Inside Hikerkind, the Outdoor Brand That Wants You To Look Hot While Hiking

With that now-or-never approach, they launched Hikerkind, a brand that would be dedicated to making stylish women's outdoor apparel. They developed their first product in six months. Their first piece—a midlayer made from Polartec Power Air—looked and felt different than anything else on the market in 2021. Made with 92% recycled material, it’s boxy, but the cinch at the waist allows for a more tailored silhouette. The Polartec Power Air fiber reduces microfiber shedding and helps retain heat efficiently with its small, waffle-like pouches. A three-button placket goes where a zipper would, serving both fashion and function with simpler repairability. The kangaroo pocket blends into the wrinkle-resistant fabric, with a smaller phone pocket built in for more security.

Their risk paid off immediately. The Midlayer 01 won an Apex Innovation Award that year, was named one of the best fleeces by Outside Magazine, and caught the attention of Vogue. For a brand with one product and zero industry experience, Levy and Rizzo captured outsized attention, and it came from both the outdoor and fashion spheres.

Suddenly, it felt like all eyes were on Hikerkind. But with one product, how could they call themselves an outdoor brand? That’s where the Hike Club came in.

The author testing Hikerkind gear in Switzerland

Building Community First

Hikerkind launched Hike Club the same month they released the Midlayer 01. Rizzo and Levy headed up the New York chapter, leading four transit-accessible—crucial for city hikers who don't own cars—women-only hikes per month. One of Levy’s favorite memories from the early years of Hike Club was a hike up Fishkill Ridge with a small group of women who were all dedicated to challenging themselves on the tough route.

"It was so clear that women were really thirsty and excited about the opportunity to connect with each other in nature, and they really wanted to do that hiking," Levy said.

Rizzo and Levy were set on using Hikerkind to build community but they tested different formats for doing that; book clubs, urban hikes, retailer partnerships. But at the end of the day, the people just wanted to hike. And it was on those first few trips that Levy and Rizzo built a dedicated community of women hikers who shared what they were looking for in the industry, providing invaluable insight into how Hikerkind could evolve.

Now, Hike Club has gone national, and ambassadors in Asheville, Bend, San Diego, and Tucson head chapters and host their own communities using Hikerkind's playbook, leading one group hike per month from May through October. Amy Jensen, who started leading hikes in Bend this year, reached out to Hikerkind through a form on the brand's website specifically because she wanted to start a hike club in her area.

Courtesy Hikerkind

"I wanted to start a hike club in Bend to introduce people to a cool brand and make more friends," Jensen said. "I've been a fan of Hikerkind for a while now, just following along on Instagram and saw how cool their hike clubs looked and how unique their gear was."

The club has become a safe environment to test gear, do dry runs with full backpacking setups, meet hiking partners, and build confidence. Ambassadors also get perks like taking part in Hikerkind product testing and monthly check-in calls.

"It's such a great way to build community with like-minded women in the outdoor space," Jensen said. "Outdoor apparel is expensive, so it might as well look really cute—I love that Hikerkind does it so well."

The Midlayer 01 was released in June 2021, and by September, Hikerkind had sold 75% of their stock. Rizzo and Levy attribute a lot of that success to their simultaneous effort to invest in community. This season, Hike Club operated 19 chapters across the country.

Courtesy Hikerkind

The Very Vigorous Velcro Test

Although the product line has expanded rapidly, Hikerkind is still as dedicated to creating beautiful technical clothing as they were with the now-beloved Midlayer 01. Walk into Hikerkind's New York studio and you might witness their informal durability assessment: taking Velcro to fabric samples and going to town on them. It's not scientific but it's immediate, and it addresses a common way a piece of clothing might get ruined out on the trail. Can the material handle getting destroyed by the most aggressive closures in your pack? Their Sportwool rib merino fabric passes without a scratch.

This obsessive attention to technical performance runs through everything Hikerkind makes, even pieces that look deceptively simple.

Take their ribbed merino long sleeve, which reads as a basic layering tee until you understand what went into it. The fabric is a merino-poly-elastane blend that scores four out of five on the Martindale abrasion test, where textiles are rubbed against an abrasive surface to test their durability. The merino provides thermoregulation and antimicrobial properties, while the poly delivers the durability Rizzo wanted after watching her other merino pieces wear through at backpack contact points, and elastane keeps it from looking tired after repeated washes. The sleeves run slightly longer than your wrist because it's more elegant and layers better without fighting against other cuffs. There's also a double-construction collar that sets it apart from fast-fashion basics.

Attending to all of these little details are part of Hikerkind’s design philosophy, and they’re what elevate the products beyond hiking basics. Rizzo and Levy emphasize that they want every new piece of gear Hikerkind makes to look just as good on the streets as on the trails. They see style as a function, just like breathability or heat-retention.

Courtesy Hikerkind

Is Hikerkind Gear Technical Enough?

Despite the behind-the-scenes technical rigor and the sales success, Hikerkind has its critics. They question whether Hikerkind is really technical enough for serious hiking, relegating the brand to more approachable day hikes and cabin getaways. Levy pushes back; according to her, Hikerkind’s place is the summit as well as at base camps.

"I think there's this misconception that if you're wearing beautiful clothing, there's no way that they could be technically sound or perform as they're supposed to," Levy said. “Every single piece that we create is so highly considered and technical. We’re both backpackers, and we know what it’s like to be out on the trail for seven days at a time, carrying all of our food and water and shelter, and needing to make sure that what we’re wearing on our back is going to perform.”

The skepticism stems from a lingering belief that style and functionality are mutually exclusive, suggesting that caring about aesthetics somehow diminishes one's ability to reach certain peaks or understand technical specifications. It assumes that design must sacrifice aesthetics or performance to achieve the other, a false binary that Hikerkind actively challenges with every product launch.

“Call it what you want, but this gear is lasting thousands of miles,” said Rizzo.” There’s just a big disconnect between the prescriptive archetype of what a hiker or backpacker should look like and what they should wear, and who's actually out there and what they're actually wearing and wanting to wear.

What's Next for Hikerkind

Since launching in 2021, Hikerkind has evolved from two people to a team of five employees. The company has shifted production from New York to factories in Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Lithuania. It's also moved beyond a direct-to-consumer model into wholesale partnerships with retailers like Backcountry, EVO, an Westerlind, recognizing their clothes resonate most when people can touch them and try them on in person. At Hikerkind HQ in New York, customers can even book in-studio shopping appointments to experience the products themselves before buying them.

Levy and Rizzo have seen strong responses from overseas customers who want what the brand offers, and they're planning an international expansion to meet that demand.

In only four years, Hikerkind’s collection has grown to encompass nearly every piece of clothing a hiker needs, from the Packable Down Puffer and Trail Socks to the fan favorite 8-Pocket Pant, and even accessories like their Scrap Scrunchie. Next on the to-do list is a 100% waterproof rain shell.

Hikerkind x KEEN Targhee IV, released March 2025

Hikerkind is also expanding what they’ve unofficially called their Zero Day collection—pieces for the slower days, for hanging around a campsite, and for travel. These include cozy pieces like the Cotton Jogger 01 and the Cotton Pullover 01. They've collaborated successfully with Keen on a hiking boot and the ultralight backpack company Gossamer Gear on bags, testing new categories before potentially launching their own versions.

The ultimate goal remains what it's been since the start: outfit a woman with everything she needs and nothing more. Provide value, not just volume. And make it all look good.

Why Hikerkind Works

When I first heard about Hikerkind a little more than a year ago—before I knew what the brand was all about—I admit I was skeptical. Their pieces were cute, but another fashion-adjacent outdoor brand repackaging Gorpcore aesthetics without paying attention to performance seemed like exactly what we didn't need. Taking their pieces on the trails near Switzerland’s Mount Pilatus and Lake Gelmer sold me. I was impressed by little details like the internal gaiter system in the Kick Flare Trousers and the cinchable hem of the Midlayer 01. Of course, the constant compliments I got on the Packable Windbreaker didn't hurt either, and I found the pieces translated effortlessly from the trails to my time back in town.

What makes Hikerkind work is that they're not fashion people playing at outdoor gear, or an outdoor brand trying to add fashion as an afterthought to sync up with trends. Levy and Rizzo genuinely exist in both worlds, and their products reflect that—as do testimonials from women who have put the gear to its intended use. Their Ultralight Trail Dress has been on all three major U.S. long-distance trails—the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide—and a customer recently messaged them saying it was the only piece of gear she didn't swap out during her entire thru-hike. Even on trails built to humble hikers, Hikerkind is proving that gear can perform beautifully without compromising aesthetics.