a terrible move by you guys. Outdoor Research. I don't care how much it's sold, it's not a good idea. Yeah.

Eoin Comerford

00:12:54.528 - 00:13:34.114

I mean I think Hestra for me though makes just the most beautiful product.

I mean if you've actually tried their gloves, they are just wonderfully made and you know, from a specialty perspective, they are the high end player. Right. You know, and they have wonderful merchandising options.

It's just a really, really fine product and a higher price point which I think probably drives some of the retail volume that we see here. But as a, as a retailer, if you want to play in that, in that upper level, Hester would be where you'd want to go.

Justin Housman

00:13:34.202 - 00:13:34.498

Where.

Shawnté Salabert

00:13:34.554 - 00:13:44.450

Can I ask you a question here? I have never like these other brands. I'm familiar with Hester. I do not know and I've been to many an or. What is it ski gloves? Like what's your vibe?

Eoin Comerford

00:13:44.610 - 00:13:45.266

Ski.

Shawnté Salabert

00:13:45.378 - 00:13:49.762

This is why the Southern Californian who grew up poor does not know what.

Justin Housman

00:13:49.786 - 00:13:54.018

They are ski and like mountaineering too. But I think ski is the big one for them.

Colin True

00:13:54.154 - 00:14:13.326

Yeah. And Cirrus is kind of the catch all for everything accessories. Right.

And that might be the check for them would be if you're bringing them into your shop, you're going to get a lot of different stuff and kind of COVID a lot of bases.

The one thing, and it sounds like we're all leaning outdoor research here, but the one question I want to ask, if we choose outdoor research, does that mean we can't include them in our apparel conversation in a few weeks?

Shawnté Salabert

00:14:13.478 - 00:14:16.334

Why don't be so exclusionary, Colin.

Colin True

00:14:16.382 - 00:14:18.030

Yeah, you know, can't have it.

Justin Housman

00:14:18.070 - 00:14:19.022

I mean I don't think one brand.

Colin True

00:14:19.046 - 00:14:20.510

On the same on two different lists.

Justin Housman

00:14:20.670 - 00:14:25.054

I'll like forecast that I highly doubt they would make my top five in apparel. But I mean I don't see why not.

Shawnté Salabert

00:14:25.142 - 00:14:25.770

Same.

Colin True

00:14:26.550 - 00:14:29.038

So outdoor Research green. We're saying green for outdoor research.

Justin Housman

00:14:29.094 - 00:14:36.366

Green for me. But also, I mean like this is a huge caveat for a California guy who doesn't ski. Like gloves are barely part of my.

Colin True

00:14:36.438 - 00:14:44.334

You know, but outdoor research covers that. Right. They kind of, it seems like the breadth of the line is really what makes them should be the winner in this the category crown for hats gloves.

Justin Housman

00:14:44.382 - 00:14:59.540

And I also feel like hats are probably the most like important to have but also totally Unimportant. What it's like, made out of and how well it's made. I mean, like. Like you get a $4 trucker hat at the gas station is gonna be fine, you know, like.

Colin True

00:14:59.580 - 00:15:01.780

Yeah. Unless you're talking insulation then, right?

Justin Housman

00:15:01.820 - 00:15:02.644

Yeah, totally.

Colin True

00:15:02.692 - 00:15:06.340

Actually, not even that. I got some pretty shitty beanies that'll keep you plenty warm on a cold day.

Justin Housman

00:15:06.380 - 00:15:16.548

Yeah, I just feel like. I feel like it's weird you have to have a hat, but they're also. I don't. You can make one out of like a shirt, you know, like, it's. It just kind of.

Not a lot of, like, innovation going on there.

Shawnté Salabert

00:15:16.684 - 00:15:19.880

Justin, would you wear a hat made out of Dyneema?

Justin Housman

00:15:20.300 - 00:15:23.252

Oh, boy. Would I. Lloyd Vogel would.

Shawnté Salabert

00:15:23.356 - 00:15:24.720

God, yes, he would.

Justin Housman

00:15:25.320 - 00:15:26.800

I mean, if you just gave it to me.

Eoin Comerford

00:15:26.840 - 00:15:27.648

Surely has.

Justin Housman

00:15:27.704 - 00:15:27.936

Yeah.

Colin True

00:15:27.968 - 00:15:28.992

I mean, that's for you.

Shawnté Salabert

00:15:29.016 - 00:15:29.920

In my garage.

Justin Housman

00:15:30.080 - 00:15:30.560

Yeah.

Shawnté Salabert

00:15:30.640 - 00:15:31.520

That I don't have.

Justin Housman

00:15:31.640 - 00:15:35.700

I wonder if they exist. Surely they exist. But I mean, hats are already pretty lightweight.

Colin True

00:15:36.040 - 00:15:41.152

Some men have a man cave. Lloyd Vogel has a Dyneema room in his house.

Shawnté Salabert

00:15:41.336 - 00:15:47.920

Someone is listening to this episode right now. And they are going to send us their prototype after the show.

Colin True

00:15:48.040 - 00:15:48.740

Probably.

Justin Housman

00:15:49.320 - 00:15:52.224

I always wanted a $400 cap. So perfect.

Shawnté Salabert

00:15:52.272 - 00:15:52.944

That's all I wanted.

Colin True

00:15:52.992 - 00:16:17.644

I think we got outdoor research as green coming out of the hats and gloves catego what we're going to do. We can come back to it if we need to. I think. I don't really know. I mean, everybody else, just to give them a mention. We had Gordini, we had swanee.

You know, McDavid's on here. Just I don't know how you make a case for any of them.

And honestly, just again, the breadth of the line when you're talking accessories like outdoor research needs to be considered, if nothing else, for the legacy of their gators, which isn't even hats and gloves. Oh, go ahead.

Shawnté Salabert

00:16:17.812 - 00:16:18.892

I just said ankles.

Colin True

00:16:18.956 - 00:16:50.028

And ankles. Yes. Cover your ankles, everybody. God, this is America. We're puritanical. All right, let's move on to.

Now, this could be a really long conversation or frankly, it could be really short. We have socks and feet. So I listed the contender, the main contenders, and we can touch on everybody else in this category.

But the main contenders I had listed as smart, wool, darn tough and super feet. I wanted to include to justify the title of the feet category. Shantae, I want to make sure we had a non sock in here as well.

But actually, why don't you kick us off, Shantae, because I know you were Very passionate about a brand that wasn't on the original list.

Shawnté Salabert

00:16:50.204 - 00:17:33.208

And it's because, listen, Colin, most of us have toes and we can be so lucky as to swaddle them in individual little fabric tubes so that they don't get blistered. I am an Injiji fan. I love it. I love having a little home for each toe. I do a lot of backpacking, as you know.

I do a lot of trail running and having that beautiful place to put my toes where the skin is not on. Skin is key for me. But also, you may not know, but for a while, Smartwool actually made toe socks. And they were my favorite. I will say they gave.

They did wear out a little quicker than my NGs do. So that may be why they decided to pull those off the market. I'm not sure. I was not in those meetings, as it turned out.

Colin True

00:17:33.264 - 00:17:34.568

Are you calling them njijis?

Shawnté Salabert

00:17:34.664 - 00:17:35.736

Ngigi. Nji.

Colin True

00:17:35.848 - 00:17:36.728

Nginjinji.

Shawnté Salabert

00:17:36.824 - 00:17:37.900

Nginjinji.

Colin True

00:17:38.560 - 00:17:43.096

You're missing an N. You love them so much you don't know how to say them. You know, she's so quick.

Justin Housman

00:17:43.168 - 00:17:44.280

She just wants to say it. She's so.

Shawnté Salabert

00:17:44.320 - 00:17:47.208

She just want to say it fast. Sometimes you have to take a letter.

Colin True

00:17:47.224 - 00:17:58.868

Out for that fun story about those Smartwool toe socks. That was because a lot of their sales reps, Smartwell sales reps, also had Vibram five fingers back in the day when those things were blowing up.

And it was a. I'm not kidding. It was a lot of pressure from those reps, like, oh, you got to have a toe sock because they were all selling.

Justin Housman

00:17:58.964 - 00:18:04.372

I'd love to have, love to have the, a 45 minute process of putting my shoes and socks on. That's fantastic.

Shawnté Salabert

00:18:04.516 - 00:18:08.004

But your toes feel so good afterwards. Justin Swaddled.

Justin Housman

00:18:08.132 - 00:18:12.292

So is that why they. I mean, is that the idea that they, that they prevent blisters?

Shawnté Salabert

00:18:12.356 - 00:18:13.364

Yes. Well, they do.

Colin True

00:18:13.452 - 00:18:13.956

They do.

Justin Housman

00:18:14.028 - 00:18:15.412

But is that why they're made?

Colin True

00:18:15.516 - 00:18:17.332

Yeah, it's. It's one of the corners.

Shawnté Salabert

00:18:17.396 - 00:18:46.722

But it's also, it's. It's also this, this idea of like you go into all the barefoot phenomenon. It's part of that too.

So you think about foot mobility and there's schools of thought that having the toes be able to move on their own without being in their little constraints of regular ass socks, then, you know, that's part of it. I do think it's mostly the blister situation. You know, I know people who do the sock liner and then they do like their wool sock on top of it.

And that, to me, just causes more friction. I just want a little tube for each of my toes.

Justin Housman

00:18:46.866 - 00:19:00.428

I've actually that's interesting because I'm on the record of despising toe socks. I mean, it's. I don't know if it's easier or not if you have small feet and small toes.

I have big feet and long toes, and it's a nightmare putting them on. This is weird.

Colin True

00:19:00.524 - 00:19:02.732

You have such a foot fetish, you know, so I just want to throw.

Justin Housman

00:19:02.796 - 00:19:09.660

You know, I just want to throw some socks on and just go. I don't want to. I don't want to, like, you know, play the little piggy game, try to figure out which toe is where.

Shawnté Salabert

00:19:09.700 - 00:19:11.516

That's fine. You'll never know the pleasure.

Justin Housman

00:19:11.628 - 00:19:22.186

But that's interesting. Now I'm. Now I'm curious. Now I've also don't really get toe blisters, but this is. That's interesting. I have a new.

I have a new respect for them that I never ever considered that before. I thought it was just kind of like a gimmicky sort of thing.

Eoin Comerford

00:19:22.258 - 00:19:24.138

Yeah, I've never had blisters between my toes.

Justin Housman

00:19:24.234 - 00:19:25.466

Yeah. But I could see how you would.

Colin True

00:19:25.538 - 00:19:28.858

There is runners who have that have an issue with that.

Justin Housman

00:19:28.994 - 00:19:32.394

I enjoy the camel toe, or the split toe, as you want to call it.

Shawnté Salabert

00:19:32.402 - 00:19:33.402

Sorry, you enjoy what?

Justin Housman

00:19:33.506 - 00:19:35.210

You heard what I said. I said what I said.

Colin True

00:19:35.250 - 00:19:36.730

I am not editing that out.

Shawnté Salabert

00:19:36.850 - 00:19:39.350

Never. I'm never coming on this podcast again.

Justin Housman

00:19:41.010 - 00:19:53.870

That's how we always. That's how that booties were always referred to as camel toe booties for the longest time.

And I don't think any surfer ever really thought about how funny that is until. Until a few years ago. Now they're called split toe booties, but they're always called camel toes. Back in the day.

Shawnté Salabert

00:19:53.910 - 00:19:56.450

Rock Fight now sponsored by Monistat.

Justin Housman

00:19:57.830 - 00:20:03.934

I do like those. So I could work because I could, you know, in the wintertime, I could just throw flip flops on and have my. My split toe socks. Those are great.

Colin True

00:20:04.022 - 00:20:15.340

All right, so now that we've talked all this time about toe socks and split toe socks, so we're just giving this to Smart Wool, Right? I mean, that's basically what this is. Because we've used up all our time.

We can't talk about the actual debate, which is really darn tough versus smart wool.

Shawnté Salabert

00:20:15.510 - 00:20:18.208

That's true. Darn Tough does have that great return policy.

Eoin Comerford

00:20:18.344 - 00:20:22.432

Make a great sock. But I mean, if you're gonna have one sock brand, it's gotta Be smart.

Shawnté Salabert

00:20:22.496 - 00:20:23.168

It's gotta be smart.

Eoin Comerford

00:20:23.264 - 00:20:23.632

Sorry.

Justin Housman

00:20:23.696 - 00:20:30.672

I feel the same way about socks that I do about hats. I mean, if wool, great. That's all. I. I can't fathom having a. A sock.

Colin True

00:20:30.736 - 00:20:34.740

Right. But if you were opening your shop, it's almost like snow's, like, I got top smart.

Justin Housman

00:20:35.560 - 00:20:49.880

I don't even. I honestly don't think I would. I don't. I think I would stock any. Any good sock. I don't think I.

I mean, maybe there's brand loyalty out there, but I doubt people are gonna come in and be like, oh, it's not smart. Well, I'm not buying it. Maybe they would. I don't know, care. I don't. I don't even think. I don't look. I don't. Wouldn't look at a brand.

Eoin Comerford

00:20:50.420 - 00:20:52.124

There's definitely brand. Brand loyalty.

Justin Housman

00:20:52.172 - 00:21:11.692

I would say I would buy any sock that isn't labeled right foot and left foot, because I think that's atrocious. I. I'm. I'm. I'm all for the. The simplicity of socks. Part of the reason.

I don't like toe socks, I guess, but so many pairs of my socks have a right and a left, and it drives me absolutely crazy. I just want. I just want a tube to put my foot in. That's all I need.

Shawnté Salabert

00:21:11.796 - 00:21:14.434

That's what I'm saying. But each one for each toe.

Eoin Comerford

00:21:14.532 - 00:21:15.062

I get it.

Justin Housman

00:21:15.086 - 00:21:15.654

I get it.

Eoin Comerford

00:21:15.742 - 00:21:28.054

I would say, at least in this show, we did bring in other sock brands over the years. Some had actually a lower price point than smart wool, and it didn't matter. Smartwool still reigns supreme.

Justin Housman

00:21:28.102 - 00:21:29.014

I wonder why that is.

Eoin Comerford

00:21:29.102 - 00:21:36.774

Willing to step up, you know, and spend the 15 on a pair of smartwolves over, you know, 10 bucks on a different brand.

Justin Housman

00:21:36.862 - 00:21:43.718

I tend to like their design better and their packaging better. Like, I don't. I've had darn tough socks. They always. They didn't seem as cool to me as smart Wool does.

Colin True

00:21:43.774 - 00:23:06.714

Well, I can tell you, and I don't want you to out anybody, but just talking with some retailers, at least anecdotally, Smartwool easier to deal with. Darn tough apparently doesn't have the best reputation in terms of customer service out there. Again, that's all secondhand. That's not me saying that.

That's just what I've heard.

I actually prefer, I think, darn tough socks at this point, but I think it's just, you know, Smart wool came out of the plastic sock craze of the 90s and just kind of Was the first, really first one in and they never let go. They've got like something ridiculous, like 60 plus percent market share when it comes to socks, I think not even wool socks. So.

So it's pretty tough to say no. I mean other brands we could consider on the list, you know, Bolega features, they're all having, you know, they've all grown nicely.

Bombas and Stance are doing good things, but I mean you look at the, I mean it's what, like three times the size in terms of revenue. But when you look at what they're bringing in, you know, smartwell versus everybody else, it's kind of pretty clear cut. Next up is food.

All right, so here are the ones I kind of brought up to talk about the most and we could touch on other ones in the category I combined, you know, backpacking food with energy food. So Mountain House, Peak Refuel, Cliff and Scratch Labs were the four brands I thought deserved the most attention here.

Again, this might be a little bit tough to pick when we pick an energy food along with a backpacking brand, but Owen, why don't you kick us off here? What do you think about the food category?

Eoin Comerford

00:23:06.842 - 00:23:54.844

I would say this is one where there's a lot of, you know, personal preference involved. You know, this taste. There's also price point.

You know, some of, some of these, you know, you've got sort of like the core players, like the mountain houses, but then you've got some higher price point players and actually there's a. There is.

I mean if you really dig deep in backpacking food, there are so many smaller companies out there doing really cool things around truly vegan options or options for different dietary aspects, different sustainability questions. But, but I mean ultimately from a size perspective, I mean it's Mountain House and everybody else.

And I would include backpackers pantry on this list too, along with Peak refuel as kind of the big three, so to speak. But yeah, it's a lot of personal preference.

Justin Housman

00:23:54.972 - 00:24:01.084

Colin, remember those pre cooked meat pies or whatever we tried at or remember those things?

Colin True

00:24:01.172 - 00:24:02.924

Yes, they were pretty good.

Justin Housman

00:24:03.092 - 00:24:04.076

Do you remember they were called?

Colin True

00:24:04.148 - 00:24:04.668

No.

Justin Housman

00:24:04.804 - 00:24:05.788

Yeah, I don't either.

Colin True

00:24:05.884 - 00:24:06.684

They were really good.

Justin Housman

00:24:06.772 - 00:24:13.140

I was hoping maybe they were. I mean, I guess I recognize, I thought, I don't remember. I don't recognize Hammer nutrition. I was hoping maybe that was them, but.

Colin True

00:24:13.840 - 00:24:24.472

Shanti, do you go with any of these on your trips?

Do you do any of the Mountain House, the Peak refuels or do you mostly just get like, you know, like a, the squeezable, like Bean beans and you know, and some tortillas and just kind of go cold.

Shawnté Salabert

00:24:24.616 - 00:25:42.700

Just doing soylent. I, you know, the thing about Mountain House and Backpacker's Pantry is like there's this phenomenon that you like to call Mountain House farts.

And that is that you will absolutely be farting whatever you ate throughout the night, possibly into the next morning if your stomach is feisty. But you know, I don't, I love Good to Go is actually a brand I bring out with me. And it's for, for the reasons Owen said.

Like they're very innovative in their recipes. Not all of them. There's some, there's some Mrs. But I, I can't have the glutens, which is a very sad thing for me.

And they do a fantastic job with that. They've got some great veggie and vegan options.

I tend to make most of my own backpacking food just because it's more economical and interesting and less farty. But when I look at these other brands, I think about all of the different things that I do. I run, I hike, I backpack, I, you know, climb whatever.

I am probably if I'm stocking something in a store, I'm going to think about every person and that every person is not a backpacker. Every person could be a Cliff person. They've got amazing brand recognition.

They obviously have a huge market share and they've got a variety of products. Although I really wish they would bring back. Wasn't it Cliff that did. And I could be remembering this wrong, but the pizza flavored.

Do you remember those they had.

Justin Housman

00:25:42.740 - 00:25:43.308

I don't remember that.

Colin True

00:25:43.364 - 00:25:44.720

I don't know if it was Cliff.

Shawnté Salabert

00:25:45.060 - 00:25:45.932

It was somebody.

Eoin Comerford

00:25:45.996 - 00:25:46.604

I swear.

Shawnté Salabert

00:25:46.652 - 00:25:48.652

It was either Cliff or maybe were.

Justin Housman

00:25:48.676 - 00:25:51.516

They like little bites? Were they little tiny bites? They weren't whole bars.

Shawnté Salabert

00:25:51.548 - 00:25:58.140

They weren't bars, they weren't bites. They were like a squeeze, like a squeezy, like a gel almost. That was. But it was pieces.

Colin True

00:25:58.300 - 00:25:59.292

Sounds terrible.

Shawnté Salabert

00:25:59.436 - 00:26:00.360

So good.

Justin Housman

00:26:00.910 - 00:26:04.710

That sounds fat. I wouldn't. I love the idea. That's great.

Shawnté Salabert

00:26:04.750 - 00:26:06.326

I want more savory gels. I want more.

Justin Housman

00:26:06.398 - 00:26:15.638

I kept trying to get my sister in law who was a food scientist at GOO and is now a food scientist at Clif Bar. I've constantly berated her about making roast beef flavored energy gels.

Colin True

00:26:15.654 - 00:26:16.646

Oh God. Dear God.

Justin Housman

00:26:16.678 - 00:26:17.606

They won't do it.

Colin True

00:26:17.758 - 00:26:23.398

Doing savory energy food, like savory energy foods is really difficult. I can tell you from my sweet potatoes.

Shawnté Salabert

00:26:23.414 - 00:26:56.946

Sweet potato. I feel like sweet potato threads. The line Mirror Energy had these For a while, they had, like, sweet potato.

They were rice, molasses, whatever the little mixture is. And I love to having another option, like do it. Do a sweet potato. Put some salt in there. You got electrolytes.

You have a real food I would much rather like. I keep. When I go run in the mountains, I will have my trip my vest, and I will shove sweet potato tater tots into the pockets. Absolutely.

This is not a lie. And I will just eat sweet potato tater tots throughout the run. It's carbs. It's got a little bit of sugar. Anyway, I want savory, but. But I. I'm going.

Cliff, I'm with you on that. These are my options, Cliff.

Colin True

00:26:56.978 - 00:27:05.380

Okay. Not Scratch. I think scratch would be my energy food pick. But I mean, if we're only picking one, should we pick a.

An energy food and a backpacking food? I think you have to carry two over.

Justin Housman

00:27:05.420 - 00:27:07.316

I mean, they don't come. They're not competing against one another.

Colin True

00:27:07.388 - 00:27:15.572

So it's basically a mountain. Should we. Mountain house and Cliff. Is that the. Is that what we're doing? Is that. Is that too obvious? I love scratch. I think scratch drinks are great.

I'm a huge fan of scratch.

Justin Housman

00:27:15.636 - 00:27:19.028

But I mean, they only make. They don't make nearly as much stuff as Cliff does.

Colin True

00:27:19.164 - 00:27:24.612

That's the problem, you know, because I would. Obviously probar is on this list, and I would do probar in a heartbeat, but they're kind of. They're tiny by comparison.

Justin Housman

00:27:24.676 - 00:27:29.786

I mean, same deal with Honey Stinger. Like, Honey Stinger, Honey Stinger. Cliff, I'd kind of go honeysinger.

Shawnté Salabert

00:27:29.898 - 00:27:40.666

I would personally vote for Overcliff if I was stocking a store and I wanted to, because they do. They have amazing. I've got some of their bars at home right now. They've got the goos, they've got chews, they've got.

Colin True

00:27:40.738 - 00:27:42.106

They have the waffles. All you need is the waffles.

Shawnté Salabert

00:27:42.138 - 00:27:51.882

They have the waffles. So I feel like they're sort of clamoring up there to be cliff adjacent as far as their offerings. And they taste better, I think.

Eoin Comerford

00:27:51.986 - 00:27:56.762

And what I would say about Cliff, too, is that they are everywhere. You can get Cliff in your local grocery store.

Justin Housman

00:27:56.826 - 00:27:59.584

Yeah. You get them at the gas station on the way. Yeah, right. Yeah.

Eoin Comerford

00:27:59.632 - 00:28:04.256

So as a. As a specialty retailer, Moose, we wouldn't touch Cliff.

Colin True

00:28:04.288 - 00:28:05.952

All right, cool. That's good to know.

Eoin Comerford

00:28:06.136 - 00:28:30.494

It just. It just. Yeah, it wasn't that special. And B, you know, low margins. Grocery store margins. And C, Expiration dates.

I mean, half of half the Cliff bars we used to sell ended up being donated to the staff because they were past expiration. So. No, I would much rather expand. Do like a Honey Stinger versus a. Or even a Goo versus a. Yeah, I mean, Goo.

Justin Housman

00:28:30.542 - 00:28:35.470

Goo's also pretty. Pretty robust in terms of their offerings, but I would probably do Honey Stinger as well.

Colin True

00:28:35.510 - 00:28:47.566

And Goo has a waffle nut too. But I think if you're gonna. If they were basing it off of the real. If it was a gel options, I'd say Goo.

If you're kind of saying the breadth of the line, I would go. Stinger would be my. Okay, so we'll carry Mountain House and Stinger into the finals. Does that sound good?

Shawnté Salabert

00:28:47.638 - 00:28:48.046

Beautiful.

Justin Housman

00:28:48.078 - 00:28:49.390

I would. Yeah, I would.

Eoin Comerford

00:28:49.430 - 00:28:49.966

It's good.

Colin True

00:28:50.038 - 00:28:54.368

All right, we'll take a quick break, and then we'll come back and talk about lighting and electronics.

Shawnté Salabert

00:28:54.544 - 00:28:55.460

Ooh.

Colin True

00:28:57.720 - 00:30:35.440

Today's episode of the Rock Fight is presented by Oboz, who are helping us ask the question, how do I love hiking? Let me count the ways. Number one on today's list is that first sip of trail coffee.

It tastes like adventure and potentially questionable life choices. Number two, the magic of trail snacks. Somehow a peanut butter sandwich tastes Michelin starred at over 9,000ft. Feet.

Number three, reconnecting with your inner caveman. You walk far, you see things, you feel alive. Number four, hiking means finding your soulmates.

In this case, Roads, Rivers, and Trails of Milford, Ohio. If you find yourself in the greater Milford area, pop in and say hi to the folks at Roads, Rivers, and trails.

While you're there, maybe buy a pair of Oboz boots. And number five means the Oboz Bang Tail insulated winter hiking boot.

There's plenty of winter left to justify by picking up a pair of bangtails featuring Vibram Arctic Grip, outsole, and Bdry waterproof technology. But the number one reason to buy the bangtail, it's called the freakin Bangtail.

This hiking appreciation moment is brought to you by Oboz of Bozeman, montana. Certified B Corps 6 million tree planter and proud inhabitant of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

Oboz is the maker of premium quality footwear for the trail and the cupid. To the outdoor world, Oboz. Love hiking. All right. Lighting, electronics. Interesting one, because the top five I listed here.

We should talk about Petzl, which came up on our gear conversation Pretzel. Yep, yep. Garmin, Goal zero. Our favorite brand, Coast Justin and your other favorite brand, Biolite. So you got a couple of winners on here.

That Are brands you really like? Where do you fall in on the, on the electronic conversation? Shantae.

Shawnté Salabert

00:30:35.600 - 00:31:35.506

Oh, all right. So I am coming into this from a couple different perspectives.

I, you know, I don't know if I've mentioned least 30 times so far, I backpack and I trail run. But I'm also a guidebook author. And so for me, Garmin has become sort of my buddy in life electronically for all things outdoor.

I've got the Garmin instinct. I've got a solar watch. I've got an old ass etrex20 that is like one of their earliest handheld, you know, GPS devices.

Garmin is, you've got the inreach. I have an inreach mini. It is at least for people who do things on trails. I think it's become a really important brand.

I think people know there's the brand recognition, but they trust it and they have a pretty sweeping suite of products. I think that they, they have great apps too that go with them, which has been a pleasant surprise. So all around for me, I, I'm a Garmin girl.

Colin True

00:31:35.688 - 00:31:43.330

Do we need to mention like the Suuntos? I mean, is there, is there a debate still about the sort of that and that kind of GPS category?

Shawnté Salabert

00:31:43.830 - 00:32:01.872

I don't think so. I think Garmin has sort of, I think Kouros has, has sort of snuck into the conversation.

But I, I really do think, I mean, suunto, I really, their compasses still are, bar none for me. Like that's the compass I carry as a Suunto compass. But I don't know, I think Garmin has just sort of run away from the pack here.

Colin True

00:32:01.966 - 00:32:03.680

Owen, what do you think? Electronics?

Eoin Comerford

00:32:04.420 - 00:33:04.802

Yeah, I mean, Garmin is by far and away the leader from a macro perspective. The challenge a little bit as a retailer is again, super low margins, like 20% margins, which is tough.

The other thing that can be tricky is just that the versioning means that your inventory gets out of date heat pretty quickly. And so if you've got the Phoenix and they come out with the. Suddenly the old one is, you know, is selling below, below your cost.

So it can be challenging there, but it is, it is the, the leader. And if you want to be in the electronics play, I think you have to have it.

Yeah, there are some great obviously lighting brands here, Petzl Coast, Black diamond obviously as well from a headline perspective, although they're already on the list. So we're going to kind of give them a pass here. And Biolite's maybe a little bit specialty. So I think it has to be Garmin. But I would give it a.

Colin True

00:33:04.826 - 00:33:06.050

We need a lighting brand. We can't.

Justin Housman

00:33:06.130 - 00:33:09.282

You have to have lighting because you have to have it in the store. You have to have lighting in your store.

Colin True

00:33:09.346 - 00:33:38.212

Exactly. And I want to make the case for coast based. You know, I know we've shown them a lot of love in this podcast, but that's also when we get to camp.

Like, half of the camp list that we have is like knives and axes and stuff like that.

And if you had a brand like coast on the list, not only do they have our favorite headlamp of all time, Justin still got it right here, the talking one and the it also, they. They make multi tools. They have a lot of different stuff in that line. I think coast is a brand that's just come out of.

I didn't know about them until I think we started doing the pod like a year and a half ago. Justin, like, and so, like, I can.

Justin Housman

00:33:38.236 - 00:34:09.184

Tell you right now, coast would be my lighting brand. No, no question about it. And even. And I would say that even.

Even if I thought that that might suffer in terms of sales initially because I would talk them up to customers that walked in the door.

I mean, every single coast lighting element I have, except for the talking headlamp thing, which is because it feels like it's made of plastic, right? Because it is.

But all the flashlights and everything else I've had from them is like the most well designed, well performing piece of technology I've ever used in the outdoor space. So, like, coast would be my lighting option right off the bat, no questions asked.

Eoin Comerford

00:34:09.352 - 00:34:30.505

It's really interesting to hear you guys talk about coast in this way because for many, many years, coast was a kind of an entry level price point brand.

You know, I mean, quite frankly, I'm not sure that we even carried it at Moose Chai, just because there were sort of higher end options that were out there that were more specialty. So I haven't been that close to the brand in a number of years, and it sounds like they've really stepped up their game.

Colin True

00:34:30.577 - 00:35:01.482

I never heard of them until Gear Junkie wrote about the talking headlamp. And then Justin and I were. We spent an episode making fun of them, like, who needs a talking headlamp? This is the dumbest thing we've ever heard.

And then we saw it at or. And then they sent us one and immediately we're like, we were wrong. This thing's awesome.

And then they also sent us a couple other handheld lights, little flashlights, and Whatnot. And to Justin's point, impeccably designed, incredible materials. So same thing. I didn't know about them until like a year or so ago.

But then again, I mean, it's hard to deny, like having a Petzl in your shop too. I don't know. Shantae, what do you think about lighting?

Shawnté Salabert

00:35:01.626 - 00:35:33.700

Well, I will say that I didn't hear about coast until today. I, I historically have been a black diamond headlamp girl. And then I, I elevated my headlamp gear thanks to.

Thanks to one of many shopping trips on garage grown gear. I upgraded to, I think, a biolite. You know, backpacking, it's like we have kind of different needs, but I'm curious. I don't know if coast makes.

Makes lightweight. Like, you know, we're counting grams.

We are that nerdy sometimes when you think about long distance backpacking because you're carrying this day over day over day.

Justin Housman

00:35:34.160 - 00:35:42.696

And so I don't know about that. I don't know if they do. Like, the biolite headlamps are the most comfortable, lightest ones I've ever used and they're fantastic.

I absolutely adore their headlamps.

Shawnté Salabert

00:35:42.728 - 00:35:42.984

Yeah.

Justin Housman

00:35:43.032 - 00:35:47.720

The only coast headlamp I have is the. Is the one that you can talk to. And I presume they make lightweight ones as well.

Shawnté Salabert

00:35:47.760 - 00:35:49.580

Yeah, I don't need to talk to my headlamp.

Justin Housman

00:35:50.160 - 00:36:09.404

You think that and then you have the. You have the opportunity. He's totally. We should clarify. They don't speak back to you, but boy, it would be nice if they did.

I can't explain how freaking amazing it is to be riding your bike with a headlamp on and go like coast brighter. And then it just like gets brighter. It's absolutely amazing.

Shawnté Salabert

00:36:09.532 - 00:36:11.276

Wow. So it's like an Alexa for your head.

Colin True

00:36:11.348 - 00:36:11.596

Yeah.

Justin Housman

00:36:11.628 - 00:36:18.700

Yes. Yeah. Which sounds ridiculous until you're using it and you think, why don't they all have this? It's really pretty.

Shawnté Salabert

00:36:18.780 - 00:36:19.308

Makes it happen.

Eoin Comerford

00:36:19.364 - 00:36:23.036

So the moral of the story here is you can be bought with product.

Justin Housman

00:36:23.108 - 00:36:26.088

Apparently, if it kicks ass. Yeah.

Colin True

00:36:26.124 - 00:36:26.480

Yeah.

Justin Housman

00:36:26.560 - 00:36:31.500

Believe me, my garage is full of stuff that sucks and I'm not talking it up.

Colin True

00:36:32.680 - 00:36:42.192

Well, I feel like as much as we're gushing on coast, it feels like just based off of even the comfort and the lightweights. Should we carry biolite out of this category along with garments?

Justin Housman

00:36:42.336 - 00:36:43.460

Yes, probably.

Eoin Comerford

00:36:43.880 - 00:36:57.678

I mean, I mean, if we're. We keep talking about innovation in this space and the need for innovation in the outdoors.

And biolite has, I would say, led the pack over the Last decade. So we've got to at least give them some love.

Colin True

00:36:57.734 - 00:36:57.966

Okay.

Justin Housman

00:36:57.998 - 00:36:58.254

Yeah.

Colin True

00:36:58.302 - 00:36:58.606

Okay.

Justin Housman

00:36:58.638 - 00:37:03.410

I mean, yeah, I think it makes more sense to advance them than coast, even though I would stock Coast.

Colin True

00:37:03.910 - 00:37:24.862

Perfect. All right, so we've got Garmin and Biolite coming out of lighting and electronics. By the way, some other ones on the list we mentioned. Goal Zero.

You know who was Princeton Tech, which was like my first headlamp ever was a Princeton Tech headlamp just at the bottom, just clinging on with its fingernails at the bottom of this list like poor Princeton Tech. I think you guys all seem like you at one point had a Princeton Tech headlamp.

Shawnté Salabert

00:37:24.926 - 00:37:25.390

Everybody did.

Justin Housman

00:37:25.430 - 00:37:29.786

Oh, we've all had Absol. I've had Luma. I can't remember what I had.

Shawnté Salabert

00:37:29.858 - 00:37:35.082

They're the little inflatable lanterns. It started as, I think, like sending them to NGOs.

Eoin Comerford

00:37:35.226 - 00:37:43.786

The other one is Streamlight. I mean, if you want a really, really good high end flashlight, Streamlight would be the brand I would go with.

Justin Housman

00:37:43.858 - 00:37:46.950

I haven't heard of them either. So many fun little brands to learn about, right?

Colin True

00:37:47.330 - 00:38:29.864

All right, next category. Eyewear. So, oh, boy, eyewear's an interesting one.

I mean, the longest time it felt like you'd walk into a specialty shop and there'd be like, like eight different, like, column, like lit up displays with all the different kind of expensive eyewear brands. And now between like Pit Viper and Gooder, like, they just kind of came along and like wrecked the model.

So now you're going to have those, like, every shop's going to have a Gooder and then like one sort of expensive, you know, alternative as well. For the sake of the conversation I threw in the list, I think Gooder has to be mentioned and debated as well as Smith and Oakley.

But I mean, you know, we have Maui Jim, you got Ray Ban, Costa Del Mar, and then you have accessories like Croquis and chums and stuff like that too. So what do you guys fall on eyewear at this point?

Justin Housman

00:38:30.032 - 00:39:04.658

I would say that of all of these brands, Costa Del Mar makes by far my favorite shades. Like, no questions asked. I have a lot of their product. They are all extremely impressive. Really well made. Love everything from them.

But they don't make, you know, biking glasses, they don't make skiing goggles. I mean, it'd be hard to have just them and not like Smith or Oakland, which is going to give you a bigger variety of things. But just for just for.

If I'm just looking for sunglasses, Costa Del Mar, no question asked. And I Would say chums, croakies, etc. You can get those. Nobody cares about the brand.

Colin True

00:39:04.714 - 00:39:06.002

Get gas station stuff, right?

Justin Housman

00:39:06.106 - 00:39:07.362

Get one at a gas station. Yeah.

Colin True

00:39:07.426 - 00:39:09.110

Owen, where do you fall in eyewear.

Eoin Comerford

00:39:11.050 - 00:39:37.768

For a similar reason? It's Smith for me. Just because they do cover so much more and they really are, at their core, an enthusiast brand. And you could argue Costa del Mar.

Yes. Came out of sort of the ocean fishing and that whole aspect of it. So is that an enthusiast brand? I don't know.

But Smith, at its core is for skiers, for mountain bikers, for people that are active in the outdoors. So to me. To me, it's the one you have to have.

Colin True

00:39:37.824 - 00:39:51.180

And then. Because I'm sure we're going to catch some grief for not mentioning goggles on this list. Right.

So then that kind of covers that if you have a brand like that. Although I will say, and I want to hear, Shantay, what you have to say about this, but I was talking with Wes Allen, our friend of the pod.

He says that the brand that kills it for him is Maui Jim.

Justin Housman

00:39:51.780 - 00:39:52.476

Huh?

Colin True

00:39:52.588 - 00:39:57.948

Yeah. So like you said, we sell more than that than almost anything else in the shop. So I wonder why that is.

Justin Housman

00:39:58.004 - 00:39:59.052

I've never owned a pair.

Colin True

00:39:59.116 - 00:40:01.948

Neither have I. I feel like they're kind of dorky, personally.

Shawnté Salabert

00:40:02.124 - 00:40:08.440

Personally, yeah. But I think there's a certain. I think there's a certain subculture that has that. There's like a nostalgic feel.

Colin True

00:40:08.900 - 00:40:12.040

Do they wear keen Newports as well, that subculture, or.

Shawnté Salabert

00:40:12.340 - 00:40:13.120

Probably.

Colin True

00:40:13.540 - 00:40:15.292

What do you think about. I wear shot dick.

Shawnté Salabert

00:40:15.436 - 00:40:40.906

You know, I've had Julbo goggles. I've had Oakleys. I've had. Had Goodr.

And I will say, my daily driver, no matter what I'm doing, whether I'm traveling, running, hiking, is my Goodr glasses same. They're cheap. Their replacement policy is insane. I've replaced several pair within their warranty for free.

But it is wild because, you know who is carrying Goodr now? Very limited selection of Goodr. Target.

Justin Housman

00:40:41.058 - 00:40:43.674

I was just gonna guess Target. They seem like a Target brand.

Shawnté Salabert

00:40:43.762 - 00:41:10.214

So Goodr has jumped the jump, the shark a little bit. And so it may. I mean, but I just cannot pass up that price point. And the fact that they stay on my face like that is what I want.

I want sunglasses that stay on my face. I sweat like a hog. It is. You know, I. I like wearing them a lot more than I like wearing, like, the techie glasses from Oakley, which I have had some.

They're just not my thing. I Don't like how they look. I don't like how they feel on my face. Gooder. I will wear them. I've got like four pair at home right now.

Justin Housman

00:41:10.382 - 00:41:23.542

I want to give a shout out to Tifosi which is also an excellent glasses for the price point and they also cover a lot of categories. I mean just kind of a daily wear shoe. Sure. And they're also my go to mountain bike glasses. So I also big, big fan of Tifosi.

Colin True

00:41:23.606 - 00:41:28.758

Has. Has Native joined the ranks of the zombie brands? Owen or is Native? They were a big. They were a big deal for a little while.

Eoin Comerford

00:41:28.814 - 00:41:32.918

They were big for a while. I still have a ton of natives that I got for free back in the day.

Colin True

00:41:33.054 - 00:41:35.366

It was not hard to get free natives back in the day.

Eoin Comerford

00:41:35.438 - 00:41:54.482

No, it was not. Yeah, no. Natives and Smiths are basically all that I think I have. But that's more to do with their pro deal than maybe anything else.

Yeah, I don't know where Native is these days. Kind of screwed the pooch there about, I don't know, six, seven years ago and yeah.

Colin True

00:41:54.546 - 00:42:42.750

Haven't come back. Well, let's carry Gooder and Smith into the finals.

I think Gooder, we'll keep an eye on the target a bit and maybe in the future that, that, that takes them out of the conversation. I feel like they've, they've changed the game a little too much in outdoor for us not to include them at least in this round.

And I'm with you, Shantae. Like that's. They checked almost every box I need. And then you put on a nice pair of sunglasses. You're like, oh, okay, I see the difference.

But it's also like 25 bucks versus 250 bucks. Like, I don't know. I'll take my gooders. I think I'm okay on these, so. All right, we'll carry those two over. You're listening to Rock Fight Radio.

Hey, ladies, germs and groms, it's DJCT and you're listening to Rock Fight Radio. Get ready for more of that whole foot comfort from fits because we have the follow up to their massive hit single Bold Sock. Here it is.

Let's drop the needle on so many fits.

FITS!

00:42:45.090 - 00:43:50.680

For the snow road on the trail like picking a salad from romaine. Iceberg or kale from small to double.

XL every size in a line Custom comfort dressing fits every time Cushion so thin you barely know it's there or max out the pattern Warm beyond compare boots to no shows invisibles too. Whatever you're after there's a fit for you. So many fits to fit you just right.

Whole foot comfort, day or night, from the heel to the toe, the solid to the fair. Like a sock custom made for you to wear. Oh, so many fits. Yeah, so many fits.

No matter your size, no matter your style, fits will take you mile by mile with cushioning choices and sizes galore. Slip them on once and you'll ask for more.

Colin True

00:43:53.060 - 00:44:09.050

And now back to the show. And we got two more categories. Hydration is next. And for the sake of.

The conversation started, I had as our top what I have top four here, Yeti, Hydro Flask, Nalgene and Stanley. So who would like to kick off hydration?

Justin Housman

00:44:10.110 - 00:44:15.850

Yeti's water bottles are the best water bottles in the world. Just gonna say it. They're plastic ones.

Shawnté Salabert

00:44:16.350 - 00:44:17.254

Defend yourself.

Colin True

00:44:17.382 - 00:44:17.974

Yeah, Seriously.

Justin Housman

00:44:18.022 - 00:44:20.678

Phenomenal in the hand. The one I'm talking. The one I'm. I don't know.

Shawnté Salabert

00:44:20.734 - 00:44:23.670

Phenomenal in the hand. Wow. The hand feel is what you like.

Justin Housman

00:44:23.710 - 00:44:44.300

For real. Like, I don't know the model name, but they make these. They make their, like, version of Nalgene.

And they have like flat sides, but they're round but with flat sides. So you just grip them really well. They have like a cool, like double stage lid that makes it. You can fill it really big.

You can screw on the small to drink out of that. They have a nice handle on them. They're just like, by far the best. Like, so good.

Shawnté Salabert

00:44:44.420 - 00:44:55.676

You made that sound so complicated. All I want is an Algin. I want. I want a cylinder. Yeah, that's the, the theme of me today is things. I want cylinders to put things in.

I want a cylinder, screws on screws.

Colin True

00:44:55.708 - 00:44:57.164

Can you put your toes in an Algin?

Shawnté Salabert

00:44:57.292 - 00:45:02.396

You could, you could. I haven't, but I may try later. I don't know, but it's just, it's.

Justin Housman

00:45:02.428 - 00:45:03.580

To me, somebody has.

Shawnté Salabert

00:45:03.700 - 00:45:29.680

Somebody has. There are people out there. That's a niche market. That's the next episode is foot fetishes in the outdoors. So it's how I'm gonna make my millions.

But I think Nalgene, it's a classic brand. They now make them in multiple sizes. You can get the super sized Nalgene, you can get the tiny baby Nalgene. You could put some eggs in there.

You could put some water in there. You can, you know, put your drugs in there. I don't know what you're doing with your Nalgene. It's up to you. That's the beauty of a Nalgene.

It Fits for everybody.

Colin True

00:45:30.510 - 00:46:11.750

Let me just piggyback off of that. I want to get to you. But the thing I was going to ride for Nalgene as well. And the thing I'll. Yes. And with that is.

Nothing speaks adventure more to me than a Nalgene bottle. Like, if anybody's going in to buy a bottle, if they go out and do something outdoors, it's a Nalgene bottle.

And like, and I think right now there's a little bit of. There's been. We have not yet had a new ascendant Top of the Mountain brand. Like that replaced Stanley. We got like Oalas on the rise.

We have a few other brands that are trying to kind of get the title, but, you know, maybe 18 months ago we would have had to just automatically advance Stanley here. To me, it's always about the Nalgene bottle. You can use it in your lifestyle, as a lifestyle. You can use it in the backcountry.

It's tried and it's proven. I'm a Nalgene person as well.

Shawnté Salabert

00:46:11.790 - 00:46:23.776

But I mean, I have an Nalgene that's specifically just for peeing into in the winter. I should specify that's when I'm on a mountain. Not just at home. Not at home. I used the toilet there.

Colin True

00:46:23.928 - 00:46:24.960

What do you think, Owen?

Eoin Comerford

00:46:25.040 - 00:46:33.980

I'm still thinking about the. The penal gene. But anyway, I hope it's a very specific color. It's got some stickers on it.

Shawnté Salabert

00:46:35.560 - 00:46:47.478

It's one of those old Nalgenes. It's like kind of whitish clearish. It has a red cap. It says do not. Yeah, the BPA pee bottle. It says do not drink everywhere in the bottle.

Don't worry, Owen. I don't want you to have nightmares tonight.

Eoin Comerford

00:46:47.624 - 00:48:04.584

All right? Drinkware is a really funny category just because it has been very, very trend driven over the years. Right. I mean, it's like, it's.

It's sort of like history repeats itself every two years. We get a new big, you know, drink category, whether it was, you know, obviously YETI came along and then we had Hydro Flask and then we had Stanley.

And I think the whole Stanley thing has jumped the shark. They continue to kind of try to feed that beast, but it's, it's become a. A kind of a suburban housewife brand in my mind.

So I would knock Stanley out of the mix. Hydro Flask is now in Costco and Target. I would knock them out of the mix. Yeti is Yeti.

And I mean, I don't know how you can't Have a conversation that includes yeti when they're so big in drinkware, in coolers, and every other thing. So I think you have to have Neti. But yeah, Nalajene is kind of the. The steady eddy, you know, when. When. When you go and you play around with these.

With these sexy drinkware brands, Nalgene is always there, you know, plugging away as. As the core. It's never gonna. It's. I don't know. I don't know if it's gonna have its own moment again, but it's. It's the core of the core, if you will.

Shawnté Salabert

00:48:04.672 - 00:48:09.352

I mean, you can drink out of it, you can pee right back into. Does everything.

Colin True

00:48:09.536 - 00:48:30.682

The what's what product. And I mean this sincerely. I don't.

When you say I'm going on an adventure, what the product pick up, think of a product in your mind that speaks to that. It's a Nalgene bottle. And Maybe that's the 1990s outdoorsy person that lives inside of me still. But that's just like.

That is the kind of go to thing, like, I gotta get your Nalgene bottle. And the other thing.

Shawnté Salabert

00:48:30.706 - 00:48:32.714

I'll say I took two of them to Kilimanjaro.

Colin True

00:48:32.842 - 00:48:48.694

There you go. The other thing. Yeti. Yeti is like, kicked especially retail to the curb for the most part. So I'm okay leaving them off this list.

But you're absolutely right, and Justin's right too. They make. I have yeti stuff, and it's great, so it's kind of hard not to discuss them. I have Yeti.

Justin Housman

00:48:48.742 - 00:48:52.262

Does Nalgene make thermoses? They make insulated stuff too.

Colin True

00:48:52.446 - 00:48:53.494

I don't think so.

Shawnté Salabert

00:48:53.582 - 00:48:59.570

They don't need to. They have one product they make really well in different sizes. Everybody loves it.

Colin True

00:49:01.070 - 00:49:05.734

So I've now done yeti yellow. What do we want to do? This is the hardest decision we've had to make so far.

Shawnté Salabert

00:49:05.822 - 00:49:13.974

The thing is, you're calling this category hydration. So when I think about coolers and things like that, I mean, you're kind of stretching. I get where you're going with that.

Colin True

00:49:14.062 - 00:49:14.678

That's different.

Shawnté Salabert

00:49:14.734 - 00:49:30.694

That's Camp Kitchen. To me, that's a different category.

So if you're just talking hydration, you know, you've got the Camelbacks, you've got, you know, water filters, I guess in there, life straw, all that jazz. But really, like, what is the core hydration thing you're thinking of carrying in a store? It's a Nalgene.

Justin Housman

00:49:30.822 - 00:49:32.054

Yeah, that's true.

Colin True

00:49:32.182 - 00:49:34.086

Are we Going Nalgene. We green in it.

Eoin Comerford

00:49:34.158 - 00:49:34.710

Let's do it.

Justin Housman

00:49:34.750 - 00:49:35.718

It sounds like you have to.

Colin True

00:49:35.774 - 00:49:36.410

Yes.

Shawnté Salabert

00:49:36.710 - 00:49:38.730

So happy I won that because I said.

Colin True

00:49:40.550 - 00:50:08.590

All right, last category and definitely the broadest and probably to inspire the most debate here is camp. So I threw three in for debate, but there is a lot to cover. Although I did mention earlier a lot of them are knives.

But Sea to Summit, which I might just make an automatic read, it's almost like, tell me we're not going to do Sea to Summit here. But then gci. So for camp chairs, things like that and Nikwax, because it shows you the. Because it's kind of like another one of those things.

You're gonna have it in your shop.

Shawnté Salabert

00:50:08.750 - 00:50:10.558

But it's not an accessory. It's a Nik.

Colin True

00:50:10.574 - 00:50:11.246

Wax is an accessory.

Shawnté Salabert

00:50:11.278 - 00:50:13.326

It's a cleaning product. It's a cleaning product.

Justin Housman

00:50:13.398 - 00:50:17.454

Yeah, yeah. No, and nobody cares. I mean like it's. It does a good job, but I.

Shawnté Salabert

00:50:17.462 - 00:50:18.750

Mean like, it's not an accessory.

Colin True

00:50:18.830 - 00:50:19.918

Fine. All right.

Justin Housman

00:50:19.974 - 00:50:21.150

I don't have Nikwax in there.

Colin True

00:50:21.190 - 00:50:22.130

Helinox.

Shawnté Salabert

00:50:23.110 - 00:50:24.062

Helinox.

Colin True

00:50:24.126 - 00:50:26.078

Is that. What is it? Hela. Is it Hela or Hela?

Justin Housman

00:50:26.174 - 00:50:27.086

I say Helinox.

Colin True

00:50:27.118 - 00:50:28.014

Helinox.

Eoin Comerford

00:50:28.142 - 00:50:28.810

He.

Colin True

00:50:30.950 - 00:50:44.974

Listen, other thing on the list to kind of get into it, you've got Gerber knives. You have, you know, Eno, Eagles and S Outfitters, Leatherman's on this list. Adventure Medical is on this list.

You know, Katadyne, Victorianox, Ignik, Grail. There's just a ton of. This is too.

Justin Housman

00:50:45.062 - 00:50:50.750

It's too broad. It's a wide. Yeah. I can't compare Leatherman to. To Sea to Summit. I mean, Sea to Summit doesn't make knives.

Shawnté Salabert

00:50:50.830 - 00:50:54.174

Different vibes. Yeah, you could have a knife. You could have like a sharp things category.

Colin True

00:50:54.222 - 00:50:55.070

This is the exercise.

Justin Housman

00:50:55.150 - 00:51:00.870

I'm not going to not have a knife knife. But I mean, I wouldn't. But I should have to choose between a knife or like a camp kitchen.

Colin True

00:51:00.950 - 00:51:02.134

Remember that when we put coast on.

Eoin Comerford

00:51:02.142 - 00:51:13.414

The stuff, we split up nutrition into food versus. Yeah. So I think we. Let's split out non pointy things tools, non pointy things from pointy things. Yeah.

Colin True

00:51:13.462 - 00:51:16.710

Okay, so take out the pointy things on the list. Right.

Justin Housman

00:51:16.750 - 00:51:19.222

I still say for me, it's Sea to Summit all day long.

Shawnté Salabert

00:51:19.246 - 00:51:21.350

To me. Yeah, it is.

Eoin Comerford

00:51:21.390 - 00:51:38.866

I mean, GCI does huge volume, but almost all of it is in one product or one product family, which is their rocker glider chair. I mean, you know, they just kill with that product and they make a lot of other good stuff stuff too. But you Know, it's. It's camp furniture. It's.

It's what it is.

Justin Housman

00:51:39.018 - 00:51:39.426

But.

Eoin Comerford

00:51:39.498 - 00:51:45.922

But as a true accessory brand and a lot of other stuff, too, I think you've got to go see the sandwich.

Shawnté Salabert

00:51:46.066 - 00:51:49.550

Yep, Yep. They do it all. And they do it all pretty well.

Justin Housman

00:51:50.090 - 00:51:58.646

Knives are tough. I mean, I'd probably. We. As we know, Colin, I don't really give a shit about multi tool. Big fan of Gerber. I mean, most of my knives are Gerber.

Colin True

00:51:58.678 - 00:52:01.158

Yeah, but it's. You're gonna carry Leatherman, right? Isn't that what you would like?

Justin Housman

00:52:01.214 - 00:52:15.974

I guess. I don't know. I get. I mean, don't you have multiple things you want to have to.

I don't want to have to carry things just because I feel like they're gonna sell. Like, that's. That. That makes us. It makes the exercise less fun. I mean, I. I don't need a Leatherman, but I need a knife.

Shawnté Salabert

00:52:16.102 - 00:52:18.650

I don't need a knife, but I need a Leatherman.

Justin Housman

00:52:19.150 - 00:52:19.958

For what?

Shawnté Salabert

00:52:20.094 - 00:52:26.006

For all the things I have to do. Do you know what I need to do in my life? What if I need to unscrew something?

Justin Housman

00:52:26.158 - 00:52:29.302

How many times have you done that while backpacking?

Shawnté Salabert

00:52:29.366 - 00:52:33.814

This isn't about my personal habits, Justin. This is about the people and what accessories are right for you.

Justin Housman

00:52:33.902 - 00:52:43.030

Go back and listen to our shows about. About multi tools. People think they need them, but they never really do. You need a knife. That's really what you need. And I would.

I would have Gerberman.

Colin True

00:52:43.110 - 00:52:46.070

Oh, and how many Leathermans did you guys sell at Moose Chop Mountain?

Justin Housman

00:52:46.150 - 00:52:47.126

But that's not the point.

Colin True

00:52:47.198 - 00:52:48.890

I mean, but it matters.

Eoin Comerford

00:52:49.860 - 00:53:01.212

Fair amount. But. But again, the challenge with Leatherman is distribution. Right. It's pretty widely distributed. You know, you get that at a Target. Probably get it.

Get it at a better price elsewhere. Yeah, I mean, really, Benchmade was. Was the Benchmark so good too?

Justin Housman

00:53:01.236 - 00:53:02.060

Benchmarks are great.

Eoin Comerford

00:53:02.100 - 00:53:17.872

Yeah, that. That was. That was the knife brand that really. And Gerber, you know, and sog. And we had a bunch of different knife brands, but.

But Benchmade, I think in terms of, like, a specialty outdoor store would be the one that I would. Would stock before I would stock some of these other ones.

Colin True

00:53:17.936 - 00:53:23.952

Well, if we put coast in, then coast takes care of knives and it does lighting as well. Just saying.

Justin Housman

00:53:24.056 - 00:53:25.216

Yeah, sorry.

Colin True

00:53:25.248 - 00:53:28.128

So pick a knife brand. You guys want to just do Benchmade for the sake of the. The final?

Justin Housman

00:53:28.184 - 00:53:30.496

I'm happy with Benchmade. I like them and Gerber a lot.

Colin True

00:53:30.568 - 00:53:33.568

Yeah, right. Benchmade.

Shawnté Salabert

00:53:33.744 - 00:53:38.656

Although I do have A Leatherman that was etched into. By Mr. Leatherman. What's his name?

Justin Housman

00:53:38.728 - 00:53:41.146

By. By Tom. Tim. I think it's Tim Leather.

Shawnté Salabert

00:53:41.288 - 00:53:42.102

Tim Leatherman.

Justin Housman

00:53:42.166 - 00:53:42.850

I love.

Shawnté Salabert

00:53:43.790 - 00:53:49.050

Yeah, he, he, he etched. He etched to Shantay from Tim into my Leatherman.

Justin Housman

00:53:49.470 - 00:53:53.030

I still cannot believe that's actually someone's last name. That's such a funny thing.

Shawnté Salabert

00:53:53.070 - 00:53:59.078

Mr. Leatherman. It sounds. Sounds dirty. Sorry. Tim Leatherman.

Colin True

00:53:59.254 - 00:54:01.222

Not as dirty as your Nalgene bottle.

Shawnté Salabert

00:54:01.366 - 00:54:07.662

No, it's. Hey, I clean it after every trip. Haven't peed in it in a while. The peeing one.

Colin True

00:54:07.806 - 00:54:23.450

All right, so our final list that we have to choose from to create the top five outdoor accessories list as approved by the Rock fight, we have Sea to Summit, Benchmade, Nalgene, Honey Stinger, Mountain House, Smart Wool, Garmin, Biolite, and Outdoor Research.

Eoin Comerford

00:54:24.870 - 00:54:26.942

You missed the Gooder and Smith as well.

Colin True

00:54:26.966 - 00:54:30.210

Oh, my God, I forgot eyewear. Yeah, Gooder Smith.

Justin Housman

00:54:30.550 - 00:54:31.822

I'm not picking five.

Colin True

00:54:31.926 - 00:54:32.910

We're picking five.

Justin Housman

00:54:33.030 - 00:54:37.544

I'm not picking five. You're going to leave categories out that you have to have.

Colin True

00:54:37.582 - 00:54:37.972

Have.

Justin Housman

00:54:38.076 - 00:54:39.620

5 is an arbitrary number.

Colin True

00:54:39.740 - 00:54:42.160

Yes, and that's the whole point.

Justin Housman

00:54:43.580 - 00:54:51.600

But it makes no sense. I mean, if you're gonna. If you're gonna base your decision on what to stock based on whether it will sell or not, and then at the same time, go.

We're only going to list five things.

Colin True

00:54:53.180 - 00:54:55.364

No. Entering the arena that this was a silly exercise. Yeah.

Justin Housman

00:54:55.372 - 00:54:59.172

But now that I see. Now that I see it all and list it out, it's just like, hey.

Eoin Comerford

00:54:59.236 - 00:55:00.980

You know, these are the rules of the game.

Colin True

00:55:01.020 - 00:55:01.800

Exactly.

Justin Housman

00:55:02.380 - 00:55:05.380

Well, I wouldn't have mean.

Eoin Comerford

00:55:05.420 - 00:55:10.770

Justin, think about when we get to apparel and there can only be 5. Apparel.

Colin True

00:55:11.350 - 00:55:12.206

We don't need food.

Justin Housman

00:55:12.278 - 00:55:13.758

It's gonna be a bloodbath.

Shawnté Salabert

00:55:13.934 - 00:55:15.934

We all need food, but that's fine. Take it off.

Justin Housman

00:55:16.022 - 00:55:19.614

Yeah. You don't need. We don't need Honey Stinker or Mountain House. You can get your food at the.

Shawnté Salabert

00:55:19.622 - 00:55:28.926

Store, at the grocery store. I mean, I think the most well rounded things put outdoor research over there.

You know, it's like, think about the things that have the most variety varieties, you know?

Justin Housman

00:55:28.998 - 00:55:30.638

Yeah, okay.

Colin True

00:55:30.734 - 00:55:33.330

Sea Summit, Smartwell, Outdoor Research, Automatic.

Justin Housman

00:55:34.030 - 00:55:38.886

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shawnté Salabert

00:55:38.998 - 00:55:39.910

Garmin. Yes.

Colin True

00:55:39.990 - 00:55:41.062

No, sunglasses.

Justin Housman

00:55:41.206 - 00:55:43.638

Sunglasses you can get at the. I mean, if you, you can get.

Colin True

00:55:43.694 - 00:55:48.358

You can actually. And I have. Oh, I've got my sunglasses. You're pumping gas. You go pick up a pair of sunglasses.

Justin Housman

00:55:48.534 - 00:55:52.662

The knife one is tough, but you can get. You can kind of get by without it.

Shawnté Salabert

00:55:52.686 - 00:55:53.766

There's whole stores at the mall.

Justin Housman

00:55:53.798 - 00:55:58.806

That sell knives at Sea to Summit might sell knives. Actually, I'm not sure. They may have like a camp knife.

Colin True

00:55:58.918 - 00:56:06.002

Is, is it too choco. Sea to Summit, Smartwell Outdoor Research. Like, yeah, of course you have those guys on the list. You know, is it unoriginal?

Justin Housman

00:56:06.066 - 00:56:09.310

I just. You just fucking said. The whole point is, will it sell or not?

Colin True

00:56:10.490 - 00:56:13.430

No, that was really consideration. It was a consideration.

Shawnté Salabert

00:56:13.770 - 00:56:16.466

Justin. We don't actually have to open a store after this.

Colin True

00:56:16.538 - 00:56:18.242

I think Justin thinks I take all.

Justin Housman

00:56:18.266 - 00:56:19.670

Of these things very literally.

Colin True

00:56:21.050 - 00:56:23.730

Oh, and weigh in, please. What do you think of this five?

Eoin Comerford

00:56:23.850 - 00:56:34.088

I mean, I would probably, you know, I think we've got two sort of lightingy electronic things, you know, Is there another brand that we would bring in?

Justin Housman

00:56:34.144 - 00:56:40.424

I don't think I need Smartwool. I don't think, like, I feel like socks you could get, you can get wool socks at Target. They might not be smart wool, but you can get them there.

Shawnté Salabert

00:56:40.512 - 00:56:41.352

Okay, that's true.

Eoin Comerford

00:56:41.416 - 00:56:55.720

Yeah, but, but if you're going to be a core outdoor story, you got it. Also, I mean, and SmartWorld also obviously gets you base layer and a bunch of other things as well. It also gets you hats.

I mean, I, I, I, Yeah, you're gonna put.

Shawnté Salabert

00:56:55.760 - 00:56:57.640

He just took Garmin off. Put Garmin back over there.

Justin Housman

00:56:57.680 - 00:57:01.592

I would not get get, you know, say, and get. Get. Yeah, there you go.

Colin True

00:57:01.616 - 00:57:01.848

Okay.

Justin Housman

00:57:01.864 - 00:57:02.410

One, two.

Colin True

00:57:02.520 - 00:57:17.958

All right, the voting has closed and we have our lists. The top five outdoor accessories by the Rock Fight says it is sea to Summit, Smartwool, Outdoor Research, Garmin and BioLite.

That's a pretty diverse list, actually.

Justin Housman

00:57:18.014 - 00:57:19.862

I'm actually pretty. Okay. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with that.

Colin True

00:57:19.886 - 00:57:25.670

Ah, we brought him around. Good job, buddy. Shantae's gonna start talking about injinji a little bit more in a second here. So I'm not.

Shawnté Salabert

00:57:25.710 - 00:57:28.050

I would just start talking about bidets. You know me.

Colin True

00:57:28.350 - 00:57:36.236

Yeah, I guess. Last thing. Any sort of Shantae. Any accessory brands. You would wish we had talked about that. We do.

You didn't any braids that you want to throw out there?

Shawnté Salabert

00:57:36.388 - 00:57:39.452

Oh, God, I don't know. That's. Give me a second to think about that.

Colin True

00:57:39.636 - 00:57:40.600

All right.

Eoin Comerford

00:57:41.460 - 00:57:44.700

Do Nalgenes have a bidet accessory? I mean, how does, how does that work?

Shawnté Salabert

00:57:44.740 - 00:57:51.852

No, you just, you just pee straight into it. Oh, you mean as for after. After pee and after pee accessories and after don't.

Eoin Comerford

00:57:51.916 - 00:57:52.540

Yes.

Shawnté Salabert

00:57:52.700 - 00:57:57.308

No. Although, aren't there, there's those little like thinner Nalgenes now that you probably could.

Justin Housman

00:57:57.364 - 00:57:58.796

I just actually could figure it out.

Shawnté Salabert

00:57:58.868 - 00:58:11.006

I recently tried out like four different tiny bidet attachments for water bottles. So if they had the right threading on the small Nalgenes, it's all possible, but you got to be able to squeeze it.

So it'd have to be one of the squeezy ones.

Eoin Comerford

00:58:11.038 - 00:58:12.286

Of course. Yes.

Colin True

00:58:12.478 - 00:59:21.824

All right, everyone, we can wrap it up there. We got our top five list. It means apparel is on the horizon. And like Owen alluded to earlier, it is. That is going to be a bloodbath. I am.

That is going to be an exciting episode to do. Probably take like three hours to get through that one. But come back on Wednesday.

Justin and I are gonna be running through headlines to come out of the outdoor adventure community, including our latest edition of Q and A Corner, which went really well. We got listeners writing in. Can't wait to tell you about that. Also, come back on Friday.

Owen and I are gonna be breaking down the cornucopia of news to come out of the North Face's latest investor day. That'll be on Friday. Be sure to check out Doug Schnitzpahn's podcast Open Container on the Rock Fight Podcast network.

You can listen to it on whatever platform. You're listening to us right now. And and we want your emails, especially about this episode.

Tell us about pee bottles, injinji socks, Justin's knives, whatever you want to tell us. Send your feedback in, guys. Send it to myrockflightmail.com and the Rock Fight's a production of Rock Fight LLC.

Our producer today was not David Karstad. He missed out, but art direction was still provided by Sarah Gensert for Shantae Salibair.

Thanks for joining Shantae, Justin Hausman and Owen Comerford. I'm Colin True. Thanks for listening. And Chris Demaikz is here to take us out and sing the Rock Fight Fight song. We'll see you next time.

Rock Fighters.

Chris DeMakes

00:59:21.872 - 01:00:22.620

Rock Fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock Fight. Rock Fight.

Rock Fight welcome to the Rock Fight where we speak our truth Slay sacred cows and sometimes agree to disagree.

We talk about human powered outdoor activities and big bites of about topics that we find interesting like pop culture music, the latest movie reviews, ideas that aim for the head this is where we speak our truth. This is where we speak our truth. Rock Fight. Rock fight. Rock flight welcome to the Rock Flight Rock fight.

Rock fight welcome to the Rock Flight Rock flight Rock fight Fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight welcome to the Rock Fight Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight.