Off the Trail: Amy & Garage Grown Gear
Welcome to another Off the Trail feature. A casual interview series with people who inspire us and live their passion through the great outdoors.
This time, we had the pleasure to talk with Amy Hatch of Garage Grown Gear & Jackson Hole Packraft. She and her family live in the footprints of the mighty Teton Mountains in eastern Idaho. When she’s not living her passion in the outdoors, she is sharing that passion by connecting others with the great outdoors. A life mission that we very much respect and find at the core of Cedarpass as well. Inspiring people to explore their world.
Here we go.
Let’s start out with the basics. Who are you and where do you live?
My name is Amy Hatch. I’m the founder of Garage Grown Gear as well as Jackson Hole Packraft. We’ll talk about Garage Grown Gear more below. The latter business rents packrafts both locally in Jackson Hole as well as the Lower 48 states via FedEx shipping.
I live with my husband, 2-year-old daughter and two big goofy dogs at the base of the Teton Mountains in a little Idaho town named Victor (population 2,000).
How does where you live impact you?
The best part about where we live is the access to public lands. We have a couple dozen trailheads within a half hour radius of us. World-class backcountry skiing can be found on Teton Pass; a mere 15-minute drive away. Iconic Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks make for a great day trip. Collectively, this means exploring wild places becomes part of the natural rhythm of life.
“Exploring wild places becomes part of the natural rhythm of life.”
Do you have a favorite outdoor activity?
When it comes to the outdoors I love to mix it up. In the winter, an ideal week would be backcountry skiing one day, cross-country skiing the next day, and ending the week at the resort. In the summer, I love trail running, mountain biking and packrafting. My newest pursuit is adventuring racing.
It’s hard to pick a favorite activity. If I had to choose one, I’d have to say my favorite moments are backcountry skiing on a Teton powder day.
Are you inspired by the outdoors? If so, how?
My life mission is to connect people to the outdoors. A sticky note on my bathroom mirror reminds me of this each morning and evening. This mission is at the core of both Garage Grown Gear and Jackson Hole Packraft. It’s an integral part of how I raise my daughter and the foundation of my relationship with my husband. Rather than dinner dates, my husband and I go on ski and mountain bike dates.
Were the outdoors a part of your childhood? Has that impacted who you are today?
As the old adage goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. My parents backpacked me into the bottom of the Grand Canyon twice before I was a year old. They raised me to scramble over roots and rocks. And, they had me on skis as soon as I could walk. Growing up this way makes skiing and scrambling through the mountains feel as natural as walking around town.
You have an amazing ethos that really caught my eye when I first learned about Garage Grown Gear. In your words, what is Garage Grown Gear?
We connect customers to independent companies making innovative, high-performing and wildly cool outdoor gear. We scout for the innovators of today and the icons of tomorrow. We tell the stories of individuals with ideas. We do this through an Online Magazine, Directory and soon an E-Commerce Store.
The E-Commerce Store will be curated and its purpose parallels that of a co-op. By working together, independent outdoor gear companies can cultivate a broader customer base and stronger industry voice. The E-Commerce Store is slated to launch in the fall of 2014.
The story of the outdoor equipment, clothing and nutrition companies we work with follows a similar thread. An individual goes on an adventure and thinks, “Wouldn’t it be cool if …” This individual – often an engineer, designer or other professional – then returns home, begins tinkering and, behold, a business is born.
We are founded on the idea that America has a history of great inventions from humble beginnings. Google, Harley Davidson and Whole Foods were born in a garage. Clif Bar launched from a kitchen and Patagonia the trunk of a car.
The mission of GGG is focused on bridging the gap between the up-and-coming innovators and the outdoor community. Did you see a disconnect between the two before?
Yes, I keep coming back to the word connecting. When you boil down our mission at Garage Grown Gear it’s to connect people to independent outdoor gear companies.
Right now, to find these organically grown, independent companies you have to comb blogs, delve into forums, and stop random passersby to ask about their outdoor gear. Garage Grown Gear will become a one-stop, go-to-spot to find these companies and their gear.
On the flip side, often the individuals behind garage grown companies are amazing engineers and designers, but struggle with telling their story and reaching customers while staying in budget. Garage Grown Gear provides a cost-effective way for these companies to get word out to people.
“When you boil down our mission at Garage Grown Gear, it’s to connect people to the outdoors and independent outdoor gear companies.”
Was there an ‘aha’ moment when you knew that Garage Grown Gear was something you wanted to do?
I’m an entrepreneur at my core. I have notebooks full of business ideas, and have seriously researched about a dozen of them.
I landed on Garage Grown Gear for a variety of reasons:
One is that it’s a natural extension of Jackson Hole Packraft. Not only do I run my packraft rental business out of a garage, but packrafts themselves are quintessential garage built gear.
Another reason is that I have a tendency to totally “geek out” on digital marketing. I have had some late nights with marketing books I considered to be page turners – I just couldn’t put them down. So Garage Grown Gear is a good fit in that way.
Also, I love the idea of building a business in the ‘cloud’. It affords tremendous flexibility, whether living in a rural mountain town or working while traveling.
And lastly, it really gets at that root mission to connect people to the outdoors. After all, when you trust your gear, confidence soars.
What is the best part about connecting with these small independent brands?
Hands down, getting to interact with the individuals behind the businesses. Across the board, founders of garage grown companies are friendly, down-to-earth, care about quality, share my passion for the outdoors, and willing to think outside the box. They usually have a pretty great story too about how they found their way into business.
What has been the biggest success so far with GGG?
We celebrated the launch of our Online Magazine and Directory mid-March with 7 Days of Gear Giveaways. We were excited by the amount of people who visited us during launch week. But what really blew us away was the level of engagement. People spent a substantial amount of time on our website, talked about us on social media, and gave us feedback directly. While we still have much to polish, it’s very encouraging to know we struck a chord with people.
What has been the biggest obstacle so far with GGG? What have you done to overcome it?
Up until this point the biggest obstacle has been time management. I already had a lot on my plate when I decided to launch GarageGrownGear.com, including being a wife and mom (priority #1), taking time to play outside, running Jackson Hole Packraft, and working part-time.
I’ve had to learn to be disciplined with my time and embrace schedules. Over the last few months, I’ve been fortunate enough to resign from my part-time job and also hire a manager for Jackson Hole Packraft. This has given me the opportunity to stay laser-focused on growing Garage Grown Gear.
The two big obstacles I have ahead of me, or wildly important goals, as I like to call them, is to launch the E-Commerce Store and raise capital in order to build a team of dedicated people.
Having started several businesses yourself, what best piece of advice would you share with someone wanting to live their passion through their work?
Do the research needed to vet your business idea and gauge your commitment level. If you have a financially sound idea that solves a real problem, and you’re 100% committed, everything else will fall into place. Yes, of course, there will be bumps in the road, but you won’t care and, somehow, someway, you’ll find the people, ideas and resources to get past those bumps.
That’s a wrap. Thanks Amy for sharing your time and thoughts with Off the Trail.
- Christopher
Interview completed on May 30, 2014.