Recycled gear and sustainability weren’t a priority in the outdoor industry when Bill Gamber and Len Zanni started Big Agnes in 2001.
Although Bill lived off the grid—and still does—in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where Big Agnes is headquartered, he wasn’t thinking about sustainability as a business model.
“We started the company to make better camp gear,” he says.
Big Agnes began by selling three sleeping bags and one sleeping pad using its revolutionary sleep system that keeps sleeping bags from sliding off pads. Now celebrating its 20th year “in the dirt,” as Big Agnes likes to say, the company has 750 unique SKU’s across a broad range of products.
It wasn’t until roughly 2009 that Big Agnes began thinking about gear made from recycled materials, and came out with the Salt Creek tent and Skinny Fish and Ripple Creek sleeping bags. Although the Salt Creek won a Backpacker Editors’ Choice 2009 Green Award, consumer response was not great.
“It sort of looked like an opaque water jug,” Len says of the tent.
The gear didn’t catch on for a variety of reasons.
Recycled fabrics were not as good as virgin fabrics, Bill says, and recycled gear was more expensive when the tent and sleeping bags launched.
“Sometimes I think we were just a little ahead of consumer demand,” Len says.
But Big Agnes pushed suppliers to improve their recycled fabrics and other materials, and now the company has a broad range of recycled gear made by suppliers that follow sustainable manufacturing practices.
The company also suggests ways to recycle old gear, and gives a discount on purchases to people who show how they upcycled their old gear.
How does Big Agnes come up with its ideas for sustainable gear?
Their roughly 70 staff, from warehouse workers to accounting, play in the backcountry and come back with suggestions on how to make products better or more sustainable.
One thing Big Agnes doesn’t do is build off gear made by other companies.
“That’s the authentic part of Big Agnes,” Bill says. “When we introduce a product it comes from the ground up.”
Big Agnes also has a product development team called Skinny Fish, which Len says is a tongue in cheek takeoff on the Skinny Fish sleeping bag.
In 2021 Big Agnes began using solution-dyed fabrics in some of its tents, reducing water consumption by 50% and energy consumption by 80% during manufacturing. The tents also use 80% fewer chemicals.
The new TwisterCane BioFoam closed-cell sleeping pad is made from sugarcane biomass in a process that removes carbon from the atmosphere.
The idea for using sugarcane came from an employee who noticed it was being used for foam soles in sandals.
The Re-Routt collection includes gear made from recycled fabrics, fills, and hardware, and uses environmentally sensitive manufacturing practices.
Sustainability also spreads to Big Agnes’s corporate headquarters and warranty and repair facility in Steamboat Springs, which are powered by the Yampa Valley Electrical Association Green Choice 100% renewable energy offset program. The Salt Lake City, Utah, distribution center runs on 100% renewable energy as well.
Big Agnes has grown a lot since 2001, and though its main business remains in North America, it is selling gear worldwide—Russia, Europe, Japan, and Korea to name a few countries.
But both Bill and Len say the company is small enough to run quickly with new ideas and adapt to a changing market.
Big Agnes is also a big supporter of conservation, especially local conservation efforts, Len says.
Workers have adopted a section of the Continental Divide Trail, which runs near Steamboat Springs.
And a portion of sales from its Nature Print Chair Collection, introduced in 2021 as part of its furniture line, will go to support the Yampa River Fund and the Continental Divide Trail Coalition.
So what lies ahead for Big Agnes?
They’re always looking for new ways to do things, Bill says, and in 2022 Big Agnes will introduce a 3N1 sleeping bag series consisting of two bags that can be used together or alone for different weights and temperatures.
Big Agnes is also coming out with new family camping tents, an expanded line of bikepacking tents, and a new sleeping pad.
“We introduce new products in almost all of our categories each year,” Bill says.
And a new product for 2022, Len says without elaborating, will be in a category of gear that Big Agnes currently doesn’t make.
Photos courtesy of Big Agnes