billion; that’s 2% to 4% of the state’s GDP.” And it’s doing better in Oregon than most of the rest of the country: While the national outdoor gear and apparel sector has seen a 9.1% decline over the past 10 years, Oregon’s sector grew by 12.3%. The splashiest examples of Oregon’s outdoor industry are titans like Nike, Adidas, and Columbia Sportswear, but smaller companies abound and are an important part of the industry ecosystem. They fuel the stoke with innovation and draw talent to the area, which, in turn, benefits the larger companies. According to 2023 data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Oregon Employment Department, more than 86% of the 711 businesses in Oregon’s outdoor sector have 20 employees or fewer. (The 10 largest outdoor gear and apparel companies—big players like Nike, Columbia and Pendleton, which are captured in the business-services-targeted sector, not the outdoor gear and apparel industry sector — are excluded from this data set.) Hood River sustains a particularly robust cluster of niche small-batch manufacturing companies. “Within walking distance, there are five outdoor-gear businesses with sewing machines, like Alpine Sea Co.,” John says. “It’s cool that I can ask a neighbor to borrow a Serger or to laser-cut something for me. This community was unexpected.” In 1997 the Welds lived in Confluence, Penn., a small town in northern Appalachia near the Youghiogheny River, the hub of the mid-Atlantic whitewater- kayaking scene. John was a kayak guide, and Kara was a decorated professional kayaker, who worked at a daycare to make ends meet. They were tired of “living the dream” and wanted financial stability. “I was tinkering around on a sewing machine and made board shorts for a friend,” John says. “My buddy, who owned a store, said he could easily sell more of them. Soon after, I bought a bunch of industrial sewing Immersion Research employee Ofelia Gandara sews a short-run product. Immersion Research’s retail store in downtown Hood River 21
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