“Steamboat is an ideal outdoor environment to test and develop new products...there’s a romantic credibility of being located here.” — Chris Timmerman, The Creek Company
“It is a natural fit for our outdoor-focused cycling business. It’s easy to balance work and fun in a town with so much outdoor activity and industry to offer.” — Kent Ericksen, Kent Eriksen Cycles
“We make mountain products, so where better to be situated than in the mountains? It’s a fantastic community for our employees to live in. The right individuals come to us because they want to have a career and live the life they want to.” — Mark Satkiewicz, SmartWool
With an educated workforce, easy airport access and product-testing grounds right out the office door, Steamboat is a hotbed of outdoor businesses. The following are a few whose products you’ll likely see on local trails, slopes and waterways.
Big Agnes
Founded in 2000, Big Agnes is an award-winning tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad manufacturer headquartered downtown. In 14 short years it’s won multiple Editor’s Choice awards from national magazines and has grown to harbor more than 600 North American retailers, including EMS and REI, where it has become the co-op’s No. 1 outsourced tent brand. Employing nearly 40 people locally, the company also is in 10 international markets throughout Asia and Europe. “Steamboat is a great place to be based,” says co-founder Bill Gamber, whose company recently acquired a new warehouse facility on the city’s west side. “You couldn’t ask for a better place to test our gear.”
Boa
Founded in 1998 by Gary Hammerslag, Boa Technology builds dialed, reel and steel cable closure systems for tightening everything from recreational footwear to medical supplies. The system can be found on a third of the world’s snowboard boots as well as 100 brands in more than 15 categories. The company recently received an investment influx from Glenbrook Consumer Partners, which will help it launch deeper into the medical industry. “Boa exemplifies all the elements we seek in a partner, with a highly differentiated product offering, scalable business model, large market opportunity and an extremely talented team,” Glenbrook managing partner Peter Breck says.
With offices in Steamboat and Denver, Boa recently moved into a new 23,000-square-foot complex in Denver, with plans to add to its 70-employee workforce.
Cogma Bikewear
Like any good business, Cogma Bikewear is fueled by passion — a passion for biking. Founders Karen Tremaine and Clint Ball began their adventure as bike apparel makers in November 2011. Both competitive racers, their love for the sport has enabled them to produce comfortable and “slightly rebellious designs” that fit cycling’s unique style. Plus, they have the perfect testing grounds right outside their back door. “Ours is a lifestyle brand,” says Ball, adding that the company video-conferences with its suppliers and contractors on the West Coast. “The foundation we build from is that we actually live the mountain town lifestyle. Product ideas come from our daily experiences and input from friends. We get to play and work outside in our backyard every day. We feel lucky to be here.”
Creek Company
In 1982, Steamboat locals Dave Gowdy and Chris Timmerman invented the Quick Float to inflate float tubes for fishing in high-alpine lakes. In 1986, they added the open-front float tube U-Boat to its offerings. Recently celebrating its 25th anniversary, Creek Company is now a market leader in the high-end personal flotation craft category, manufacturing pontoon boats, float tubes, tackle bags, fly-fishing accessories, and hunting and camping accessories. “Having our business located in Steamboat has been a great inspiration for all we do,” says Gowdy, whose office is just a fly-cast away from the Yampa River. “When it comes to R&D, we can test our product in a matter of minutes.”
Hala Gear
Design. Adventure. Better. That’s the premise behind local stand-up paddleboard company Hala Gear, founded in Steamboat Springs in 2010. The company is quickly standing out in the crowd for its innovative line of inflatable SUPs and accessories, testing its watery wares daily on the Yampa River.
“The idea was simple,” founder Peter Hall says. “We wanted to make a better paddleboard that was stable and performed well.” Its six-shape collection is fast taking the SUP world by storm. The company also debuted the patent-pending Butterknife paddle, designed as double-bladed kayak and conventional SUP paddle. Hall manufactures the boards overseas, with distribution centers in Steamboat, Seattle and California. “They’re stable enough that they’re perfect for everyone,” Hall says, “from grandparents to the younger generation.”
Hog Island Boatworks
After earning its flotation certification from the U.S. Coast Guard, Hog Island Boat Works, based along the Yampa River, introduced the world’s first rotomolded drift boat to the fishing market in 2007. The company now produces a full line of rotomolded drift boats, available with trailer, anchor and other accessories as well as a new line of equally accessorized rotomolded, motorized skiffs. “Our design mantra has always been based on making performance roto-molded boats that can go anywhere,” founder Johnny St. John says. “It’s great to be able to do it all out of Steamboat, where you can go wet a line during lunch break.”
Honey Stinger
Big Agnes is only half of the company based in the little red house on Oak Street. Founded in 2002 by Big Agnes co-founder Bill Gamber, energy food company Honey Stinger has grown to 40 local employees and is making waves around the world. While the company’s original line of honey-based energy gels arose as a natural, long-lasting energy source for endurance athletes, it now also produces bars, chews, waffles and gels. The company’s best seller, the Stinger Waffle, improves upon the popular stroopwafel racers use in Europe. The company is on track to double its sales in 2015, Marketing Director Len Zanni says. “It’s another great company to be based in Steamboat,” Gamber says. “We use the product every day.”
Kent Eriksen Cycles
Kent Eriksen, 58, played a pivotable role in introducing mountain biking to the country and Steamboat Springs. Owning bike shop Sore Saddle Cyclery in the 1970s, he founded Moots in 1981 and was elected into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1996. An endless tinkerer, he later founded Kent Eriksen Cycles downtown, also specializing in titanium bikes. His company recently won the Best Titanium Construction award for the fifth year in a row at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. The company produces as many as 200 custom cycles per year. “Steamboat is already a special place to live, and its wealth of biking options make it even better,” Eriksen says. “It’s easy to balance work and fun in a town with so many outdoor activities available.”
Moots
Founded in Steamboat in 1981, Moots has been hand-building titanium road, mountain and cross bikes locally for more than three decades, with a staff that lives and breathes cycling. "We’re fortunate to be surrounded by such great riding," Marketing Manager Jon Cariveau says. "It inspires all of us personally and professionally."
Moots recently won top honors at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show for its new Trail Maintenance Bike and was recently selected as a Colorado Company to Watch by the State Office of Economic Development. The company sponsors numerous community and industry advocacy movements, from local trail work days to cycling teams. "We strive to lead the way in building the most innovative high-performance titanium bikes in the industry,” Cariveau says. “We’re proud of them, our team and the town we call home.”
Point6
Founded by Peter and Patty Duke, who started sock giant SmartWool in 1994, Point6 is another local company putting Steamboat on the world’s sock map. The company uses merino wool fibers combined with state-of-the-art spinning and knitting techniques to create soft merino products built for optimal comfort and performance. It currently has about 15 employees working out of its Steamboat headquarters, serving more than 800 retailers and 20 distributors in 15 countries.
PowerICE
One of Steamboat’s newest outdoor companies, PowerICE is a frozen, hydrating ice bar designed to enhance performance by cooling core body temperature while replenishing lost electrolytes. “It helps athletes recover more quickly,” Director of Sales Blair McNamara says. No one knows this better than six-time local Olympian Nordic Combined skier Todd Lodwick, who serves as a company spokesman. “It works,” he says. “And I’m pretty selective about how I replenish my electrolytes.” An all-natural 1.7-ounce bar contains 30 calories and no high fructose corn syrup, stimulants, artificial colors or artificial flavors. Now entering the medical field, as well, the product is available in more than 600 grocery outlets nationwide and hundreds of retail locations. In 2014, it received a $515,901 tax credit from Colorado’s Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit program for creating jobs in Steamboat Springs.
SmartWool
Based out of the old Steamboat Springs Airport building and now celebrating its 20th anniversary, SmartWool is Steamboat’s leading outdoor brand. Its merino wool apparel brand was born on a simple belief: keeping feet comfortable on the slopes. It’s since expanded that concept into a complete apparel line, all made from soft and high-performance New Zealand merino wool. Owned by VF Corp, the company has received multiple Editor’s Choice magazine awards and continues to lead the merino wool sock and apparel market. Its Steamboat headquarters employs 62 people, with another 12 in Boulder and 11 in Great Britain. Its more than 400 sock and apparel products — which use enough yarn each year to circle the earth 500 times — enjoy worldwide distribution through more than 6,000 retailers in 35 countries.
Spiffy Dog
Founded in 2002, Spiffy Dog claims that it’s home to the World’s Most Comfortable Dog Collar. With experience designing climbing and kayaking gear out of lightweight, quick-drying aerospacer material, its founders applied the material to pet products, and the result is one of the country’s leading dog collar and other pet accessory companies. “It’s a dog-friendly town and a great location to test our products,” says brand manager Kyle Nelson, whose line has expanded to include collars, leads, bowls, harnesses and more. The company’s award-winning Air Collar line now includes 25 styles and matching leads. Other products include the fully adjustable Air HarnessTM, which recently won Dog World Magazine’s Editors’ Choice award. “We continue to grow both domestically and internationally,” Nelson says.
TALON Grips
While Steamboat’s entrepreneurial spirit is exploding, one company is setting its sights on products built for combustion.
TALON Grips targets law enforcement officers and other gun users desiring enhanced grip for their firearms. President Mike Morris runs the company with his wife, Gillian, progressing from a basement operation in 2012 to now having five employees with 75 U.S. retailers and three international distributors. Offering 126 gun model grips in two textures, business is, well, booming. “We never could have imagined it would grow so quickly,” says Morris, whose company is expanding into iPhone grips, as well. “Steamboat’s a great place to be based. We’d rather live in the mountains and visit the city, and have a few hours of outdoor recreation every day, than live in the city and use our vacation to do these things. The mountain lifestyle and community are hard to beat.”