Outdoor Gear Isn't Inclusive—Adaptive Athletes Are Changing That

Outdoor gear is made with able-bodied users in mind. Sure, there are examples of custom one-offs and DIY mods, but in the mainstream, gear doesn't account for adventurers with disabilities. In a 2024 study, only 14% of disabled people responded that “nothing stops me from being active in outdoor spaces,” in comparison to the 29% of able-bodied respondents. It isn’t hard to understand why constantly navigating obstacles like technical trails, hard-to-read signage, or even something as simple as outdoor spaces with accessible parking lots, entrances, and facilities would be demotivating. Ill-suited gear is another rock on the pile.

Change has to begin somewhere, and in the case of adaptive outdoor gear, it often starts with the force of will and creative problem-solving by the one forced to adapt. Recently, a few major gear brands have taken heed of the adaptive community’s needs, and inclusive features are slowly being integrated into mainstream and niche items like tents, cold-water surf wetsuits, and sleeping bags. With these designs coming directly from adaptive athletes, the trend suggests a promising shift that could actually make gear more inclusive from the start.

What does good adaptive outdoor gear design look like? How do modifications appear in products for activities like hiking, camping, and watersports?

Starting from the Source with Adaptive Athletes

Professional adaptive skier and disability access strategist Vasu Sojitra understands what it means to modify and adapt more than most. Sojitra lost his right leg to an infection at nine months old and has spent his life finding creative ways to recreate outside. His specialized kit includes a pair of outriggers he uses to ski full-on backcountry lines and resort runs. Sojitra is an elite mountain athlete and became a member of The North Face's athlete team in 2018 after being brought on by Conrad Anker. His feats include a descent of Denali and an ascent of the Grand Teton, among many others.

As a vocal advocate and passionate outdoorist, Sojitra played an integral role in developing The North Face’s Universal Collection, the brand's first line of inclusive camping and outdoor gear, which launched in April 2026. The collection includes a tent, sleeping bag, daypack, slippers, and hat, stacked with adaptive features.

“The seed was planted on my very first visit to The North Face campus in 2017, when I asked the brand, 'Do you know what universal design is?' and, 'Have you ever tried setting up a tent from a wheelchair?'" Sojitra tells Field Mag. Sojitra describes his role as a “conduit,” explaining how he highlighted the untapped potential of the disability community both as an underserved sector of the industry and a demographic with serious spending power. “Twenty percent of the U.S. population has a disability,” he says, pointing out that “no other outdoor brand has done this yet.”

Checking out the Universal Wawona Tent | Courtesy The North Face

During development, The North Face worked closely with Sojitra and other adaptive athletes from their team, including professional climber Maureen Beck, and the broader adaptive sports community to co-create an innovative line focused on accessibility. “I was there to ensure this wasn’t going to be inspiration porn or a savior campaign, but an integrated effort with disabled voices at the forefront,” Sojitra says. “Not a separate adaptive line, but products designed to work for everyone.”

What’s interesting about the collection is how simple the innovations are. For example, the Universal One Bag ($280) is a zipperless sleeping bag that uses magnetic closures instead of a zipper and rubberized touchpoints for ease of use. The Universal Wawona 3-Person Tent ($435) has a larger entryway to accommodate mobility devices and oversized zipper pulls, also with rubberized, tactile features for intuitive use and bright colors for better visibility. The Universal Design Traction Mules ($65) are an updated version of the original camp slippers designed for better inclusivity thanks to a rubberized high traction sole, easy-to-see contrasting colors, and a unisex fit made to be worn on either left or right foot, and the Universal Daypack 20L ($140) has features like oversized grab handles, magnetic closures, a stand-up design, an adjustable torso to fit different bodies and most wheelchairs.

I had the chance to check out the sleeping bag and tent in my backyard, and found neither was glaringly different from traditional camping gear, which was Sojitra's point from the get-go. Then I took a closer look at the product details and understood how this series of relatively small design changes could enhance user experience for all kinds of people recreating outdoors. To put it differently, the adaptive features are fully integrated into the design, rather than additional or separate. And they work for everyone.

Luke Matthews, senior technical equipment designer at The North Face, voiced the theory in a press release for the Universal Collection: “The hallmarks of great design should provide a positive user experience from start to finish for all users."

The Details That Make a Big Impact

While The North Face is an example of a major outdoor brand getting deep into the weeds of inclusive design, other players are making a real effort as well. Hat tip to brands like Marmot, Kelty, and Sierra Designs, which also offer zipperless sleeping bags with magnetic closures; even if they don’t explicitly call them inclusive, these options exist.

The UK cold-water surf brand Finisterre introduced adaptive wetsuits with extra ankle and wrist zips through a program called The Wetsuit Project. The initiative folds adaptive wetsuits into a core line of rentals and offers the chance to apply for financial aid to cover the cost of a rental fee. Due to limited funding, Finisterre has paused its program for designing custom wetsuits, but more than 200 wetsuits have been adapted already, and the brand hopes to grow its size offerings while lowering prices, another barrier to entry.

“There is also a real opportunity to share learnings from the project more widely with brands across the industry, helping encourage greater collaboration around adaptive design and accessibility in watersports,” Adele Gingell, director of impact at Finisterre, tells us. “The more shared learning and open conversation there is, the more people and communities can hopefully be reached in the future.”

Berghaus, another UK outdoor apparel brand that recently expanded into the North American market, brought bespoke gear to life for six outdoor adaptive athletes in 2025. The adaptations were custom and highly technical, showing just how far gear designers can go in the realm of innovation. For instance, a deafblind athlete had noise-reduction fleece integrated into her hood to interfere with her hearing aids. Another with a severe spinal injury needed to transport a catheter bag, so Berghaus created a discreet waterproof bag she can clip to her backpack for use on the trail. The project is currently on pause while the company figures out how to scale production.

In the spirit of collaboration, this past March, Adidas joined forces with Chris Nikic, the first person with Down syndrome to complete an Ironman, to release the brand’s premiere high-performance running shoe for adaptive athletes, called the Supernova Rise 3. Designed to meet the diverse physical and sensory needs of disabled runners, it’s engineered with a wider fit, ultra-grippy outsole for stability, and an easy step-in heel for hands-free entry, plus tactile elements like low-pressure laces and a chevron-patterned heel for the visually impaired.

“The biggest game-changers revolve around removing sensory irritants and simplifying use,” says Alexandria Sukeforth, co-founder and chief operating officer of Outdoor Access Solutions, a business specializing in offering accessibility assessments for outdoor spaces and organizations. It's about adapting gear for users with differences in cognition, too. “Gear that performs well technically while remaining highly tolerable from a sensory perspective is utterly transformative. It shifts the focus away from physical discomfort and allows me to actually immerse myself in nature.”

Sukeforth and her son both have autism, which has given her intimate knowledge of how gear could be better designed to prevent sensory overload for the neurodivergent population. “Vital features include accessible closures, utilizing magnetic snaps, high-quality smooth zippers or hook-and-loop fasteners instead of fiddly buttons or complex toggles.”

Outdoor Gear for All

Sukeforth's work with co-founder Enock Glidden, an accomplished mountain athlete and disability advocate with spina bifida, stands firmly on the ground that these changes be made from a support-based perspective that allows people with disabilities to thrive, rather than a fix-it mentality.

Sojitra echoes the sentiment. “I'm excited for people to see disabled people as people, because at the end of the day, these products are just another tool in the toolbox. Most of all, I'm excited for how products like this normalize disability and help destigmatize our experiences.”

As the conversation between brands and the adaptive community continues to flow, the cornerstone message from athletes and advocates emerges more clearly: move away from creating niche markets and toward gear, trails, and spaces available to all. With universality being both question and answer, it invites us to carefully consider the long-held and subconscious assumptions we may have regarding what or whom the outdoors is for. It's far easier to push the perceived boundaries of what's possible when there are more people there to do the pushing.

“My ultimate vision is an outdoor industry where accessibility isn't treated as a luxury or an afterthought,” Sukeforth says. “I hope to see a future where it is both easy and affordable for all to enjoy the outdoors year-round.”