Shopping All the Way to the Woods and how capitalism ruins everything

I’ve always loved understanding how outdoor gear is made including material choices, workmanship, and how it comes to market. I’ve started realizing over the last several years that the outdoor industry has a tendency to say one thing and then do another. Additionally, I’ve always been perplexed by the way outdoor products are marketed. This idea of who or who is not an outdoor person has always made me feel hypocritical. How does one decide that? It often feels like that is dictated by who gets portrayed in the marketing of outdoor goods. As you can guess, it’s often thin, white folks. My experience directly contradicts that which is why I wanted to learn more. On top of that, outdoor marketing often shows people who are breaking records, summiting mountains, and conquering. I would say this tends to be a bit more apparent with marketing towards men. After learning about outdoor participation trends and who makes up the outdoor recreation base, it solidified my choice to read this book especially to understand why there is this continual pattern of marketing to a core participant who makes up only 5% of the market. (OIA, 2025). 

Shopping All The Way To The Woods tracks the outdoor industry's birth which is deeply rooted in contradiction, cultural appropriation, racism, white supremacy, capitalism, and consumerism. In the very first chapter, we learn about the origins of Buckskin. Buckskin was a durable leather that was made by Indigenous women. It was a highly sought after material that many non Indigenous people wore to reflect their cultural status as outdoorsmen. Buckskin was appropriated from Indigenous groups and often adorned with additional design work that reflected more of a caricature than the actual reality of the role it served. It let white people dress up as an “Indians”. The contradiction here was that if an Indigenous person wore buckskin, they were often seen as savages or uncultured but if a white man wore it then that proved their expertise in the outdoors (pp. 53). The next stop we take is the exploration of how city-based outdoor stores became the center of knowledge about the outdoors. Abercrombie and Fitch, as well as several others, were some of the first few outdoor stores that started opening up in urban areas of the United States. The outdoor industry also began to craft a narrative about what the consumer bought today and how that connected to the past. The gear existed in this liminal space between the new and the old (pp. 103). This opened the door for the expansion of outdoor gear into the mass market. The outdoor industry marketed consumption as freedom and people ate it up. Consumers could build their identities based on what they bought. The path between nature and the outdoor store was set (pp. 111).

During World War II, there was a large connection between the outdoor industry and the US Military. In fact, many outdoor companies started producing and manufacturing goods for the government. Quite a bit of research and development was put into creating clothing, tents, and other gear for troops deployed overseas. Once the war was over, much of this gear was either disposed of or sold off for eventual resale in surplus stores. An entire market popped up that was strictly focused on the sale of military surplus and it began to take off in the United States as people were looking for bargains and cheaper outdoor gear. It was often in disrepair, missing pieces, or may have had bullet holes. Over time the surplus market started to bust and many stores eventually closed. During this time, a certain trend began to take hold of American consumers. They began to link certain products or brands with belonging to that particular subgroup (pp. 184). Specialty retailer and gear makers started to pop up emphasizing the craft of their products which was in direct opposition to the cheap, mass produced outdoor goods that were flooding America.

The next wave of change was framed as providing more accessibility and access to the outdoors than had previously existed but it really just supercharged mass consumption of outdoor goods. Large outdoor retailers began to pop up and expand across the US. In fact, the REI General Manager at the time, Jim Whitaker saw this trend as positive (pp. 201). Over time many companies began to see the contradictions they were running into. Rather than address them directly, they offloaded responsibility to the consumer. Apparently the solution to a problem they created was conservation and activism rather than reducing the amount of goods sold or materials used. The creation of Gore-Tex was yet another example of how the outdoor industry wanted to control and uphold the narrative of who recreates outside. Gross (2024) mentions, that it was extremely expensive and was about "creating a sense of status, exclusivity, and performance" (pp. 251). The last chapter covers the continued contradictions of the outdoor industry selling an outdoors that many consumers view as an identity rather than something they do. Heritage started to make a come back again even when the historical facts did not agree. The return to heritage reinforced that the outdoor industry views the outdoors as something white men do and completely ignored women as well as nonwhite people. This was further analyzed during the period of the 90s where Black and Brown people started to wear Timberland and North Face puffy jackets after many Black rappers started to do the same. It became part of the culture and rather than embrace this change Timberland completely ignored this demographic. In fact, they started to distance themselves and felt that it was a departure from their blue-collar roots. Regardless, Timberland boots and North Face jackets became extremely fashionable. Unfortunately, another long standing trope made its way back. As Gross (2024) mentions, it was the trope that anyone other than white people wearing outdoor clothes were “parodying or appropriating outdoor culture” (pp. 301).

In the epilogue, Gross again questions the contradictions that persist in the outdoor industry. She recognized that sustainability initiatives are helpful but doesn’t seem convinced that additional consumption is the answer. She additionally recognizes the role that outdoor companies play in the narrative of who recreates outside. She highlights examples like REI’s partnership with Outdoor Afro that exemplify what can happen when outdoor companies give underrepresented communities the mic so to speak.

While I enjoyed the book, I felt that there were several things that would have made the book a bit more impactful. I appreciated the exhaustive list of examples but felt that after a bit it started to read like a dissertation. I’m not the biggest fan of certain types of nonfiction admittedly but I would have loved to have it been maybe 20-30 pages less. I always think about it in the sense that I love a good 90 minute movie and not every movie needs to be two plus hours. Gross did share quite a bit about the Women who made up the backbone of the industry but I didn’t get to know anything about her experience or connection to the topic. As she mentions, the history of the outdoor industry has been so focused on the white male experience but this could have been an opportunity to tell us more about her experiences and about the famous Women whose story we never hear about. Another thing that felt underdeveloped was the BIPOC experience or history. I understand that Gross might have felt uncomfortable or that it wasn’t their place to talk about but I can’t think of very many BIPOC people with her knowledge that would be able to share such deep insights. This book also felt like it was targeted towards a specific demographic of people that I imagine are more liberal, progressive and likely white who may support social justice and other related issues but do not have a deeper understanding of them. This isn't meant to be negative and I see it as a deliberate choice.

References:

Outdoor Industry Association. (2025). OUTDOOR CONSUMER TRENDS 2025: INSIGHTS FOR A CHANGING MARKET.https://canvas.colorado.edu/courses/134117/pages/module-2-part-2-the-ore-consumer?module_item_id=6916421

Gross, R. S. (2024). Shopping all the way to the woods: How the outdoor industry sold nature to America. Yale University Press.