Outdoor Retailer and the American Contingency

I am now in the Front Range of CO after hitching a ride up to CO from TX. I met up with some friends and carpooled out to SLC for the winter installment of the biannual Outdoor Retailer(Trade Show). This was my first experience at the trade show and I found my experience to be all over the board. It was very exciting at times, coma inducing at times but a very worthwhile and engaging experience with the world that I find myself in.
The highlights for me were truly the people and vision that some companies were rigidly pursuing despite the current economic state(aka-recession). The idea that a company can make an American product and continue to do so and that a constituency will value this was very good to see despite the obvious extra cost involved. This is the model that I created with A-Balm and to see that some people still emphasize quality and domestic commerce was inspiring. Especially in times of economic turmoil when every dollar counts it allows us to realize that 'WE' the consumer hold the power and with every dollar spent we vote on the future we want in our consumer and political reality.
Darn Tough really blew me away. Both of these companies make a product that is superior in quality to anything that I have ever seen all while keeping every facet of their production with in the united states.
Darn Tough is a sock company out of Vermont. Thats right they have stuck to just socks and it shows because I had never really considered this to be a necessary component to managing an adventurous and traveling based lifestyle but since I put my first pair on I am a believer and supporter. Despite the competition Darn Tough has maintained it entire operation including production line in the United States, their company is also full of personality and excitement as you can only find or deal with someone that has genuine psyche for their product the ethic that goes into it.
FiveTen has also acted with great environmental and performance emphasis with their Stealth Paint which is a recycled rubber program that that one can now apply to their shoes in a custom manner for improved toe hooking and other trixy foot work. The other exciting part of this program is that FiveTen has chosen not to patent this method in an effort to excite the rest of the climbing footwear industry to utilize there rubber waste for something productive.
Organic Boulder Mats has also continued to impress me with the commitment to quality and the ethic that has become inherent in their product name and line. I was fortunate enough to stop by the HQ in Laramie, WY, which is actually just a one car garage. Everything that comes out of this operation is all coming from this garage in the prairie. This is how the quality can remain so high on all items released. Don't be suckered in by the imitators who now slap bright colors on their pads, Organic is the original and the only company committed to unique individual items and soy foam which helps us escape yet another petroleum based product.
A-Balm also had a good showing at the OR in that we gained a few more accounts and received a great deal of praise, compliments, and suggestions from friends and strangers alike. Thank you all for the support with A-Balm and I hope that no one is a stranger as we appreciate all feedback and business. A-Balm has remained staunchly domestic in its production and demands that quality remain just as rigid.
Perhaps the best part of the entire experience was seeing great friends in the tribe from all over and even making some new ones. Thanks to good friend Justin Wood for all his hospitality and positivity. Ciau.AnderRockstad