I think the outdoor world takes itself a little too seriously. I understand why. There is something really cool about seeing people climb huge mountains, run ridiculous distances, ski down things that barely look skiable, or spend days in the backcountry. I love that side of the outdoors. I like doing hard things, and some of my best memories have come from pushing myself much farther than I thought I could go.
But I don't think the hard part is really the point. We do these things because there is something deeply fun and fulfilling about them. You spend hours climbing a mountain, your legs hurt, you're sweaty, someone is complaining, and then you get to the top and somehow want to do it all over again. Half the time, the things that go wrong become the stories you keep telling. I don't want TRAKK to take away from how impressive these things are. I want it to remind people why we wanted to do them in the first place.
Adventure also doesn't have to mean climbing a mountain. I think you can find it almost anywhere if you're looking for it. It can be going somewhere new after work, taking a trail you've never been down, jumping in a lake, camping with your friends or just choosing to spend a little more of your life outside. Sometimes the best adventures start really close to home. There is a lot of life happening around us all the time, and I think we get more out of it when we actually go and take part in it.
That is a big part of what I want TRAKK to stand for. I want to build a serious outdoor brand without giving it such a serious personality. The gear should be able to handle hard use. I want people to trust it on long days, big trips and the things they have trained months to do. But I also want it to bring some joy with it. Outdoor gear doesn't have to look or feel cold and serious just because it performs well.
That brings me to socks. Socks are probably one of the most basic pieces of outdoor gear you can buy, but they have the power to make or break your experience. When your socks are doing their job, you barely think about them. When something is wrong, it can be all you think about. A blister, a wet foot or one tiny rock in your shoe can get very annoying very quickly. I wanted to make socks that people could put on and trust to do their job, whether they were heading out for an hour or doing something that would test them all day.
I also wanted them to mean something. The first TRAKK design was based on a map of Elk Island National Park, just outside Edmonton. Since then, I've made designs inspired by mountains and the northern lights. From the beginning, I loved the idea of being able to take a small piece of a place with you when you leave. Instead of making another plain hiking sock, I wanted the socks themselves to carry some of the places and things that make us want to go outside in the first place.
My hope is that, over time, TRAKK becomes the kind of brand you see on people doing some pretty wild things. I want someone to see an endurance athlete wearing TRAKK through something brutal and think, if those socks can handle that, they'll definitely handle what I'm doing this weekend. At the same time, I never want TRAKK to make the person walking around their neighbourhood feel like what they're doing isn't enough. Maybe that walk turns into a hike, which turns into a bigger hike, which turns into something they never thought they'd be the kind of person to do. Or maybe they just really like their walk. That's good too.
Then there is Jack. TRAKK was inspired in part by my orange cat, which is where the slogan Land on your feet first came from. The longer I've worked on the TRAKK, though, the more fitting it has become. Jack commits fully to pretty much everything he does. He is curious, stubborn and very hard to discourage. He doesn't spend much time wondering whether he should do something or whether he'll be good at it. He just goes for it, sometimes with mixed results, and then tries again.
There is definitely something worth taking from that. Go somewhere new. Try the thing you aren't sure you can do. Push yourself sometimes. Get dirty, get tired, laugh at yourself when things go wrong and pay attention to how lucky you are to be there. Do the hard things because there is joy in finding out what you're capable of, not because you need to prove anything.
That's the kind of outdoor brand I want TRAKK to become. Gear that you can trust when you're doing something hard, but a brand that never forgets that being outside is supposed to add something good to your life.
Whatever you decide to do with it, land on your feet.