REI x Outside Festival

As the presenting sponsors of Outside Festival 2025 in Denver, REI and Capital One helped elevate the event into one of the most vibrant and multidimensional weekends in outdoor culture. Attendance surged from 18,000 to 35,000 in its second year, with musical headliners including Khruangbin, Lord Huron, and Sylvan Esso drawing diverse audiences. REI’s presence was deeply integrated across the festival. CEO Mary Beth Laughton opened The Summit industry programming, and I joined a panel discussing the intersection of outdoors, policy, and culture. At Camp Co-op, REI welcomed thousands of members with free tote bags, bracelet-making, activist coloring pages advocating for public lands, and a Path Ahead Ventures Founders’ Market that spotlighted BIPOC-led startups backed by REI. Our Co-op Studios film “The Life We Have” was featured as part of the Mountainfilm-curated screenings. Meanwhile, Capital One extended exclusive benefits to REI Co-op Mastercard® holders—including early access, premium lounges, and discounts—amplifying on-site value and reach. The result was a standout cultural event that solidified Outside Festival as the “SXSW of the outdoors,” with REI and Capital One leading the charge in immersive, mission-aligned brand engagement.

REI x Teton Gravity Research

As part of REI’s commitment to inspiring outdoor participation and celebrating the wild, we partnered with Teton Gravity Research for two consecutive flagship film projects—Rogue Elements (2017) and Far Out (2018). These films represented a creative high point for TGR’s legendary approach to adventure storytelling: Rogue Elements captured the raw power of nature during an untamed winter season, while Far Out pushed the boundaries of global exploration, from the Albanian Alps to the heart of British Columbia.

Each fall film launch with Teton Gravity Research was supported by a nationwide tour spanning over 120 cities, including major metro markets, mountain towns, college campuses, and REI retail locations. These high-energy, community-driven events attracted tens of thousands of attendees annually, combining exclusive early access to the films with live athlete appearances, gear giveaways, and brand storytelling. As a co-sponsor, REI had a highly visible presence on tour—connecting with core outdoor audiences in an authentic setting while driving membership sign-ups, promoting seasonal gear collections, and deepening brand affinity through shared stoke and film-fueled inspiration.

The partnership aligned with REI’s values-driven brand voice and expanded reach across snow, ski, and mountain culture communities. These back-to-back campaigns not only deepened customer engagement but also reinforced REI’s presence as a leader in authentic outdoor media.

REI x Hearst

In 2019, REI Co‑op made a strategic pivot by retiring its traditional catalog and, in collaboration with Hearst Magazines, launched the quarterly print magazine Uncommon Path, debuting in fall and distributed to all 155 REI stores, select newsstands, and through REI's 17 million‑member base—reaching approximately 700,000 readers. This initiative marked REI’s bold move into environmental and adventure journalism.

The first issue featured immersive narratives—from a bike ride through Atlanta led by Civil Bikes founder Nedra Deadwyler, to the U.S.–Mexico border’s sweeping terrain, and phosphorescent marine life in Florida’s interstate waterways—and included gear reviews, product recommendations, and advocacy pieces connecting people to land and culture. By pairing branded content with purpose-led storytelling, the magazine reinforced REI’s mission: to awaken a lifelong love of the outdoors through meaningful, equitable journalism.

As part of the launch, REI also committed $100,000 in funding through NewsMatch to support local nonprofit newsrooms covering environmental issues across the United States—a move that underscored the magazine’s broader impact beyond storytelling. The project positioned REI not only as a retailer, but as a media pioneer and civic-minded brand—demonstrating how a retail co‑op can meaningfully engage in environmental journalism and community advocacy.