Small outdoor brands are often the industry’s catalysts for innovation, pushing new ideas, challenging conventions and keeping larger players on their toes. They also tend to have a more direct and authentic connection with their communities and use their voices in more meaningful ways.
“There are so many layers to the importance of small brands in this industry,” said Cassie Abel, founder of Wild Rye, the women’s technical outdoor apparel brand based in Sun Valley, Idaho.
However, the Trump administration’s trade policies are muting those voices. Abel emphasized how higher tariffs have had “huge implications” on small outdoor brands, especially businesses without a global distribution channel or the ability to pivot their supply chain. Though her company was “financially sound” before Liberation Day in 2025, she said massive budget cuts are coming to “climb our way out of this situation.” The recent tariff refund check she received may provide some short-term relief, but it does little to reverse the long-term damage tariffs have inflicted on her business.
On top of that, Abel pointed out how the largest outdoor retailers are leaning into lifestyle brands over core outdoor brands as their open to buy shrinks because product prices are higher. “The first to get trimmed are the small brands that don’t have as much history with the retailers,” she said. “It’s pretty devastating for small brands.”
The impact of ongoing tariff threats and legal uncertainty was a major topic of discussion at Switchback, the B2B trade show and educational event dedicated to the outdoor recreation industry held this week in New Orleans.
During the event, the Outdoor Industry Association outlined how its Trade Advisory Council, alongside member businesses, are advocating for fair trade policies and submitting comments regarding tariffs, exclusions and trade omissions.
Megan Costello, vice president of trade and customs policy at Sorini Strategic Advisors, took the argument a step further, saying many of the Trump administration’s trade decisions reflect a broader misunderstanding of how supply chains operate, and the role outdoor products play in society.
“They lack the understanding of how unique our products are, and how our products have bigger purpose than just keeping us able to walk around not naked all day,” she said. “Getting outside is mental health, exercise, doing great for the environment, and that’s what we try to convey every single time [we’re] in a meeting on Capitol Hill, or talking with the administration, and why we say that our products should not have tariffs on it.”
The panelists’ frustration with the Trump administration was evident throughout the discussion. Costello described the past year and a half as a relentless cycle of pain and chaos. Emily Vedaa, Columbia Sportswear director, global customs and trade, said the instability has made it impossible for the Portland-based brand to plan next month, never mind long-term strategic planning. She added how the company now has an internal team channel called the Customs Hotline to educate its cross-functional partners on what the latest policy change means for them.
Regarding the United States’ proposal for new tariffs based on its Section 301 forced labor investigation, Vedaa said Columbia is participating in the Outdoor Industry Association’s advocacy efforts through a deliberate and strategic approach. Rather than submitting broad requests alongside the hundreds of thousands of comments and omission filings, the company is focusing on specific tariff codes and providing detailed responses. While many organizations simply upload spreadsheets, Columbia has completed the questionnaire in advance and is carefully curating the information it submits to the comments portal to ensure its requests receive meaningful consideration.
“You can’t expect any omissions if you don’t try, and the one thing about D.C. is they live in a bubble,” Costello said, adding how the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) only knows what it’s made aware of by companies and business owners. “We can’t be upset if a reaction happens and we did not try. Unless we coordinate and correlate all our voices together, we have no chance.”
Though Congress holds the authority to regulate trade policy and levy tariffs, Vedaa said the current House of Representatives has “decided to cede that power to some degree.” However, she pointed out that 2026 is a midterm year and representatives are tired of hearing grievances from their constituents of every industry. She described them as “at a breaking point” and while most are not expressing their frustrations with the administration’s trade decisions publicly, she said “they’re pretty outspoken when you can meet them face to face.”
And just as the outdoor industry has found success through grassroots efforts to protect the environment and local communities, Abel said business owners should turn to letter-writing campaigns. Despite it being time-consuming and intimidating, she recalled how a letter she sent to U.S. Congressman Mike Simpson led to meetings last year with the head of the Senate Finance Committee, giving her an opportunity to explain the hardships tariffs are placing on her business.
The anecdotes shared in these meetings are becoming part of politicians’ narratives. Kent Ebersole, Outdoor Industry Association’s president, pointed to a recent meeting with the Office of the USTR, where representatives from Keen described how tariffs are hurting even companies that manufacture in the U.S. Because many critical components are not available from domestic suppliers, they explained, rising tariffs have dramatically increased their production costs.
“If we don’t show up, if we don’t tell our stories, they don’t have any grounds to stand on. They don’t know what the issues are, and so I would highly encourage anyone who is impacted by this to write a letter, make a phone call… because those are the things that are moving the needle,” Abel said.
