Meet the Online Retailer Supporting Small Brands
Where you spend your money matters. Here's why we support Garage Grown's mission and philosophy
Garage Grown Gear founder Amy Hatch out backpacking.
It's a great time to be an ultralight backpacker or thru-hiker. With more cottage brands than ever before, in nearly the entire spectrum of gear (some brands even create their own niche), the choices are seemingly endless.
But where should you buy this gear? Directly from the manufacturer's website? Or from an online retailer?
Treeline Review co-founder Naomi Hudetz interviewed online retailer Garage Grown Gear's co-founder Lloyd Vogel to get a better understanding of how he works behind the scenes, and what it means for cottage brands.
We think it's important that you, the consumer, know about all of this too. Here's what I learned in my interview with Garage Grown Gear co-founder Lloyd Vogel.
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What is a cottage outdoor gear company?
Before we get to the details, we should talk about what, exactly, a "cottage company" is. Not surprisingly, this is also debatable. But, in general, it's a small company that manufactures their gear in-house, and does most of the other functions of business themselves, as well (such as warehousing, shipping, etc.). Think founders sewing backpacks in their garage (hence the name, Garage Grown Gear).
Not all brands on Garage Grown's website are cottage manufacturers, but the vast majority are to stay in line with their mission.
why garage grown gear is great for small companies
1. centering small companies
Garage Grown's mission is to support and elevate ultralight cottage brands. It's why they exist. At a minimum, every brand has a landing page on Garage Grown Gear’s website. Many brands are also featured in Garage Grown's blog, where they go much more in-depth about the brand's startup story and gear philosophy. Garage Grown also features brands in their newsletters, reaching a far wider audience than most of these brands can on their own.
2. a place where small companies can sell
Getting visibility is often the most challenging part of a new cottage company, and Garage Grown gives them instant visibility by stocking their products, featuring them in newsletters, and giving each company a landing page on Garage Grown's website. And Garage Grown's audience is the exact audience that cottage manufacturers are trying to reach.
3. microloan program for small businesses
If you've ever seen an episode of Shark Tank, you'll know that getting a large order is only half the battle. What's harder is finding the capital to actually manufacture the product.
So, if Garage Grown wants to order 300 hip packs and the cottage brand says, "yeah, but we don't have the money to produce 300 hip packs," Garage Grown has been known to front the company the money to manufacture them. For a small cottage company, this can be life-changing.
Garage Grown Gear CEO Lloyd Vogel is out kayaking.
4. Garage Grown doesn't cut money-losing brands
This one may be hard to believe, but Garage Grown doesn't stop selling a brand – even if Garage Grown is losing money on every sale. Garage Grown believes in their mission so much that they're willing to keep selling a cottage brand to continue to provide the visibility that these brands need to survive.
5. Garage Grown doesn’t undersell small companies
There's no race to the bottom, price-wise, with Garage Grown. They don't try to outcompete the brands on price. You may be thinking, “That sucks for me because I want cheaper gear,” — but we're talking about very small companies with very thin margins. Ultimately, nobody wins with price wars.
6. Garage Grown doesn't have their own branded gear
Some retailers have started manufacturing their own house-branded gear that directly competes with the manufacturers that the retailer is also selling. It's usually cheaper gear — both price-wise and quality-wise — and can have devastating consequences for the brand.
To make it even worse, the online retailer can use their platform to place their own products above the competing manufacturers, even if the house-branded gear has lower ratings. Lower placement in the search results leads to lower sales.
Garage Grown doesn't do any of that.
7. Garage Grown acts as a shipping manager for small brands
Some of the Garage Grown team packing boxes at their headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota.
From the cottage company's point of view, shipping 300 ultralight backpacks to Garage Grown is a lot easier than sending out 300 ultralight backpacks to 300 people . . . like, orders of magnitude easier. Once Garage Grown has them, it's their job to ship them out to 300 people. That means huge time savings for small businesses.
8. Garage Grown acts as a customer service manager
For brands that don't handle warranty claims directly, Garage Grown will handle the claim on your behalf. And they will respond to your request in one business day. So again, they're taking a huge burden off the shoulders of the cottage company – dealing with curious or (potentially) angry customers.
9. small business founders get enough business they can quit their day jobs
Most cottage gear founders also have a day job while their brand is still a side hustle. By providing all of the above for cottage brands, many cottage business founders can accelerate that timeline and quit their day job much, much sooner than they thought.
10. They're real people creating real jobs
Founders Amy Hatch and Lloyd Vogel each started their own business with a similar goal of elevating cottage brands. They connected when Lloyd won a giveaway that Amy was running, met later in person at Outdoor Retailer, and decided to merge their brands in 2017.
Today Garage Grown has 22 (22!) employees, sells 200+ brands, and ships worldwide. They're constantly seeking out new brands to add and take suggestions for new brands from anyone (you can email them directly at help@garagegrowngear.com).
Lloyd Vogel (left) and Amy Hatch (right) at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market looking for ultralight gear brands.
why garage grown gear is Great for people buying backpacking gear
This is all great for the cottage industry, but what's in it for you as a consumer, gear aficionado, and supporter of small businesses?
1. You know the product is in stock
With some smaller manufacturers, it can be difficult to know when a product will ship. For example, I've had the experience of getting all the way to checkout before realizing that the product won't ship for 12 weeks. In contrast, Garage Grown only has in-stock items on their website. You know you'll get it before that last-minute trip.
2. customers can avoid long lead times
Garage Grown Gear has products that often have long lead times on the manufacturer's website. You can't get a fully custom backpack (e.g., LiteAF), but you can get a pack that the manufacturer knows that the majority of people will order. Is 90% of what you want good enough? Sometimes it is for me, especially if I really need it now.
3. You can discover new brands
It would be nearly impossible for you as an individual to find over 200 cottage brands online to compare and contrast. Looking for a new UL backpack? You can browse them at Garage Grown Gear, read reviews, and discover new brands — all in one place.
4. customers can save on shipping
With free shipping over $50, you can order from multiple brands and avoid paying shipping on multiple separate orders. Less packaging, too!
About the Author
Naomi Hudetz thru-hiking the Great Divide Trail in Canada
Naomi Hudetz is a thru-hiker and co-founder of Treeline Review. Naomi left her corporate career to pursue her passion for the outdoors. She received the Triple Crown award for completing the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trail and has hiked numerous other distance routes, including the Great Divide Trail across the Canadian Rockies (twice), Grand Enchantment Trail, Pacific Northwest Trail, the Arizona Trail, the Mogollon Rim Trail, (most of) the Idaho Centennial Trail, the first known thru-hike of the Blue Mountains Trail, Ouachita Trail, a traverse across Iceland, the John Muir Trail, Lowest to Highest, Corvallis-to-the-Sea Trail, Trans San Diego County Trail, and the Oregon Desert Trail.
She's also started bikepacking, including the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
She is the former Treasurer of the American Long Distance Hiking Association-West and is based in White Salmon, Washington.
You can read Naomi’s Treeline Review stories on her author page.
